Instantaneous Asynchronous Media Sharing Server
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing video sharing technologies face non-trivial waiting times during media upload, processing, and storage, leading to unsatisfactory user experiences and technical difficulties in business communications.
Innovation Solution
A system for instantaneous asynchronous media sharing, where a server processes and stores media recordings in real-time as they are uploaded, generating a complete metadata atom and making the recording accessible to viewers within a minimal time frame by completing any remaining processing after the upload is finished.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If media is uploaded and processed before being made shareable (synchronous real-time video communication), then media quality and processing completeness are improved, but user experience deteriorates due to non-trivial waiting times
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by establishing the communication channel and initiating metadata atom generation while the media stream is still being uploaded. The metadata atom is built incrementally as chunks arrive, and the media is made shareable once the metadata is complete, without waiting for the entire upload to finish. This preliminary preparation significantly reduces the waiting time for users.
Solution Approach 2:
The media stream is divided into smaller segmented chunks that are uploaded and processed in discrete intervals. The server receives and processes these chunks sequentially, updating the metadata atom as each chunk arrives. This segmentation allows the system to make the media shareable once the metadata is complete, rather than waiting for the entire media file to be uploaded and processed.
2Loss of time
If on-demand transcoding is performed in real-time while streaming (Dropbox approach), then waiting time is reduced, but buffering issues occur due to deferred processing
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs the critical metadata generation action preliminarily, while the media stream is still being uploaded. By completing the metadata atom before the upload finishes, the system ensures that the media can be immediately made shareable without buffering issues, as all necessary processing information is already prepared.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a metadata atom that contains all the necessary information about the media stream. This metadata atom acts as a copy or representation of the media's structural information, allowing the media to be made shareable immediately without waiting for the actual media content to be fully processed and stored.
3Loss of time
If the complete metadata atom is generated in real-time as media is uploaded, then media becomes shareable immediately, but server processing load increases
Solution Approach 1:
The metadata atom is constructed by processing media chunks in segments as they arrive. Rather than waiting for the complete media file and then processing everything at once, the server divides the processing into smaller tasks corresponding to each chunk, updating the metadata atom incrementally. This reduces the peak processing load at any given time.
Solution Approach 2:
The server continuously processes media chunks and updates the metadata atom without interruption throughout the upload process. This continuous processing ensures that the metadata is complete as soon as possible, making the media shareable immediately upon completion of the metadata generation, while distributing the processing load evenly over time.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed are methods and systems for instantaneous asynchronous media sharing. The method comprises establishing a communication channel between a user device and a server; receiving a media stream object containing a recording of a screen of the user device through the communication channel, as it is recorded; storing the recording to permanent storage as it is received; receiving a publication request at a publication request time; and in response to receiving the publication request, making the recording accessible to one or more viewers within an immediate time frame by generating a complete video file ready for download, wherein the immediate time frame is a time to upload a remaining number of bytes to the server from the publication request time plus a time to complete processing the remaining number of bytes to generate the complete video file. Also disclosed are benefits of the new methods, and alternative embodiments of implementation.