Live Streaming Segmentation for Bandwidth Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing live streaming technologies do not allow users to efficiently catch up on live events without exposing them to spoilers or requiring extensive manual navigation, and they consume significant bandwidth and resources.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a customized streaming system that uses tagging to identify action segments of a live event, allowing users to selectively download and play these segments, reducing bandwidth usage and preserving battery life, while minimizing exposure to spoilers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If users download and watch the entire live stream from the beginning to catch up, then they can see all content, but they expose themselves to spoilers and consume excessive bandwidth
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the live stream into discrete action segments tagged with metadata indicating their content type. Users can selectively download only action segments rather than the entire stream, reducing bandwidth consumption while avoiding non-action content that might contain spoilers.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different quality characteristics to different segments of the stream by tagging them with action vs. non-action labels. This allows the system to optimize delivery by providing high-quality action segments while potentially reducing or omitting non-action segments, creating locally optimized quality distribution.
2Loss of information
If users manually navigate through the entire live stream to find action content, then they can identify interesting segments, but it requires extensive time and effort
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary tagging of stream segments with action metadata before user viewing. This pre-processing action automatically identifies and labels action segments, eliminating the need for users to manually navigate and identify interesting content, thus saving significant time and effort.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the system delivers the complete live stream to all users, then all content is available, but bandwidth and server resources are significantly consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the complete live stream into separately deliverable action segments with metadata tags. The system can then adaptively deliver only the necessary segments to each user based on their preferences and needs, maintaining content availability for selective consumption while dramatically reducing overall bandwidth consumption and server resource usage.
4Speed
If users watch the live stream in real-time, then they experience events as they happen, but they cannot catch up quickly if they miss the live moment
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the stream into action segments that can be independently downloaded and played. Users can quickly catch up by downloading only action segments rather than watching the entire stream sequentially, achieving fast catch-up speed while maintaining content completeness for action-oriented viewing.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables users to skip non-action segments by providing selective access to action segments through tagging. Users can rush through the content by viewing only action segments, achieving rapid catch-up while accepting selective content completeness focused on action moments.
Data Source
AI summary
Described herein are systems and methods for selectively determining a set of segments of a live content stream to present at a user device to overcome a delay in the live content stream. A content manifest may be accessed that identifies locations of the segments of the set. Tagging information may be accessed that identifies action segments and other segments of the set. The set of segments can be determined based at least in part on the content manifest and the tagging information. The set of segments may be discontinuous in an unaltered stream, but may be presented continuously in a customized stream.