Bundling Manifest Files with Video Content for Reduced Tune Time
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Solution Overview
Problem
Multiple round-trip communications between a client device and a video content device contribute to delays in content playback, particularly in adaptive bit rate streaming formats, leading to increased tune times.
Innovation Solution
A video content management and delivery system bundles a descriptive manifest file with an initial portion of the content asset, allowing the client device to process and play it simultaneously, reducing the need for additional requests and thus minimizing round-trip delays.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If the client device retrieves a manifest file separately before requesting content fragments, then the client can properly parse and process the manifest information, but multiple round-trip communications increase the overall tune time
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the manifest file and content fragments into a single bundled response. The server includes both the manifest data and the initial content fragment(s) in one HTTP response message, eliminating the need for separate manifest retrieval and content request round-trips. This merging directly reduces tune time by consolidating multiple communication phases into a single phase.
Solution Approach 2:
The server performs preliminary action by pre-processing and bundling the manifest file with the content fragment before transmission. Instead of waiting for the client to request the manifest separately, the server proactively includes the manifest in the initial content delivery response, allowing the client to begin processing manifest information immediately upon receiving the first response.
2Productivity
If the client waits to process the manifest file before requesting additional content, then the client ensures proper initialization, but this sequential processing increases overall content delivery time
Solution Approach 1:
The client performs preliminary processing of the manifest file as soon as it is received in the bundled response, before requesting additional content fragments. This parallel processing approach allows manifest parsing and initial content playback preparation to occur simultaneously, improving content delivery speed while maintaining reliability through proper initialization sequences.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables continuous useful action by allowing the client to process the manifest file and prepare for additional content requests without interruption. The bundled manifest delivery ensures that manifest processing occurs continuously alongside content playback preparation, eliminating idle waiting periods while maintaining reliable manifest initialization.
3Loss of time
If the manifest file is delivered separately from content fragments, then the client can validate the manifest structure, but the separate delivery increases network round-trip delays
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the manifest file delivery with content fragment delivery in a single bundled HTTP response. This consolidation eliminates the separate round-trip delay associated with manifest retrieval while maintaining manifest validation accuracy, as the client receives the complete manifest data structure simultaneously with the initial content fragment for validation purposes.
Data Source
AI summary
Delay in initial output of a requested content asset by a computing device may be reduced by sending a first portion of the content asset to the computing device, such as video player, along with a requested information file, such as a manifest file, associated with the content asset. The first portion of the content asset and the manifest file may be processed in parallel by the video player device. The video player device may request a second portion of the content asset according to the manifest file, while the video player device is continuing to process, output and present the first portion of the content asset. The size of the first portion of the content asset may be sized to provide continuous output of the first portion and subsequent portions of the content asset received.