Manifest Delivery Controller for Adaptive Bitrate Streaming Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current digital video streaming systems lack a systematic method to communicate and enforce playback controls and output restrictions to individual client devices using adaptive bitrate streaming, leading to challenges in preventing unauthorized video copying and ensuring consistent user experiences.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that establish a network connection between a client device and a manifest delivery controller to determine and apply playback and output control rules, generating customized manifests and control tags that instruct client devices on allowed playback features and video output options during streaming sessions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If targeted playback control rules and output control rules are implemented for specific client devices, then content protection and compliance are improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments control rules into different types (playback control rules and output control rules) and applies them to different client device categories. This segmentation allows targeted enforcement of content protection measures without requiring a complete system redesign, thereby improving reliability while managing complexity through modular rule implementation.
Solution Approach 2:
The manifest delivery controller determines and attaches applicable control rules to the manifest before delivering it to the client device. This preliminary action ensures that content protection measures are established in advance, preventing unauthorized copying and ensuring compliance before the video playback begins, thus improving reliability proactively.
2Adaptability or versatility
If customized manifests with control tags are delivered to each client device, then user experience customization is improved, but communication overhead and processing time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The manifest delivery controller serves multiple functions: it delivers the manifest, attaches applicable playback control rules and output control rules, and provides encryption keys all in a single communication process. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate communication rounds, thereby improving adaptability while minimizing the loss of time through efficient consolidated operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The controller determines which control rules apply to each client device and attaches them to the manifest before delivery. This preliminary customization allows the system to provide tailored user experiences for different device types (e.g., allowing HDMI output for set-top boxes while blocking it for smartphones) without requiring real-time processing during playback, thus reducing processing time delays.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If control rules are applied to prevent video output on certain devices, then unauthorized copying is reduced, but device functionality and user convenience are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies different output control rules to different client device categories based on their specific characteristics and risk profiles. For example, set-top boxes connected via HDMI are granted output permissions while smartphones using wireless mirroring are restricted. This localized approach to quality control prevents unauthorized copying on high-risk devices while preserving user convenience on trusted devices, balancing security with ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically changes the output control parameters based on the client device type and context. By modifying the applicable control rules according to device characteristics, the system can prevent unauthorized copying where necessary while maintaining user convenience where appropriate, thus resolving the contradiction between security and ease of operation through adaptive parameter adjustment.
Data Source
AI summary
A method is disclosed for customizing an adaptive bitrate streaming session using a manifest and control tags. The method includes establishing a network connection session between a client device and a manifest delivery controller, receiving a manifest request at the manifest delivery controller from the client device, wherein the manifest request identifies a video, determining whether one or more playback control rules and/or output control rules have been set at the manifest delivery controller that apply to the video and/or the client device, and sending a manifest and control tags from the manifest delivery controller to the client device, wherein the manifest identifies locations of a plurality of adaptive bitrate chunks of the video, and wherein the control tags are associated with playback control rules and/or output control rules that the manifest delivery controller determined applied to the video and/or the client device.