Seamless Media Content Switching During Fixed-Duration Breaks

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing interactive media playback systems fail to seamlessly switch media content during fixed-duration breaks in live streams, leading to 'dead air' or 'clipped' content when users skip advertisements, disrupting user experience and content delivery.

Innovation Solution

A method where a client device requests a skip during a fixed-duration break, and a server determines an updated playlist to fill the remaining break time without gaps, allowing the current content to continue for a calculated delay before switching to the new content, ensuring continuous and uninterrupted playback.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of operation

If a user skips an advertisement during a fixed-duration break, then user control and customization are improved, but dead air or clipped content occurs disrupting continuous playback

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveuser controlVSAvoidcontinuous playback

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system pre-calculates and prepares replacement content and timing before the skip action occurs. When a user requests to skip content, the system has already determined what content will replace it and when the switch will happen, ensuring seamless transition without dead air or clipped content.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system dynamically adjusts the playback timeline based on user skip requests. Instead of fixed scheduling, the system flexibly modifies content timing and selection in real-time to accommodate user actions while maintaining continuous playback throughout the break period.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

2Adaptability or versatility

If the system allows flexible content skipping, then user customization is improved, but content timing and synchronization become complex

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecontent customizationVSAvoidcontent switching logic

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The break duration is divided into segments: content already played, content to be skipped, and replacement content timing. This segmentation allows the system to manage complexity by handling each segment independently rather than recalculating the entire playlist whenever a skip occurs.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The system introduces an intermediary calculation layer that determines delay duration as the difference between break remaining time and replacement content duration. This intermediary variable simplifies the switching logic by providing a clear formula for timing adjustments rather than complex conditional rules.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Data Source

PatentUS10992999B2Techniques for seamless media content switching during fixed-duration breaks

Publication Date: 2021.04.27 TELEFONAKTIEBOLAGET LM ERICSSON (PUBL)

AI summary

Techniques are disclosed for seamless media content switching during fixed-duration breaks. A user can request that a first media content item played by a client device during a fixed-length break be skipped. A server can determine an amount of time remaining in the break, determine an updated playlist of one or more media content items that together at least partially but not completely consume the entire amount of remaining time, and provide the updated playlist to the client device. The client device can determine a delay duration amount of time that it will continue playing the first media content item before skipping to a media content item from the updated playlist. This delay duration is determined such that the entire break can be filled with media content without any dead air or clipped media content.