Media Delivery Event Location Determination for Buffer Synchronization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current media delivery techniques face challenges in accurately determining and synchronizing media delivery events (MDEs) in a network, leading to potential buffer overflows or underruns at client devices, especially when dealing with adaptive streaming protocols like DASH.
Innovation Solution
A method involving a source device with a segmenter, file-based protocol sending unit, and physical layer sending unit that identifies MDEs within media data streams by pattern matching and determines transmission time requirements, ensuring timely delivery of media segments to client devices using available delivery slots.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If media data is delivered using adaptive streaming protocols like DASH with broadcast delivery, then delivery efficiency and scalability are improved, but accurate determination and synchronization of media delivery events becomes difficult, leading to buffer overflows or underruns
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by determining media delivery event (MDE) locations in advance within the media data stream before actual delivery. The source device analyzes the media data stream to identify where MDEs occur and calculates their delivery timestamps ahead of time, allowing the system to prepare delivery schedules and avoid buffer issues at the client device during actual playback.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements feedback by providing transmission time requirements for MDEs back to the delivery system. The source device determines when each MDE should be delivered and communicates these timing requirements to ensure synchronized delivery, allowing the system to adjust and correct delivery timing based on actual performance and client device buffer status.
2Reliability
If media delivery events are determined and scheduled in advance, then buffer overflows and underruns are prevented, but the complexity of determining transmission time requirements and synchronizing delivery increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing the media data stream into discrete segments and identifying MDEs at specific boundaries or points within these segments. Each MDE is treated as an independent event with its own location and transmission time requirement, making the overall complex task of synchronization manageable through modular, segment-by-segment analysis and delivery planning.
3Measurement precision
If pattern matching is used to identify MDEs in media data streams, then MDE detection accuracy is improved, but processing time and computational resources increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies partial action by using pattern matching selectively at critical points in the media data stream, such as segment boundaries or keyframes, rather than analyzing every byte of media data. This approach maintains high MDE detection accuracy where it matters most while reducing overall processing time and computational resources by focusing analysis on the most relevant portions of the stream.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method of transporting media data includes, by a file-based protocol sending unit of a source device, receiving a stream of data comprising Segments of media data from a segmenter of the source device that forms the Segments, each of the Segments comprising a respective individually retrievable file associated with a unique uniform resource locator (URL), determining locations of media delivery events (MDEs) in the stream of media data, wherein the MDEs include data for at least a portion of one of the Segments, determining one or more transmission time requirements for the MDEs representing times at which the MDEs are to be sent to a client device, and providing the MDEs and data representing the transmission time requirements to a physical layer sending unit of the source device according to available delivery slots for the physical layer sending unit.