Media File Splicing via Auxiliary Mapping for Seamless Streaming
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing media content delivery systems face delays in satisfying user requests due to the need for transcoding and formatting media content for various clients, which can hinder seamless playback and increase latency.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that generate target files and auxiliary files to facilitate seamless media transmission by transcoding and modifying source files in real-time, allowing for the delivery of media content in a format appropriate for clients, while also enabling the insertion of advertisements and maintaining temporal continuity across multiple files.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If media content is transcoded and modified for various clients, then format compatibility is improved, but transmission latency increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary transcoding of media content into multiple target formats and stores them in advance in the content store. When a client requests content, the pre-transcoded files are already available for immediate transmission, eliminating the need for real-time format conversion and thus reducing transmission latency while maintaining format compatibility across different clients
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically selects and transmits the appropriate pre-transcoded target file based on the client's specific format requirements. The transmission process adapts by choosing from multiple pre-prepared formats rather than converting on-demand, enabling both format versatility and low-latency delivery
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple source files are spliced together, then content versatility is improved, but file structure complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the splicing process into distinct phases: accessing multiple source files, generating target files from each source file, and creating an auxiliary file that maps content portions to their locations in target files. This segmentation manages the complexity of handling multiple files by breaking down the splicing operation into manageable, sequential steps
Solution Approach 2:
The auxiliary file acts as an intermediary structure that simplifies the complexity of spliced content. It contains content records that map portions of media content to specific locations in target files, providing a structured interface that hides the underlying file splicing complexity while enabling versatile content assembly from multiple sources
Data Source
AI summary
A method comprising receiving a request for media content from a client, accessing a plurality of source files associated with the requested media content based on the request, wherein the plurality of source files comprise the media content in one or more source formats, and generating a portion of a plurality of target files based on the plurality of source files. The method further comprising generating an auxiliary file for the generated portion of the plurality of target files to facilitate transmission of the generated portion of the plurality of target files to the client and transmitting to the client as a seamless media transmission the generated portion of the plurality of target files, wherein the portion of the plurality of target files are transmitted to the client simultaneously with generation of another portion of the plurality of target files and a corresponding auxiliary file.