Media Timeline Management for Live Streaming Overlaps
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Solution Overview
Problem
Devices lacking support for truncated fragment playback in live streaming content face challenges with temporal overlaps between primary and secondary content, leading to degraded playback experiences due to synchronization issues and increased latency, especially when handling dynamic ad insertion in real-time scenarios.
Innovation Solution
Implementing dynamic offset management on client devices to adjust presentation times of audio, video, and subtitle fragments, allowing for seamless playback by selecting between truncating or skipping fragments, thereby maintaining synchronization and constraining playhead latency within a defined window without requiring hardware flushing or dual media players.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If devices truncate playback of the end of a fragment by flushing the renderer stack, then synchronization issues are addressed, but playback latency increases and re-buffers occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-calculating and applying offset values to fragment presentation times before playback occurs. The media player determines offset values based on cumulative overlap durations and adjusts presentation times in advance, preventing synchronization issues and latency problems before they occur during actual playback, rather than reacting by flushing the renderer stack after problems arise.
2Reliability
If devices use two media players to handle primary and secondary content separately, then playback continuity is maintained, but processing resources are wasted and switching latencies occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the handling of primary and secondary content into a single media player by applying offset values to fragment presentation times. This consolidation eliminates the need for two separate media players and switching mechanisms, reducing processing resource consumption and device complexity while maintaining playback continuity through temporal offset management.
3Reliability
If devices apply offset values to fragment presentation times, then playback synchronization is maintained, but playhead latency may deviate from live content
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making offset values dynamic rather than static. The media player continuously determines and updates offset values based on the specific temporal overlap conditions of each fragment transition. This dynamic adjustment allows the system to maintain synchronization while minimizing playhead latency deviation, adapting to different overlap scenarios rather than applying a fixed offset throughout playback.
4Adaptability or versatility
If secondary content fragments are longer than the slates they replace, then dynamic ad insertion flexibility is achieved, but temporal overlaps occur between content fragments
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by modifying the presentation time parameter of fragments to accommodate temporal overlaps. When secondary content fragments exceed their replacing slate durations, the system changes the presentation time parameter by applying offset values, allowing flexible dynamic ad insertion while maintaining proper temporal alignment through parameter adjustment rather than rigid fixed scheduling.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques are described for handling temporal overlaps that occur between fragments of streaming media content, such as between a fragment of primary media content (e.g., a live sporting event) and a fragment of secondary media content (e.g., ad media content) dynamically inserted into the stream.