Packet-Accurate Content Substitution in Set-Top Boxes
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing set-top-box (STB) solutions for targeted advertisement substitution require additional hardware, leading to increased costs and potential video/audio packet drops during transitions, resulting in negative user experiences.
Innovation Solution
The use of standard recording devices to locate exact transition points in live transport streams for seamless targeted content substitution, allowing for packet-accurate replacement of live content with targeted content without additional hardware, ensuring continuous streaming and minimizing packet drops.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If hardware-based elementary stream processing is used for advertisement substitution, then targeted content substitution capability is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces hardware-based elementary stream processing with software-based packet-level processing. The system uses standard recording devices and software algorithms to achieve packet-accurate targeted content substitution, eliminating the need for specialized hardware processors while maintaining substitution capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a virtual copy of the live transport stream packets and replaces them with targeted content packets at the packet level. This copying approach allows targeted content substitution without requiring hardware modifications, as the process occurs in the software layer by manipulating packet data structures.
2Adaptability or versatility
If hardware-based elementary stream processing is used for advertisement substitution, then targeted content substitution capability is improved, but packet drop rate increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the content stream into individual packets and processes each packet independently at the packet level. This segmentation allows precise control over which packets are replaced and which are transmitted, preventing packet drops by ensuring continuous packet flow during transitions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary actions by pre-processing packet timestamps and preparing replacement packets before the actual substitution occurs. The system calculates and adjusts timestamps in advance, ensuring that when packets are replaced, the timing information is already correct, preventing synchronization issues and packet drops.
3Adaptability or versatility
If frame-level advertisement substitution is used, then advertisement insertion capability is improved, but transition accuracy deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the content stream into discrete packets rather than processing at the frame level. This segmentation enables packet-accurate transition points, where each packet's timestamp can be precisely controlled and adjusted, achieving exact transition accuracy at the packet level rather than the coarser frame level.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the processing parameter from frame-level to packet-level granularity. By operating at the packet level, the system can adjust individual packet timestamps and replacement timing with fine-grained precision, achieving accurate transition points that match the exact moment of content change rather than approximate frame boundaries.
4Adaptability or versatility
If additional hardware components are added for advertisement stitching, then targeted content substitution capability is improved, but cost of content delivery increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent substitutes hardware-based processing with software-based processing. By implementing targeted content substitution through software algorithms that operate on packet data, the system eliminates the need for expensive hardware components like elementary stream processors, significantly reducing the cost of content delivery infrastructure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent makes standard recording devices perform multiple functions: they not only record content but also enable packet-accurate targeted content substitution. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for dedicated hardware for advertisement stitching, as existing devices can be repurposed to handle both recording and substitution tasks, reducing overall system cost.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques for packet-accurate targeted content substitution by a stitcher are described herein. In some embodiments, the stitcher at a client device receives a live transport stream (TS) and a splice message indicating a start time and an end time of a splice period. The stitcher locates in the live TS a video packet with a video packet identifier (PID) and an audio packet with an audio PID crossing the start time. The stitcher injects to the live TS targeted content TS packets within the splice period, where the injection includes re-stamping PIDs and presentation timestamps of the targeted content TS packets to match the live TS packets, and re-stamping the live TS packets with a predefined PID starting from the video packet and the audio packet, and ceasing the re-stamping when a respective audio packet in the live TS packets crossing the end time.