Parallel Key Acquisition for Streaming Content
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems experience delays in playing digital content due to the need to determine and acquire decryption keys or licenses after content download, leading to frustration for consumers and potential loss of revenue for content providers.
Innovation Solution
The solution involves initiating a key or license acquisition process in parallel with or prior to the download of the content stream, by embedding key or license identifiers in webpages or scripts, allowing the client device to request and acquire necessary decryption keys or licenses before the content is played.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If the key acquisition process is performed after content download, then the content can be downloaded without interruption, but the time to first frame playback is delayed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by initiating the key acquisition process before the content download is complete. The system extracts key identifiers from the content stream, queries the key server, and obtains decryption keys in advance, so that when the content is ready for playback, the keys are already available. This eliminates the delay between content availability and playback start.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements continuity of useful action by running the key acquisition process in parallel with the content download process. Both operations proceed simultaneously without one blocking the other, maximizing resource utilization and minimizing total time to first frame playback.
2Loss of time
If the key acquisition process is performed in parallel with content download, then the time to first frame is reduced, but the network bandwidth consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the extraction principle by separating the key identification data from the main content stream. The system extracts only the necessary key identifiers (small data packets) from the content and sends them to the key server, while the bulk content download continues separately. This minimizes the additional network overhead while enabling parallel key acquisition.
3Ease of operation
If the content is downloaded before key acquisition, then the download process is simple, but the consumer experiences frustration due to waiting time
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies self-service by implementing automatic key acquisition and management. The system automatically extracts key identifiers from the content stream, queries the key server, receives decryption keys, and applies them to the content without requiring any manual intervention from the consumer. This maintains ease of operation while significantly improving content delivery efficiency by eliminating playback delays.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques are described for reducing time to decrypt a next encrypted frame in a content stream by optimizing a license/key acquisition process. When requesting content, a key identifier and/or license identifier may be included within a webpage using a link, script, or similar access point. When a client device sends a request for content, the loading of the webpage within the client device includes the embedded key identifier. Access to the key/license identifier at the client device then may initiate a key/license acquisition process by the client device. The key/license may be obtained from a key management device in parallel with, or prior to, downloading of at least a portion of the content stream.