Proxy Server Manifest Generation for HLS Streaming Latency
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing HLS-based solutions for streaming media playback face high latency due to multiple round trips required for content retrieval and lack client control over stream selection, and are inefficient for live video streaming, especially in wireless networks and when supporting DVR functionality.
Innovation Solution
A streaming video playback system with a proxy server that generates a manifest file locally, reducing network round trips, enabling adaptive bit rate control through pre-fetching and caching, and allowing user control over video segment selection and quality, while optimizing media playlist size and refreshes for live streaming.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If HLS protocol is used for streaming media playback, then adaptive bitrate streaming is enabled, but high latency occurs due to multiple round trips to the server
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements pre-fetching of video segments by the proxy server before the client device requests them. The proxy server proactively retrieves media segments from the content sharing server and caches them locally, so when the client needs to play back video, the segments are already available or nearly available, significantly reducing the latency caused by multiple round trips while maintaining adaptive bitrate capabilities
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a proxy server as an intermediary between the client device and the content sharing server. This proxy server acts as a local cache that stores video segments and metadata, reducing the number of direct round trips between the client and the remote server. The proxy server handles adaptive bitrate logic locally, enabling the client to play back video with minimal network latency while still benefiting from adaptive bitrate streaming
2Ease of operation
If the media player automatically selects streams without client control, then playback is simplified, but the client cannot control which media segments to fetch and when
Solution Approach 1:
The proxy server serves as an intelligent intermediary that bridges the gap between simple automatic playback and sophisticated client control. It provides the client device with control capabilities by exposing APIs that allow the client to specify which representations and media segments to fetch, while the proxy server handles the complex adaptive bitrate logic and coordination with the content sharing server, maintaining ease of operation through automated background processes
3Adaptability or versatility
If the live media playlist contains the entire sought duration for DVR functionality, then seeking back in time is enabled, but the playlist size becomes large increasing storage and parsing costs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the live media playlist into smaller, manageable chunks stored in the proxy server's cache. Instead of loading the entire sought duration into a single large playlist, the proxy server divides the content into individual media segments that can be stored and accessed independently. This segmentation reduces the memory footprint and parsing overhead while still enabling DVR functionality through sequential access to cached segments
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts only the necessary portions of the live media playlist that are needed for current and recent playback, storing them in the proxy server's cache. For DVR functionality, only the recently played segments are retained in the cache rather than the entire historical content. This extraction approach enables seeking back in time within the cached window while significantly reducing playlist size and associated storage and parsing costs
Data Source
AI summary
A streaming video playback system is provided to generate locally a manifest file associated with a streaming video for a media player of a client device. The locally generated manifest file helps reduce startup time for the media player and the manifest file is locally generated based on streaming metadata associated with the streaming video and the manifest files includes HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) based master playlists and media playlists. The locally generated manifest file also provides better adaptive bit rate control by enabling pre-fetching of video segments of a streaming video and caching during playback. The streaming video playback system reduces the size of media playlist transmitted to a content sharing service using index of the last video segment and makes it practical to have DVR-able live video streaming with a larger seek window.