Media Segment Transcoding With Worker Retry for Gapless Streaming
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Solution Overview
Problem
Streaming live digital multimedia often results in lower quality playback due to issues in the upload process, leading to missing or degraded content, which is then transmitted to end users, and there is a trade-off between real-time viewing and high-quality, gapless content.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for transcoding a media stream using a network interface, memory, and processor to initialize manifest processors and transcode worker threads, manage transcoding operations through messaging buses and queues, and ensure high-quality content delivery by managing transcoding processes and reattempts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If live digital multimedia is streamed in real-time from encoder to media server, then viewing latency is reduced, but content quality deteriorates due to missing or degraded content during upload
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary transcoding of media segments before they are needed for streaming. The transcoding service pre-processes content from the encoder, creating multiple bitrate versions in advance, so that when segments are requested during live streaming, high-quality transcoded versions are already available, eliminating the quality degradation that would occur if transcoding happened in real-time during upload
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a transcoding service as an intermediary component between the encoder and media server. This service receives original media segments, transcodes them into multiple bitrate versions, and stores them in segment storage. The media server then retrieves appropriate transcoded segments based on client bandwidth conditions, acting as a mediator that ensures content quality while enabling adaptive streaming
2Adaptability or versatility
If transcoding is performed on all media segments, then content quality and adaptability improve, but system complexity and processing time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically determines which segments require transcoding based on real-time conditions. The manifest processor analyzes client bandwidth conditions and requests only the necessary bitrate versions from the transcoding service. Additionally, the system dynamically scales the number of transcoding worker threads based on system load and available resources, optimizing processing capacity without permanently maintaining complex infrastructure
Solution Approach 2:
The patent divides the media stream into discrete segments that can be independently processed and transcoded. Each segment is handled as a separate unit by the transcoding service, which processes them individually through worker threads. This segmentation allows the system to manage complexity by processing small units in parallel rather than handling the entire stream as one complex operation, enabling adaptive bitrate streaming without overwhelming system resources
Data Source
AI summary
A system for transcoding a media stream includes at least one network interface; at least one memory; and at least one processor each coupled to one or more of the at least one network interface and one or more of the at least one memory. The at least one processor is configured to publish, via a messaging bus, a segment transcode request in a segment transcode request queue, retrieve the segment transcode request by a transcode worker thread, wherein the first transcode worker thread monitors the segment transcode request queue, transcode by a second transcode worker thread a segment referenced by the segment transcode request, determine by the manifest processor whether the second transcode worker thread has completed transcoding the segment and is still operating, and, if not, transcode the segment by a third transcode worker thread, and store the transcoded segment.