Server Bookmarking for Cross-Device Media Playback Resumption
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users of streamed media content face challenges in resuming playback from a paused location across different devices due to the deletion of playback indicators by client-side applications, leading to repeated viewing of previously seen content and potential loss of opportunities for content distribution.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that allow a server device to authenticate users, process pause requests, store bookmark locations, and stream media content from the paused location to different client devices, enabling seamless playback without involving the original content server, using an API for advanced content servers to manage bookmarks and buffer content for continuous playback.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the client device stores playback indicators locally, then the user can pause and resume playback on the same device, but the indicator is deleted when the application closes or after a period of time, preventing cross-device playback resumption
Solution Approach 1:
The patent moves the bookmark storage from the client device (one dimension) to the server device (another dimension - remote storage). This dimensional shift allows the bookmark to persist independently of the client application's lifecycle and enables access from multiple client devices through network connectivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The server device acts as an intermediary between the client device and the media content. It receives pause requests from the client, stores the bookmark location, and later retrieves the bookmark to resume playback. This intermediary role ensures bookmark persistence and enables cross-device playback resumption.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the user switches to a different client device to continue viewing, then device flexibility is improved, but the user must replay the entire media content from the beginning, wasting previously viewed portions
Solution Approach 1:
The server-stored bookmark system provides universal access to playback position across multiple client devices. The bookmark is not tied to a specific device but to the user's playback session on the server, enabling any of the user's devices to resume playback from the correct position.
Solution Approach 2:
By storing bookmarks on the server rather than locally on each client device, the system creates a networked dimension of data sharing. This allows the bookmark information to be accessed from any device connected to the server, eliminating the need to replay content when switching devices.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the server device stores bookmark locations for paused media content, then cross-device playback resumption is enabled, but additional storage and processing resources are required on the server
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential bookmark information (playback position timestamp) from the complete media content and stores it on the server. This extracted minimal data set provides the necessary functionality for playback resumption without requiring substantial server storage resources or complex processing.
Data Source
AI summary
A method, apparatus, and system of pause and replay of media content through bookmarks on a server device are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method of a server device includes authenticating a user of a client device, communicating a media content to the client device through a network, processing a pause request of the client device to pause the media content, storing a bookmark location indicating a current playback location of the media content in the client device on the server device, processing a play request of the user to play the media content from the bookmark location (e.g., the play request may be received from a different client device of the user), and communicating the media content from the bookmark location to the user.