Server Digest Segments for Low-Bandwidth Media Playback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Legacy TV set-tops have limited processing power, graphical capabilities, and memory, making them unable to support advanced interactive TV and VOD services, and existing solutions require high bandwidth for media delivery management, which is inefficient.
Innovation Solution
A system that uses virtual machines to process media streams on a server, generating digest segments that represent video frames without the actual video data, allowing for efficient playback on client devices with reduced bandwidth requirements by recreating the media stream based on playback position and stored digest segments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If full media streams are transmitted from client to server for playback management, then accurate playback control is achieved, but network bandwidth consumption increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential playback position information from the full media stream data. Instead of transmitting complete video frames or extensive media data back to the server, the system sends only critical playback state information (position, timing, and control events), thereby achieving accurate playback management with minimal bandwidth consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies different data transmission qualities to different parts of the media stream. Critical playback control information is transmitted with high fidelity to the server, while non-essential media data is either processed locally or transmitted with reduced quality, optimizing the balance between playback accuracy and bandwidth usage.
2Adaptability or versatility
If legacy TV set-tops use existing processing capabilities, then device compatibility is maintained, but support for advanced interactive TV and VOD services is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the traditional architecture by moving complex processing tasks from the client device to the server. Legacy TV set-tops maintain their simple processing capabilities while the server performs advanced media stream analysis, playback management, and interactive service processing, enabling sophisticated services without requiring powerful client hardware.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces a server as an intermediary between the legacy TV set-top and advanced services. The server acts as a capability enhancer, providing virtualized processing resources and service logic that bridge the gap between limited client capabilities and demanding service requirements, allowing legacy devices to access modern services.
3Adaptability or versatility
If specialized hardware is required for proprietary format playback, then format compatibility is achieved, but device accessibility is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a virtualized copy of the playback environment on the server that can handle proprietary formats. Instead of requiring each client device to have specialized hardware for every format, the server maintains virtual instances of format-specific processing capabilities, allowing any client to access proprietary format playback through the server's virtualized environment.
Data Source
AI summary
A server system hosts one or more virtual machines. The server system receives a first media stream that includes first content corresponding to a plurality of frames of video data and generates a first digest segment that corresponds to the first media stream, wherein the first digest segment includes a representation of the plurality of frames but does not include the video data. The server system stores the first digest segment in a cache at the server system; and receives a playback position of the first media stream at a first client device. The server system uses the playback position from the first client device and the first digest segment stored in the cache to perform processing to recreate a representation of the playback of the first media stream on the first client device.