Streaming Protocol Adapter for Resilient Mobile Media Playback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Mobile devices, especially those on the Java Micro Edition (J2ME) and Symbian platforms, face challenges in resilient media streaming due to frequent network disconnections, leading to poor user experience as existing solutions require continuous connections and are not designed for mobile client applications.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method using a streaming protocol adapter on the device for local media streaming, which downloads stream files including media files formatted for delivery and streaming template transactions, allowing for resilient media playback even with network disconnections by caching and reconnecting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional session-based streaming protocols (RTSP) are used on mobile devices, then media content can be streamed to the device, but the streaming session is interrupted by network disconnections resulting in poor playback quality and user experience
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by downloading and caching media content to the mobile device before the actual streaming session begins. This pre-caching ensures that content is available locally even if network disconnections occur during playback, maintaining session continuity and preventing interruptions that would degrade user experience.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary caching layer between the network and the media player. Instead of directly streaming from network to player, content is first stored in a local cache on the device. This intermediary buffer decouples the streaming session from network availability, allowing playback to continue seamlessly during disconnections.
2Ease of manufacture
If continuous network connection is required for media streaming, then standard streaming protocols can be used, but mobile devices experience frequent disconnections causing playback to stop and require restarting
Solution Approach 1:
The system downloads and caches media content in advance before playback begins. This preliminary action ensures that the complete media file is stored locally on the device, enabling uninterrupted playback for the entire duration without requiring continuous network connection or risking playback interruption due to disconnections.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a local copy of the media content on the mobile device by downloading it from the remote server and storing it in local cache memory. This copying approach allows the device to play back the content entirely from local storage, eliminating dependency on continuous network connectivity and enabling complete playback duration without interruptions.
3Reliability
If media content is downloaded and cached locally on the device, then uninterrupted playback is achieved during network disconnections, but device memory and storage requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements partial caching by downloading and storing only the portions of media content that are needed for continuous playback, rather than caching entire large files. The cache size is optimized to hold sufficient content for the expected disconnection duration, balancing playback reliability with limited device storage capacity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent dynamically adjusts caching parameters such as cache size, pre-download amount, and buffer duration based on available device storage, network conditions, and predicted playback needs. This parameter optimization allows the system to achieve reliable uninterrupted playback while adapting to the specific storage constraints of different mobile devices.
Data Source
AI summary
A computer implemented method of streaming media on a computing device is disclosed in which a streaming protocol adapter is provided on the computing device for streaming media to a local streaming client on the computing device with enhanced resiliency. The streaming adapter downloads one or more stream files that include the media file formatted for delivery according to a transfer protocol, and also include streaming template transactions for supporting communicating from the streaming adapter to the streaming client. The streaming client may be a standard real-time streaming protocol (RTSP) client, and the streaming adapter may be an RTSP adapter.