Media Streaming Analytics Correlation via Server Identifier
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Solution Overview
Problem
Media streaming providers face challenges in correlating client and server performance statistics, making it difficult to understand how server performance impacts client performance and vice versa, and in providing a unified analytics framework for diverse streaming services.
Innovation Solution
Assigning a server identifier to streaming servers and including it in data sent to clients, allowing clients and servers to report events and statistics to an analytics server, which correlates these reports using the common identifier to adjust streaming parameters for improved user experience and resource utilization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If separate analytics are collected from client and server independently, then each can be monitored individually, but correlation between client and server performance cannot be established
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a common identifier (server ID) as an intermediary element that bridges client analytics and server analytics. This identifier is embedded in manifest files sent from server to client, and then referenced in analytics reports sent back to the server, enabling correlation without direct coupling between client and server analytics systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The analytics system is segmented into independent client analytics collection and server analytics collection components, each operating autonomously. The common identifier acts as a linking key that connects these segmented analytics without requiring them to be tightly integrated, allowing independent monitoring while enabling correlation.
2Ease of operation
If a unified analytics framework is provided for all streaming services, then implementation is simplified, but diverse performance statistics requirements of different providers cannot be met
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal analytics framework where the core infrastructure (common identifier assignment, manifest file embedding, analytics report collection) serves all streaming service providers. Within this universal framework, providers can customize which specific performance statistics are collected and analyzed, allowing the same basic system to serve multiple diverse purposes.
3Reliability
If detailed performance statistics are collected from both client and server, then comprehensive analysis is enabled, but the complexity of correlating and analyzing this data increases
Solution Approach 1:
The common identifier serves as a simple intermediary that reduces correlation complexity. Instead of complex matching algorithms to associate client analytics with server analytics, the system uses straightforward identifier matching, significantly reducing the complexity of correlating detailed performance statistics from both sources.
Data Source
AI summary
A method includes receiving a client report including an identifier and client analytics data, the client report received from a client device and the client analytics data associated with a media stream received by the client device from a streaming server. The method further includes receiving a server report including the identifier and server analytics data, the server report received from the streaming server. The method further includes, based on determining that the client report and the server report include the identifier, determining that the client analytics data and the server analytics data are correlated.