Server-Side Streaming Content Stitching at Scene Changes
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Solution Overview
Problem
In media streaming, stitching second content into a stream of first content often results in playback discontinuities due to format differences in audio and video formats, leading to issues like extended blank screens or audio mute, which degrade the user's experience.
Innovation Solution
A media device decodes the first content using compatible decoders, synchronizes program time stamps, and switches decoders only when necessary to ensure continuous playback, and stitches second content at scene change boundaries using single or multiple audio/video decoders to maintain seamless display.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If decoder switching is performed to accommodate format differences in second content, then format compatibility is improved, but playback discontinuities occur resulting in extended blank screens or audio mute
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary analysis of the second content's format characteristics before stitching operations. By pre-identifying format compatibility issues and preparing appropriate decoder configurations in advance, the system can switch decoders without causing playback discontinuities, thus resolving the contradiction between format adaptability and playback continuity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary content element with format characteristics that bridge the first and second content. This intermediary content serves as a transition buffer, allowing decoder switching to occur during its playback rather than directly between the original content pieces, thereby maintaining playback continuity while achieving format compatibility
2Stability of the object's composition
If stitching occurs at I frame or IDR frame boundaries, then decoder synchronization is improved, but scene change alignment deteriorates resulting in disruptive stitching moments
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies different stitching strategies to different regions of the content stream. At scene change boundaries, it prioritizes visual continuity by adjusting timing and synchronization locally, while maintaining overall decoder synchronization through global timing management. This localized adaptation resolves the contradiction between decoder synchronization stability and scene change alignment
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed herein are various embodiments for server-side scene change content stitching. An example embodiment operates by providing first content for display on a display device. A point in a timeline of the first content when second content is to be displayed is identified. A scene change in the first content closest to the point in the timeline is identified. A first frame having a distance X prior to the scene change is identified, and the first content for display. The second content is provided for display on the display device beginning at the scene change. At a conclusion of the second content, the display is paused, and seeking and decoding the first content to the scene change by decoding the first content to the identified first frame plus the distance X is performed. The decoded first content, from the scene change, is provided to the display device for display.