Time Code to Byte Indexer for Partial Media Retrieval
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Solution Overview
Problem
The increasing file size of digital media files due to improved video resolution leads to retrieval latency and storage issues, as users often need to download entire files to access a small portion, and existing systems struggle to accurately map time ranges to byte ranges across different encoding and compression algorithms.
Innovation Solution
A time code to byte conversion system that maps time codes to byte ranges, allowing users to retrieve specific portions of media files by specifying a time range, and includes a speech recognition system to create keyword mappings, enabling retrieval based on keywords instead of time ranges.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If users retrieve entire media files to access a small portion, then complete file access is ensured, but retrieval latency increases and memory consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the media file into multiple segments based on time codes, where each segment corresponds to a specific time range and byte range. This segmentation allows the system to retrieve and transmit only the required portion of the file rather than the entire file, directly reducing data transfer volume and retrieval latency.
Solution Approach 2:
The system pre-generates and stores a time code to byte range mapping table before user requests. This preliminary action enables the system to quickly determine the exact byte ranges corresponding to user-specified time ranges without real-time computation, facilitating efficient partial file retrieval.
2Manufacturing precision
If high video resolution is used, then visual quality is improved, but file size increases leading to storage and retrieval issues
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and stores only the essential mapping information (time codes and corresponding byte ranges) in a separate index table, rather than storing or transmitting the entire high-resolution media file. This extraction approach maintains video quality when needed while significantly reducing the amount of data that must be stored and transferred.
Solution Approach 2:
The time code to byte range mapping table serves as an intermediary between the user's time-based requests and the actual byte-based file retrieval. This intermediary layer enables efficient access to high-resolution video content by translating user-friendly time ranges into precise byte ranges without requiring the user to handle the entire large file.
3Ease of operation
If traditional time-based retrieval methods are used, then simplicity is maintained, but accuracy in mapping time ranges to byte ranges decreases across different encoding algorithms
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the parameter representation by creating a mapping between time codes and byte ranges that is specific to each encoding algorithm. Instead of using generic time-based retrieval, the system stores actual byte range correspondences that account for the non-linear relationships introduced by different encoding and compression algorithms, thereby improving mapping accuracy while maintaining operational simplicity.
Data Source
AI summary
A time code to byte conversion system is provided herein that maps time codes to byte ranges such that a user device can retrieve a portion of, but not all of, a media file by specifying a time range. For example, the time code to byte conversion system can play a media file and identify the byte at which each time code begins. The time code to byte conversion system can then store the byte to time code mapping in an index accessible by a media retrieval server. A user device can then provide a time range to the media retrieval server, the media retrieval server can query the index to identify the range of bytes that corresponds to the provided time range, and then the media retrieval server can retrieve the identified range of bytes from a media database for transmission to the user device.