Adaptive Video Encoding Storage Reduction via Content Omission
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Solution Overview
Problem
The challenge is the significant amount of storage space required to maintain multiple copies of recorded video programs encoded with different bitrates for adaptive streaming, which consumes substantial disk space on video servers.
Innovation Solution
The solution involves determining the portions of a recorded program most likely to be viewed and those less likely to be viewed, encoding multiple copies with the latter omitted from some copies, thereby reducing storage needs while ensuring the content is still accessible at varying qualities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple copies of the recorded program are maintained with different bitrates for adaptive streaming, then playback quality is improved, but storage space consumption increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and removes less-likely-to-be-viewed portions (such as pre-roll and post-roll content) from certain encoded copies. By taking out these redundant portions from copies that don't need them, the system reduces storage space while maintaining the ability to provide full-quality playback when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by creating encoded copies with different levels of completeness based on their intended use. Some copies contain full program content while others contain only essential portions. This localized quality differentiation allows the system to optimize storage by not uniformly storing complete content in all copies.
2Reliability
If complete program content is stored in all encoded copies, then content availability is ensured, but storage efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the encoded copies into different types based on their content completeness. Some copies are segmented to contain only essential program portions, while others contain complete content. This segmentation allows the system to balance reliability and storage efficiency by having specialized copies for different purposes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent discards less-likely-to-be-viewed portions from certain copies to improve storage efficiency. However, the system recovers full content availability by maintaining other copies that do contain the complete program, ensuring that content can be retrieved when needed.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems, devices and processes reduce the amount of memory or disk space needed to store encoded video content used in adaptive video streaming by eliminating certain portions of the recorded program from one or more copies of the encoded program. Content occurring before or after a scheduled start of a program, for example, can be retained in only a subset of the encoded copies so that the program content is available to be streamed, but only at certain video qualities. Commercials or other less popular portions may also be eliminated in one or more encoded copies. By eliminating the less-likely-to-be-viewed portions of the content from some (but not all) of the encoded copies, the total amount of storage space needed to store the encoded program is reduced without compromising the ability to play back all portions of the recorded program.