Video Playback Resumption via Cache Frame Capture
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Solution Overview
Problem
Portable electronic media devices often experience significant delays when resuming video playback after interruption, leading to a poor user experience, especially when accidental exits occur, as they reload and reconfigure, taking up to 30 seconds or more.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a method where the current frame or scene is stored in cache memory, allowing rapid resumption of playback, and displaying the interrupted frame in a menu window, enabling users to quickly return to where they left off with minimal delay, even after performing other device functions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the device exits the video playback program to perform other functions, then the user can access other device features, but the device must reload and reconfigure when returning to video playback, causing significant delays of up to 30 seconds
Solution Approach 1:
The device performs preliminary actions by maintaining the video playback program and its configuration in memory even after the user exits to perform other functions. The playback state, including the current frame and decoding context, is preserved in a suspended state, so when the user returns to video playback, no reloading or reconfiguration is needed - the system simply resumes from where it left off, eliminating the 30-second delay while still allowing access to other device features
2Reliability
If the device reloads the video program when resuming playback, then the system can ensure proper configuration, but the reload process takes an agonizingly slow amount of time that frustrates users
Solution Approach 1:
The device maintains continuous readiness of the video playback program by keeping it suspended in memory with all configuration settings preserved. The playback engine remains active in a low-power state, maintaining decoder context and buffer states. This allows the system to resume playback immediately without reloading, ensuring both proper configuration reliability and seamless user experience with no perceptible interruption
3Loss of time
If the device stores the current frame in cache memory, then playback can resume more rapidly with reduced reload time, but additional memory resources are required
Solution Approach 1:
The device implements a nested memory structure where the video frame buffer, decode context, and playback state are layered within the existing memory allocation. The current frame and essential playback data are maintained in a suspended state within the video playback program's memory space, which is already allocated when the video is playing. This nested approach allows rapid resumption without requiring separate dedicated cache memory, as the existing memory structure is repurposed to hold the suspended state
Data Source
AI summary
Video data files are provided to a user for playback. Once playback begins, the methods and apparatus of the present invention enable a user to interrupt the video playback function and quickly resume playback prior to reloading the selected video file. The techniques of the present invention can store video data in a cache memory and, upon interruption, capture a frame of video data at approximately the time of the interruption. The captured frame and cache data can be used to provide the user with a unique menu option for resumption of the video playback at the moment of interruption.