Video Server Redirection for Seamless Playback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional video systems face challenges in seamless playback of distributed video data across multiple servers, with central indexing systems being complex, expensive, and unreliable due to single-point failures, and peer-to-peer systems experiencing delays and interruptions in real-time playback.
Innovation Solution
A method and system for requesting video data across multiple servers that involves transmitting a request with time information, receiving the initial video data portion, and receiving a redirection message for the next server containing temporally adjacent data, allowing for efficient and uninterrupted playback.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a central indexing video system with an oracle server is used to manage distributed video data, then the system can maintain knowledge of all video data locations and enable seamless playback, but the system becomes complex, expensive to maintain, and unreliable due to single-point failure
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the centralized oracle server from the system architecture and replaces it with a distributed peer-to-peer model where each video server maintains its own indexing information locally. This eliminates the single-point failure risk while reducing overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The centralized indexing function is segmented and distributed across multiple video servers. Each server maintains local knowledge of video data segments stored on itself and other servers, creating a decentralized indexing structure that improves reliability.
2Speed
If a peer-to-peer video data system with search mechanism is used, then the system can find video servers containing required data, but establishing the necessary sequence of video servers involves lengthy delays causing breaks in real-time playback
Solution Approach 1:
Video servers pre-establish knowledge of other servers' video data holdings through periodic information exchange. When a playback request arrives, the system can immediately route requests along pre-determined paths without performing searches, eliminating playback delays.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts playback sequences by receiving redirection messages from video servers that provide real-time guidance to the next server in the sequence, enabling seamless transitions without fixed predetermined paths.
3Reliability
If a peer-to-peer video data system is used, then the system can distribute video data across multiple servers, but the search mechanism often does not find required servers if they are too many hops away from the client
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a temporal dimension to the peer-to-peer architecture by organizing video servers into time-based segments. Each server knows about video data stored on other servers within a certain time window, creating a time-aware routing mechanism that reduces the effective search distance.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of requesting video data distributed across a plurality of video servers(210-21N) connected to a communications network (120) is disclosed. A request (e.g., 1000) is transmitted to one of the video servers (e.g., 210). The request (1000) includes at least time information about at least a first portion of the video data. The first portion of video data is received from the video server (210). A redirection message (e.g., 1008) is also received from the video server (210). The redirection message (1008) specifies a next one of the video servers (210) containing a temporally adjacent further portion of the video data.