Video Trick-Play via Server-Side Pre-Caching
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing video entertainment systems do not allow users to rewind video content to a time prior to when they first started watching or fast-forward beyond the real-time transmission, limiting trick-play functions.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a client application on user equipment that caches video streams and receives rewind and forward streams from a remote server, enabling users to rewind to the video's beginning and fast-forward to its end, respectively, by caching and streaming video content before and after the user's access point.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If the system caches video only after the user tunes to the program, then the system uses minimal storage space and bandwidth, but the user cannot rewind to any point prior to when they first tuned to the program
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary caching of video content before the user actually needs to access it. The server continuously caches video programs in advance, so when a user tunes to a program, the content is already available in the cache for immediate trick-play operations including rewinding to any point in the program, not just from the current position.
2Productivity
If the system provides real-time streaming only, then the system requires minimal processing power and cache memory, but the user cannot perform fast-forward beyond the real-time transmission point
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-processes and caches video content on the server side before transmission. By having the video already cached in its entirety or in segments, the system can immediately serve fast-forward requests by transmitting cached segments at higher speeds without requiring complex real-time processing or additional hardware complexity.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the system allows rewinding to the beginning of the video, then the user gains full access to video content, but the system requires caching the entire video before access
Solution Approach 1:
The server continuously caches video programs in advance of user requests. This preliminary caching action ensures that when a user tunes to a program, the entire video or relevant segments are already stored in the cache, enabling immediate rewinding to any point including the beginning, without requiring additional caching time at the moment of access.
Solution Approach 2:
The server acts as an intermediary between the video source and the user. It receives video content, caches it, and then serves it to users with full trick-play capabilities. This intermediary caching layer decouples the user's access requirements from the real-time transmission constraints, providing versatile access without requiring the user's equipment to perform complex real-time caching operations.
Data Source
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AI summary
Systems and methods for rewinding a video to a point before the video was first viewed. Video transmitted by a media source is cached by a remote server. Upon a trick-play request for the video, the server generates a rewind stream that includes the video that was transmitted by the media source before the user started to view the video. Upon receiving the rewind stream, the user's equipment may cache the rewind stream in a rewind buffer and rewind or play from the rewind buffer. The server may also generate and transmit a forward stream of the video that the media source has not yet transmitted. The user's equipment may cache the forward stream in a forward buffer. To perform trick-play operations with the video, the user's equipment may migrate the playback of the video to the rewind and forward buffers and rewind or fast-forward the video from the buffers.