Virtual Channel Streaming for VOD Content Organization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users face overwhelming choices when browsing video-on-demand (VOD) content catalogs, making it difficult to find specific types of content without spending time searching through extensive listings.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of virtual channels that mimic traditional TV channels, where a computing device streams curated content based on attributes like genre, allowing users to select a channel with a scheduled lineup of videos, enabling seamless playback and random access within the content.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If users browse through a comprehensive VOD content catalog, then content variety and selection are improved, but time consumption and user fatigue increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the comprehensive VOD content catalog into multiple virtual channels, each dedicated to specific content categories or themes. Users can select a virtual channel that matches their interests, thereby reducing the time needed to find content while maintaining access to diverse content options across different channels.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces virtual channels as intermediary structures between the user and the comprehensive content catalog. These virtual channels act as curated gateways that organize and present content in a structured manner, mediating the user's access to the broader catalog and reducing search time.
2Ease of operation
If traditional TV broadcasting schedules are used, then content delivery is simplified and structured, but content flexibility and on-demand access are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates virtual channels that combine the structured delivery of traditional TV with the flexibility of VOD. Each virtual channel can operate in multiple modes: following a scheduled programming structure for simplicity, while also enabling on-demand access to content within that channel, thus achieving multi-functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamic characteristics in virtual channels, allowing them to adapt between scheduled programming modes and on-demand access modes. This dynamic nature enables the system to provide structured content delivery when needed while maintaining flexibility and adaptability when users want on-demand access.
3Ease of operation
If VOD content is made easily accessible, then user convenience is improved, but network bandwidth and processing resources increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple VOD content streams into unified virtual channels, allowing users to access content through a consolidated interface. This merging approach enables efficient resource management by combining requests for content within the same virtual channel, thereby reducing overall network bandwidth consumption and processing resources while maintaining ease of access.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques are disclosed for providing a virtual channel for presentation. The techniques include preparing a virtual channel for presenting a plurality of video files (e.g., video-on-demand (VOD) contents) in a particular order. The virtual channel may also be associated with a live point that indicates a portion of a particular video file of the plurality of video files that is streaming at a global clock time. The virtual channel may be provided within a virtual video stream according to the global clock time. The techniques further include receiving a request from a user device for the virtual channel at the global clock time, and then providing the virtual video stream to the user device for presentation of the particular video file at the live point of the particular video file scheduled for streaming at the global clock time.