US 11,146,834 B1Granted

Server-based encoded version selection

AssigneeTwitch Interactive, Inc.

InventorsYueshi Shen, Martin Hess, Shawn Hsu, Eran Ambar, Abhinav Kapoor, Jorge Arturo Villatoro, Spencer Nelson, Jeffrey Garneau, Cyrus Hall, Jyotindra Vasudeo, Andrew Francis, Yuechuan Li, Chih-Chiang Lu

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Abstract

Techniques for low latency streaming, for example in a broadcasting environment, are described herein. In some examples, one or more individual renditions may be encoded into multiple rendition versions associated with different respective latencies. Also, in some examples, one or more individual renditions may be encoded into multiple rendition versions having different respective amounts of forward error correction (FEC), for example by an edge node of a video streaming service. Also, in some examples, video may be broadcast using a protocol that does not require retransmission of lost packets, such as Web Real-Time Communication (WebRTC), which is commonly used for point-to-point transmissions. Also, in some examples, one or more servers may receive quality of service feedback information from each player to which video content is transmitted. The one or more servers may use this feedback information to select and switch between appropriate renditions and rendition versions for each player.

Claims14

Dependent claims

A computing system for server-based encoded version selection for streaming of video content comprising:

one or more processors;
and
one or more memories having stored therein instructions that, upon execution by the one or more processors, cause the computing system to perform operations comprising:
encoding, by one or more servers, a first encoded version of the video content and a second encoded version of the video content, wherein the first encoded version has a first image quality and the second encoded version has a second image quality that is different from the first image quality;
receiving, by the one or more servers, first quality of service information from a first player associated with a first quality of service in relation to playing of the video content by the first player;
receiving, by the one or more servers, second quality of service information from a second player associated with a second quality of service in relation to playing of the video content by the second player;
selecting, by the one or more servers, based at least in part on the first quality of service information, the first image quality associated with the first encoded version for transmitting a portion of the video content to the first player;
selecting, by the one or more servers, based at least in part on the first quality of service information, the first encoded version from a plurality of latency versions available at the first image quality, wherein the plurality of latency versions comprises a higher latency version that includes instantaneous decoder refresh frames (IDR-frames) and a lower latency version that doesn't include IDR-frames;
selecting, by the one or more servers, based at least in part on the second quality of service information, the second image quality associated with the second encoded version for transmitting the portion of the video content to the second player;
transmitting the portion of the video content to the first player using the first encoded version;
and
transmitting the portion of the video content to the second player using the second encoded version.

9 more elements

A computer-implemented method for server-based encoded version selection for streaming of video content comprising:

encoding, by one or more servers, a first encoded version of the video content and a second encoded version of the video content, wherein the first encoded version has a first image quality and the second encoded version has a second image quality that is different from the first image quality;
receiving, by the one or more servers, first quality of service information from a first recipient associated with a first quality of service in relation to playing of the video content by the first recipient;
receiving, by the one or more servers, second quality of service information from a second recipient associated with a second quality of service in relation to playing of the video content by the second recipient;
selecting, by the one or more servers, based at least in part on the first quality of service information, the first image quality associated with the first encoded version for transmitting a portion of the video content to the first recipient;
selecting, by the one or more servers, based at least in part on the first quality of service information, the first encoded version from a plurality of latency versions available at the first image quality, wherein the plurality of latency versions comprises a higher latency version that includes instantaneous decoder refresh frames (IDR-frames) and a lower latency version that doesn't include IDR-frames;
selecting, by the one or more servers, based at least in part on the second quality of service information, the second image quality associated with the second encoded version for transmitting the portion of the video content to the second recipient;
transmitting the portion of the video content to the first recipient using the first encoded version;
and
transmitting the portion of the video content to the second recipient using the second encoded version.

6 more elements

One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media having stored thereon instructions that, upon execution by one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to perform operations comprising:

encoding, by one or more servers, a first encoded version of video content and a second encoded version of the video content, wherein the first encoded version has a first image quality and the second encoded version has a second image quality that is different from the first image quality;
receiving, by the one or more servers, first quality of service information from a first recipient associated with a first quality of service in relation to playing of the video content by the first recipient;
receiving, by the one or more servers, second quality of service information from a second recipient associated with a second quality of service in relation to playing of the video content by the second recipient;
selecting, by the one or more servers, based at least in part on the first quality of service information, the first image quality associated with the first encoded version for transmitting a portion of the video content to the first recipient;
selecting, by the one or more servers, based at least in part on the first quality of service information, the first encoded version from a plurality of latency versions available at the first image quality, wherein the plurality of latency versions comprises a higher latency version that includes instantaneous decoder refresh frames (IDR-frames) and a lower latency version that doesn't include IDR-frames;
selecting, by the one or more servers, based at least in part on the second quality of service information, the second image quality associated with the second encoded version for transmitting the portion of the video content to the second recipient;
transmitting the portion of the video content to the first recipient using the first encoded version;
and
transmitting the portion of the video content to the second recipient using the second encoded version.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.