Intelligent download of content
AssigneeRoku, Inc.
InventorAnthony John Wood
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Intelligently downloading content to user devices is described herein. According to an embodiment, a user request for content is received. In response to the request, a low quality version of the content is downloaded and played to the user. Then, a higher quality version of the content is downloaded (this may occur during or after the download or playback of the low quality version of the content). Playback of the low quality version is discontinued. Then, playback of the higher quality version begins at the point where playback of the low quality version was discontinued. In some embodiments, the low quality version and the higher quality version of the requested content (among all the versions of the requested content) are identified via crowdsourcing.
Claims20
A computer implemented method for intelligently downloading content, comprising:
- receiving a request for the content from a user;
- downloading a first quality version of the content from a content server in response to the receiving the request;
- playing the downloaded first quality version of the content on a user device;
- in response to the playing, determining a second quality version of the content among a plurality of quality versions of the content to download based on a future time slot when the user intends to playback the content and an amount of time the user has set aside to playback the content, wherein a resolution of the second quality version of the content is less than a resolution of the first quality version of the content;
- in response to the determining, requesting the second quality version of the content;
- downloading the second quality version of the content in response to the requesting the second quality version of the content;
- discontinuing the downloading of the first quality version of the content based on the downloading of the second quality version of the content;
- and
- playing the downloaded second quality version of the content on the user device at a point in the content where the downloading of the first quality version of the content was discontinued.
A user device, comprising:
- at least one processor configured to:
- receive a request for content from a user;
- download a first quality version of the content from a content server in response to the receiving the request;
- play the downloaded first quality version of the content on the user device;
- in response to the playing, determine a second quality version of the content among a plurality of quality versions of the content to download based on a future time slot when the user intends to playback the content and an amount of time the user has set aside to playback the content, wherein a resolution of the second quality version of the content is less than a resolution of the first quality version of the content;
- in response to the determining, requesting the second quality version of the content;
- download the second quality version of the content in response to the requesting the second quality version of the content;
- discontinue the downloading of the first quality version of the content based on the downloading of the second quality version of the content;
- and
- play the downloaded second quality version of the content on the user device at a point in the content where the downloading of the first quality version of the content was discontinued.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least one computing device, cause the at least one computing device to perform operations comprising:
- receiving a request for content from a user;
- downloading a first quality version of the content from a content server in response to the receiving the request;
- playing the downloaded first quality version of the content on the at least one computing device;
- in response to the playing, determining a second quality version of the content among a plurality of quality versions of the content to download based on a future time slot when the user intends to playback the content and an amount of time the user has set aside to playback the content, wherein a resolution of the second quality version of the content is less than a resolution of the first quality version of the content;
- in response to the determining, requesting the second quality version of the content;
- downloading the second quality version of the content in response to the requesting the second quality version of the content;
- discontinuing the downloading of the first quality version of the content based on the downloading of the second quality version of the content;
- and
- playing the downloaded second quality version of the content on the at least one computing device at a point in the content where the downloading of the first quality version of the content was discontinued.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.