Live streaming architecture with server-side stream mixing
AssigneeInfrared5, Inc.
InventorsAndrew Shaules, Chris Allen, Davide Lucchi, Todd Anderson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A live media streaming architecture facilitates live interaction among multiple participants, such as viewers and stage performers for a show. A cluster of computers is responsible for generating, transmitting, and displaying a composed live stream, such as a grid, of one group of individuals, by mixing live streams from those individuals, that will allow them to interact with a stage performer or other contributors or other individuals during an event. The architecture can support receiving the live streams at a physical location of an event or other locations for centralized redistribution.
Claims20
A system for delivering live streaming media, comprising:
- a plurality of origin devices, wherein each origin device is configured to receive and forward a respective stream of live streaming media received from a respective broadcaster device associated with a broadcaster;
- a plurality of edge devices, wherein each edge device is configured to receive one or more respective streams forwarded from one or more respective origin devices from among the plurality of origin devices and to provide the received streams to at least one respective client device configured as a subscriber device;
- a computer network interconnecting the origin devices and the edge devices for transmitting streams between the origin devices and the edge devices;
- one or more mixers, each mixer configured as a respective subscriber device to receive streams of live streaming media from client devices and generate a respective mixed stream of live streaming media based on the received streams, and each mixer is configured as a respective origin device to forward the respective mixed stream as live streaming media to one or more edge devices;
- a stream manager comprising a computer programmed to:
- i. assign, for each stream of live streaming media being delivered to one or more subscriber devices, a respective relationship between an origin device forwarding the stream of live streaming media and one or more edge devices receiving the stream;
- ii. in response to a request from a client device to access a stream of live streaming media, assign the client device as a subscriber device for the stream to a respective edge device among the edge devices assigned for the stream;
- iii. in response to a request from a client device to provide a stream of live streaming media as an input for a mixed stream, assign a mixer as a subscriber device to receive the input from the client device;
- wherein the stream manager makes available one or more mixed streams generated by the one or more mixers to subscriber devices through edge devices as one or more streams of live streaming media.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.