Fragment server directed device fragment caching
AssigneeAdeia Media Holdings LLC
InventorsCharles Nooney, Kent Karlsson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The media stream delivery system encodes and fragments media streams into numerous media stream fragments maintained on fragment servers. Devices obtain fragments to reconstruct media streams including live real-time media streams for playback on the devices. A device may perform caching of media stream fragments so that particular fragments need not be accessed again from a fragment server. A fragment server or even a content provider can analyze and monitor characteristics of media streams, viewing behavior, content popularity, etc., to identify fragments for caching at the playback devices. Caching indicators along with time period indicators may be included in the media stream fragments.
Claims20
A method comprising:
- monitoring device characteristics of a device;
- receiving, from the device, a request for one or more media stream fragments of a plurality of media stream fragments, wherein the plurality of media stream fragments is associated with a plurality of variants;
- identifying a variant from the plurality of variants that is compatible with the device characteristics;
- identifying at least one fragment of the one or more media stream fragments to maintain in a local cache of the device;
- determining, based on the device characteristics, a length of time for maintaining the at least one fragment in the local cache of the device;
- adding an indicator in the at least one fragment, wherein the indicator indicates the length of time for maintaining the at least one fragment in the local cache of the device;
- and
- transmitting, to the device, the one or more media stream fragments of the plurality of media stream fragments, wherein the one or more media stream fragments is associated with the identified variant.
A system comprising:
- control circuitry configured to:
- monitor device characteristics of a device;
- input/output circuitry configured to:
- receive, from the device, a request for one or more media stream fragments of a plurality of media stream fragments, wherein the plurality of media stream fragments is associated with a plurality of variants;
- and
- wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:
- identify a variant from the plurality of variants that is compatible with the device characteristics;
- identify at least one fragment of the one or more media stream fragments to maintain in a local cache of the device;
- determine, based on the device characteristics, a length of time for maintaining the at least one fragment in the local cache of the device;
- add an indicator in the at least one fragment, wherein the indicator indicates the length of time for maintaining the at least one fragment in the local cache of the device;
- and
- transmit, to the device, the one or more media stream fragments of the plurality of media stream fragments, wherein the one or more media stream fragments is associated with the identified variant.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions encoded thereon that, when executed by control circuitry, cause the control circuitry to:
- monitor device characteristics of a device;
- receive, from the device, a request for one or more media stream fragments of a plurality of media stream fragments, wherein the plurality of media stream fragments is associated with a plurality of variants;
- identify a variant from the plurality of variants that is compatible with the device characteristics;
- identify at least one fragment of the one or more media stream fragments to maintain in a local cache of the device;
- determine, based on the device characteristics, a length of time for maintaining the at least one fragment in the local cache of the device;
- add an indicator in the at least one fragment, wherein the indicator indicates the length of time for maintaining the at least one fragment in the local cache of the device;
- and
- transmit, to the device, the one or more media stream fragments of the plurality of media stream fragments, wherein the one or more media stream fragments is associated with the identified variant.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.