Systems and methods for applying a quality metric to caching and streaming of multimedia files over a network
OwnerMark Harold Schlowsky-Fischer, Joshua Ian Cates +3inventors
InventorsMark Harold Schlowsky-Fischer, Joshua Ian Cates, Russell Hunt, Thomas Pinckney III, Douglas Karl Wyatt
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Abstract
Systems and methods for streaming of multimedia files over a network are described. A streaming delivery accelerator (SDA) receives content from a content provider and streams the receives content to a user when a quality metric exceeds a predetermined value. A similar quality metric applies to caching and storing the received content in the SDA' cache. The caching process can be iterative, with only content not previously retained in the SDA's cache being requested from and retransmitted by the content provider.
Claims21
Method of producing a cache file, comprising:
- receiving a content file from a content provider;
- defining a quality threshold value, said quality threshold value representing an number of packets representative of the content file;
- defining a quality metric of the received content file, said quality metric representing a number of received packets out of the number of packets representative of the content file;
- testing the quality metric of the received content against a first quality threshold value to determine if the quality metric is equal to the a first quality threshold value;
- and
- if the quality metric is equal to the first quality threshold value caching the received content from a content provider and producing a cache file;
- and
- if the quality metric is smaller than the first quality threshold value discarding the cached content.
Method of producing a cache file, comprising:
- receiving a content file from a content provider;
- defining a quality threshold value of the content file, said threshold value representing a number of packets representative of the content file;
- defining a quality metric of the received content, said quality metric representing a number of the received packets out of the number of packets representative of the content file;
- caching content from the content provider if the quality metric of the cached content equal to the quality threshold value;
- streaming the cached content to a user;
- and if the user interrupts streaming,
- continuing caching a remaining portion of the content if the cached content represents at least a predetermined fraction of the content file;
- and
- deleting the cached content if the cached content represents less than the predetermined fraction of the content file.
Streaming delivery accelerator (SDA) for producing a cache file, the SDA comprising:
- at least one input channel that receives a content file from a content provider;
- a cache memory that stores content of the received content file;
- and
- at least one output channel with a predetermined bandwidth for streaming a cache file produced from the received content;
- wherein the received content has a quality metric, said quality metric representing a number of received packets out of a number of packets representative of the content file, and wherein the received content is stored in cache memory as a cache file if the quality metric of the received content is at least equal to a quality threshold value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.