Hybrid method for delivering streaming media within the home
AssigneeIntel Corporation
InventorsKenneth L. Knowlson, Gamil A. Cain, Ajit P. Joshi, Jason Hongfeng Wang
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A hybrid system and method for delivering “streaming” media within the home. According to the method, small portions of media items from a controlling device are received at a rendering device for pre-caching into a cache. Upon a user selecting a media item for playback, play of the media item is immediately started from the cache in real-time while the remaining portions of the selected media item are downloaded from the controlling device and appended to cache at a rate faster than real-time.
Claims31
A home network system comprising:
- a controlling device having storage to house a plurality of multimedia items, the controlling device coupled to a plurality of rendering devices, each of the plurality of rendering devices connected to a monitor, each of the plurality of rendering devices having storage, the storage including a partitioned cache to enable a small portion of a multimedia item from the controlling device to be pre-cached on at least one of the rendering devices prior to being selected by a user for viewing, wherein when a user selects the media item for viewing, the remaining portion of the media item to be progressively downloaded from the controlling device to the cache while a user simultaneously views the media item from the cache.
A hybrid streaming method comprising:
- receiving small portions of media items from a controlling device for pre-caching into a cache of a rendering device;
- and
- upon a user selecting a media item for playback, immediately playing the media item from the cache in real-time for the user while simultaneously connecting to the controlling device to download remaining portions of the selected media item into the cache at a rate faster than real-time.
An article comprising:
- a storage medium having a plurality of machine accessible instructions, wherein when the instructions are executed by a processor, the instructions provide for receiving small portions of media items from a controlling device for pre-caching into a cache of a rendering device;
- and
- upon a user selecting a media item for playback, immediately playing the media item from the cache in real-time for the user while simultaneously connecting to the controlling device to download remaining portions of the selected media item into the cache at a rate faster than real-time.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.