Http live streaming (hls) video client synchronization
AssigneeARRIS Enterprises LLC
InventorsWilliam W. Jennings, Paul A. Clancy
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A streaming media server is provided that receives a request over a network from a customer premises gateway to receive a streaming media content item that is to be presented on two or more client devices in a synchronized manner. Responsive to the request, the streaming media server sends a manifest associated with the requested streaming media content item to the customer premises gateway only when it has been incrementally updated to remove an oldest media segment URL from the manifest and add a most recent media segment URL to the manifest.
Claims20
A method for delivering streaming media content from a streaming media server to at least two client devices through a common gateway so that the streaming media content is presented simultaneously by the client devices, comprising:
- determining that a request received by a gateway from a first client device is a request to receive from a streaming media server media content that is to be synchronized with a presentation of the media content by a second client device that receives the media content through the gateway, the first and second client devices being of a common type that process streaming media in a common manner;
- (ii) sending the request from the gateway to the streaming media server;
- (iii) responsive to the request from the gateway, receiving at the gateway an initial manifest associated with the streaming media content, the initial manifest including a sequence of media segment URLs indicating an ordering of the media segments that create a representation of a portion of the streaming media content;
- (iv) sending one or more additional requests from the gateway to the streaming media server to receive an updated version of the initial manifest, the one or more additional requests being sent at time intervals that are less than a duration of the media segments in the initial manifest;
- (v) forwarding the updated version of the initial manifest and not the initial manifest itself to the first client device immediately upon receiving the updated manifest version at the gateway;
- (vi) receiving a request from the first client device to receive a selected media segment specified in the updated manifest version;
- (vii) forwarding the request for the selected media segment to the server and receiving the selected media segment in response;
- (viii) forwarding the selected media content to the first client device at a transmission rate greater than a rate at which the media segment plays out in real-time and less than a transmission rate available over a slower of a first or second transmission link, the first transmission link being between the gateway and the first client device and the second transmission link being between the gateway and the second client device;
- and
- (ix) repeating steps (i)-(viii) for the second client device.
A customer premises gateway, comprising:
- a network-side interface for communicating over a wide-area network (WAN);
- a client-side interface establishing communication between the WAN and a plurality of client devices that process streaming media in a common manner;
- one or more processors:
- one or more computer-readable storage media containing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors perform a method for delivering streaming media content received over the WAN to the plurality of client devices, the method including:
- receiving first and second requests from first and second client devices, respectively, to receive a common live streaming media content item that is to be synchronized on first and second client devices;
- responding to the each of the first and second requests by ensuring that manifests associated with the common live streaming media content item are forwarded to the first and second client devices immediately after the manifests have been incrementally updated to include a URL for a new media segment;
- responsive to requests from the first and second client devices to receive selected media segments specified in the updated versions of the manifests, sending the selected media segments to the first and second client devices at a transmission rate greater than a rate at which the media segments play out in real-time and less than a transmission rate available over a slower of a first or second transmission link, the first transmission link being between the client-side interface and the first client device and the second transmission link being between the client-side interface and the second client device.
One or more computer-readable storage media containing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors perform a method for delivering streaming media content received over the WAN to a customer premises gateway, the method including:
- receiving a request over a network from a customer premises gateway to receive a streaming media content item that is to be presented on two or more client devices in a synchronized manner;
- responsive to the request, sending a manifest associated with the requested streaming media content item to the customer premises gateway only when it has been incrementally updated to remove an oldest media segment URL from the manifest and add a most recent media segment URL to the manifest.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.