Parallel streaming
AssigneeNetflix, Inc.
InventorsAnthony N. PARK, Neil D. HUNT, Wei WEI
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Embodiments of the present invention set forth techniques for a content player to stream a media file using multiple network connections. To stream the media file, the content player downloads metadata associated with a requested media file, establishes a network connection with multiple content servers (or multiple network connections with a single content server or both) and begins requesting portions of the media file. In response, the requested portions are transmitted to the content player. The content player may employ a predictive multi-connection scheduling approach to determine which network connection to use in downloading a given chunk.
Claims21
A method, comprising:
- establishing a plurality of network connections with one or more content servers for downloading a digital content file;
- receiving metadata describing a plurality of portions of the digital content file;
- selecting a first portion of the digital content file to be downloaded;
- downloading the first portion of the digital content file from at least one of the one or more content servers via an idle network connection according to the metadata;
- and
- storing the downloaded first portion of the digital content file in a content buffer for play back.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium including instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processing unit to perform the steps of:
- establishing a plurality of network connections with one or more content servers for downloading a digital content file;
- receiving metadata describing a plurality of portions of the digital content file;
- selecting a first portion of the digital content file to be downloaded;
- downloading the first portion of the digital content file from at least one of the one or more content servers via an idle network connection according to the metadata;
- and
- storing the downloaded first portion of the digital content file in a content buffer for play back.
A content player device, comprising:
- a memory that includes a content buffer for storing downloaded digital content and a playback application;
- a processor that is coupled to the memory and, when executing the playback application, is configured to:
- establish a plurality of network connections with one or more content servers for downloading the digital content file;
- receive metadata describing a plurality of portions of the digital content file;
- select a first portion of the digital content file to be downloaded;
- download the first portion of the digital content file from at least one of the one or more content servers via an idle network connection according to the metadata;
- and store the downloaded first portion of the digital content file in the content buffer for play back.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.