Methods and systems for efficiently downloading media assets

A method comprising:

• receiving, via a computing device, a user selection of a content item available in a high quality version and a low quality version, the high quality version having a higher quality than the low quality version;
• estimating an amount of time remaining before a loss of connectivity between the computing device and a server;
• determining a download speed at which the computing device can download content from the server;
• computing, based on the estimated amount of time remaining before the loss of connectivity and the determined download speed, a size of a portion of the high quality version of the content item and a size of a portion of the low quality version of the content item to request for download,
• wherein a combination of the portion of the high quality version and the portion of the low quality version forms a complete version of the content item, and
• wherein the computing comprises optimizing the size of the portion of the high quality version and the size of the portion of the low quality version to maximize the size of the portion of the high quality version and to ensure that the complete version of the content item can be downloaded at the download speed in the estimated amount of time before the loss of connectivity;
• and
• downloading the complete version of the content before the loss of connectivity.

A system comprising:

• communication circuitry configured for a communication network;
• and
• control circuitry configured to:
• receive, via a computing device, a user selection of a content item available in a high quality version and a low quality version, the high quality version having a higher quality than the low quality version;
• estimate an amount of time remaining before a loss of connectivity between the computing device and a server;
• determine a download speed at which the computing device can download content from the server;
• compute, based on the estimated amount of time remaining before the loss of connectivity and the determined download speed, a size of a portion of the high quality version of the content item and a size of a portion of the low quality version of the content item to request for download,
• wherein a combination of the portion of the high quality version and the portion of the low quality version forms a complete version of the content item, and
• wherein the control circuitry configured to compute by optimizing the size of the portion of the high quality version and the size of the portion of the low quality version to maximize the size of the portion of the high quality version and to ensure that the complete version of the content item can be downloaded at the download speed in the estimated amount of time before the loss of connectivity;
• and
• download the complete version of the content before the loss of connectivity.