Near real time delivery of variable bit rate media streams

A method, comprising:

• selecting a media asset to be streamed to a media receiver;
• performing a first negotiation with a media asset server configured to stream the media asset including (i) sending an available bandwidth parameter indicating a bandwidth at which data of a media stream associated with the media asset can be received by the media receiver and (ii) receiving a delay parameter indicating an amount by which decoding of the media stream is to be delayed by the media receiver, the delay parameter being calculated based on the available bandwidth parameter of the media receiver and a required minimum transmission rate of the media asset;
• receiving the media asset via a variable bit rate (VBR) media stream;
• decoding the VBR media stream in accordance with the received delay parameter,
• wherein the required minimum transmission rate of the VBR media stream is calculated based on segment transmission rate values of segments of the selected asset, where:
• rate≧bits_consumed/(delay+time_passed), wherein:
• the time_passed is a program clock reference (PCR) timed passed since a start of the segment;
• the bits_consumed is a number of bits in the stream since the start of the segment;
• and
• the segment transmission rate calculation is performed for each program clock reference (PCR) point in the VBR media stream and a maximum rate is chosen for the respective segment;
• detecting a stream control operation that changes a current play point of the media asset to a new play point;
• in response to detecting the stream control operation performing a second negotiation with the media asset server comprising the same operations as the first negotiation;
• and
• thereafter receiving the selected media asset from the new play point at a new required minimum transmission rate of the VBR media stream and receiving a new calculated delay parameter according to which to begin decoding the VBR media stream at the new play point.

A system, comprising:

• a media receiver and a media asset server;
• the media receiver capable of discovering a media asset server, determining which assets are available for streaming on the media server, selecting an asset on the media asset server to be streamed, and requesting the media asset server to stream the selected asset;
• and
• the media asset server configured to transmit the selected media asset via a variable bit rate (VBR) media stream representative of the selected media asset at a calculated required minimum transmission rate and provide a calculated delay parameter to the media receiver such that the media receiver begins decoding the VBR media stream in accordance with the calculated delay parameter, wherein the calculated required minimum transmission rate and the calculated delay parameter are calculated during a first negotiation between the media receiver and the media asset server
• wherein:
• the media asset server is further configured to calculate segment transmission rate values, where:
• rate≧bits_consumed/(delay+time_passed), wherein:
• the time_passed is a program clock reference (PCR) time passed since a start of the segment;
• the bits_consumed is a number of bits in the VBR media stream since the start of the segment;
• the segment transmission rate calculation is performed for each program clock reference (PCR) point in the VBR media stream and a maximum rate is chosen for the respective segment;
• and
• the required minimum transmission rate of the VBR media stream is calculated based on one of the calculated segment transmission rate values;
• and
• wherein the media asset server is further configured to detect a stream control operation that changes a current play point of the VBR media stream to a new play point and, in response, perform a second negotiation with the media receiver to obtain a new calculated required minimum transmission rate and a new calculated delay parameter;
• and
• thereafter transmit the VBR media stream from the new play point at the new calculated required minimum transmission rate and the new calculated delay parameter such that the media receiver begins decoding the VBR media stream at the new play point in accordance with the new calculated delay parameter.