Constructing video frames and synchronizing audio data in a media player from data received via a plurality of diverse protocol stack paths

A method comprising:

• at a data processing device,
• receiving via a first communication path a first sequence of video frames that have been assigned a relatively higher priority indicating relatively fewer reference frame dependencies among the first sequence of video frames, the received video frames of the first sequence of video frames having frame dependencies upon a number of reference frame limited to a predetermined number of reference frames;
• receiving via a second communication path a second sequence of video frames that have been assigned a relatively lower priority indicating relatively more reference frame dependencies among the second sequence of video frames;
• processing the first sequence of video frames via a more robust protocol stack;
• processing the second sequence of video frames via a less robust protocol stack;
• generating compensating frames to compensate for lost frames from the received second sequence of video frames using the received first sequence of video frames;
• inserting the compensating frames in place of missing frames from the received second sequence of video frames;
• assembling the first sequence of video frames, the second sequence of video frames and the compensating frames in display order;
• and
• decoding the assembled video frames.

A media player comprising:

• a physical interface configured to receive packetized audio data and video frame data including
• a first sequence of video frames that have been assigned a relatively higher priority indicating relatively fewer reference frame dependencies, and
• a second sequence of video frames that have been assigned a relatively lower priority indicating relatively more reference frame dependencies;
• a protocol stack path in data communication with the physical layer and including
• a more robust pathway operative to process the first sequence of video frames according to a relatively more robust communication protocol, and
• a less robust pathway operative to process the second sequence of video frames according to a relatively less robust communication protocol,
• the protocol stack path operative to assemble the first sequence of video frames and the second sequence of video frames to produce an integrated sequence of video frames;
• and
• a stitching and lost frame processing module in data communication with the protocol stack path and operative to generate compensating frames to compensate for lost frames from the second sequence of video frames using the first sequence of video frames and reassemble the first sequence of video frames and the second sequence of video frames and compensating frames into a proper sequence according to the time stamps in received frame data.