Tiered content streaming

An apparatus for providing live content for viewing, comprising:

• a first network interface that receives live content;
• a second network interface, different from the first network interface, that communicatively couples the apparatus with a user device;
• a content list advertiser that advertises, over a second network interface, availability of the live content in a list comprising a plurality of entries, each entry including a playout rate;
• a play-out request receiver that receives, over the second network interface, a viewing request from a user device, the viewing request including a desired playout rate;
• a transcoder that transcoders content;
• a controller that controls the transcoder to transcode the live content from a rate at which the live content is received over the first network interface to a current output rate matching the desired play-out rate;
• a memory that stores output of the transcoder as content segments and making content segments available to the user device;
• and
• a list updater that updates the plurality of entries in the list to include the current output rate, a first rate that is greater than the current output rate and a second rate that is less than the current output rate,
• wherein the controller is adapted to:
• receive a message from the user device, the message comprising device capability information indicating an acceptable segment-to-segment bitrate change, and
• select a first quality level and a second quality level based on the device capability information such that magnitudes of a first difference between a current quality level and the first quality level and a second difference between the current quality level and the second quality level are less than the acceptable segment-to-segment bitrate change, and
• wherein the first and second rates are based on the current output rate and a maximum bitrate change step size allowable for the apparatus.

A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium having code stored thereon, the code, when executed, causing a processor to implement a method of streaming live content, the method comprising:

• controlling a transcoder to receive live content and output transcoded live content at a current quality level, wherein the current quality level is selected based on a content playback request from a user device;
• storing transcoded live content at a local memory as individually addressable segments, wherein each segment has a playback duration;
• transmitting a message to the user device indicating that the live content is available at least at the current quality level and at least two additional quality levels, without having any locally stored content segments corresponding to the at least two additional quality levels,
• receiving a message from the user device, the message comprising device capability information, the device capability information indicates an acceptable segment-to-segment bitrate change;
• and
• selecting a first quality level for the at least two additional quality levels and a second quality level for the at least two additional quality levels based on the device capability information such that magnitudes of a first difference between the current quality level and the first quality level and a second difference between the current quality level and the second quality level are less than the acceptable segment-to-segment bitrate change;
• wherein the at least two quality levels do not exceed a maximum bitrate change step size allowable for the transcoder.

An apparatus for presenting a live content to a user, the apparatus comprising:

• a memory that stores program instructions;
• a network interface over which the apparatus receives the live content and associated metadata;
• and
• a processor that reads and executes program instructions from the memory to:
• receive, from the user, a viewing request for the live content;
• initiate a streaming session with a server of the live content, wherein the streaming session comprises downloading the live content as multiple program segments, each having an encoding bitrate;
• communicate a bitrate change maximum step size from one program segment to next that is acceptable to the apparatus;
• present the downloaded program segments to the user;
• receive a message from the user device, the message comprising device capability information having an acceptable segment-to-segment bitrate change;
• and
• select a first quality level and a second quality level based on the device capability information such that magnitudes of a first difference between a current quality level and the first quality level and a second difference between the current quality level and the second quality level are less than the acceptable segment-to-segment bitrate change,
• wherein the first and second quality levels do not exceed the bitrate change maximum step size.