Method and apparatus for streaming media content to client devices

An apparatus comprising:

• a computer server comprising a processor coupled to a memory, and the processor configured to:
• generate a plurality of variant streams from a media stream, wherein the plurality of variant streams correspond to different respective encoded bitrates of a presentation of the media stream of a same content having a same duration;
• provide a playlist that identifies a subset of the plurality of variant streams to a first client device;
• receive, from the first client device, a first request for a first set of identifiers that identifies a first set of media segments from a first variant stream of the subset of the plurality of variant streams, wherein the first set of media segments corresponds to a first encoding of the presenting encoded in a first encoded bitrate;
• determine, in response to the first request, a second set of identifiers that identifies a second set of media segments from a second variant stream from the plurality of variant streams, wherein the second variant stream corresponds to a second encoding of the presentation encoded in a second encoded bitrate that is lower than the first encoded bitrate, wherein the first client device is configured to use the second set of media segments in downloading a first portion of the media content of the presentation;
• and
• responsive to the second set of media segments not identified in the playlist file:
• identify current state of the first client device based on at least one of a plurality of criteria describing various aspects of the first client device;
• dynamically create a playlist comprising the second set of media segments based on the current state of the first client device;
• populate the created playlist with corresponding uniform resource locators and metadata associated with each of the second set of media segments;
• and
• provide the dynamically created playlist to the first client device.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer program instructions when executed by a computer processor cause the computer processor to perform steps of:

• providing, to a first client device, a playlist file that identifies a plurality of variant streams corresponding to different respective encoded bitrates of a presentation of a media stream of a same content having a same duration;
• receiving, from the first client device, a first request to provide a first set of identifiers that identifies a first set of media segments from a first variant stream of the plurality of variant streams in the playlist file, wherein the first set of media segments corresponds to a first encoding of the presentation encoded in a first encoded bitrate;
• responsive to the first request, providing a second set of identifiers that d identifies a second set of media segments from a second variant stream of the plurality of variant streams in the playlist file, wherein the second set of media segments corresponds to a second encoding of the presentation encoded in a second encoded bitrate that is lower than the first encoded bitrate, wherein the first client device is configured to use the second set of media segments in downloading a first portion of the media content of the presentation;
• and
• responsive to the second set of media segments not identified in the playlist file:
• identifying, by the computer server, current state of the first client device based on at least one of a plurality of criteria describing various aspects of the first client device;
• dynamically creating, by the computer server, a playlist comprising the second set of media segments based on the current state of the first client device;
• populating, by the computer server, the created playlist with corresponding uniform resource locators and metadata associated with each of the second set of media segments;
• and
• providing, by the computer server, the dynamically created playlist to the first client device.