Seamless multicast and unicast switching for content playback

A method, implemented by a mobile device, the method comprising:

• receiving a request, from a user of the mobile device, to play streaming content at the mobile device;
• receiving, from a wireless network, and using a multicast technique, a sequence of content segments that correspond to the requested streaming content, wherein receiving the sequence of content segments includes:
• storing the received sequence of content segments in a buffer, wherein the buffer is associated with a first value defining a size of the buffer and a second value defining a portion of the buffer for which playback of the requested content is restricted;
• determining when a content segment is missing from the sequence of content segments;
• requesting, in response to the determination of the missing content segment, the missing content segment, from the wireless network, using a unicast technique;
• receiving, via the unicast technique, the missing content segment;
• inserting the received missing content segment into the sequence of content segments to obtain the sequence of content segments as a sequence that includes content segments received using both the multicast and unicast techniques;
• and
• playing, using the sequence of content segments, including the content received via the unicast technique, the requested content.

A mobile device comprising:

• a multicast component to receive, from a wireless network, a multicast content stream, corresponding to content that was requested by a user of the mobile device, and to output content segments corresponding to the multicast content stream;
• a unicast component to:
• request, from the wireless network, a particular content segment corresponding to the content,
• receive, from the wireless network and as unicast data, the particular content segment, and
• output the particular content segment;
• a segment buffer to store the content segments output by the multicast component and the unicast component as a sequence of content segments corresponding to the requested content, wherein the segment buffer is associated with a first value defining a size of the segment buffer and a second value defining a portion of the segment buffer for which playback of the requested content is restricted;
• and
• a playback component to read the content segments from the segment buffer and to play, based on the read content segments, the requested content.