Patent Application
20090049491
Aspects of the invention generally relate to peer-to-peer computing technologies. More specifically, an apparatus, method and system for providing video to an end user at various resolutions are provided.
Improvements in computing technologies have changed the way people interact with one another, as well as how people share information with one another. Such improvements include the introduction of peer-to-peer based file sharing protocols, such as the BitTorrent communications protocol. Prior to the emergence of peer-to-peer based technologies in computer networks, the conventional methods of distributing information (often in the form of computer files and the like) was based on a more conventional client-server relationship. Peer-to-peer technology improved overall system reliability by allowing one or more peer computers to serve as a source of information requested by another peer computer. Thus, the risk of not being able to obtain information due to a server being non-operational (either due to the server itself, or one or more network connections) is mitigated because the risk itself is distributed amongst the peer computing devices. Moreover, the peer computers can be configured to share the load with respect to information distribution within the network, thereby not overburdening any single computer.
The file sharing experience has been further enriched as a result of the establishment of Internet Protocol Television (IPTV). IPTV is a system wherein a digital television service is delivered by using Internet Protocol over a network infrastructure, which may include delivery by a broadband connection. Instead of being delivered through traditional broadcast and cable formats, IPTV television content is received by the viewer via technologies typically used for computer networks. IPTV offers numerous advantages over traditional architectures, such as allowing the integration of television with other IP-based services like high speed Internet access and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). Moreover, switched IP networks allow bandwidth to be conserved. More specifically, in a conventional network using broadcast video technology, all the content available flows downstream to each viewing station, and a user switches the content at a set-top box or the like. Conversely, in a switched IP network, all the available content remains in the network, and only the content that an individual user selects is sent to the user's device. Thus, the quality of service (e.g., the quality of a picture) may be enhanced without incurring the expense of having to allocate additional resources at each viewing station.
Peer-to-peer and IPTV based technologies have facilitated tremendous growth in terms of the sharing of video files in computer networks and on the Internet. This growth has imposed an immense challenge on service providers in terms of being able to handle continuously increasing loads while still ensuring (a minimum) quality of service. Video files tend to consume large amounts of bandwidth when transferred from one computing device to another. Some estimates have indicated that video downloading accounts for fifty percent of all Internet traffic. Irrespective of the actual share of Internet traffic, it suffices to say that there is a genuine need in the art to implement as many measures as possible in order to preserve bandwidth, particularly as the popularity, and hence growth, of video file sharing continues to increase. Moreover, it would be advantageous if such measures would take into consideration the computing platforms involved in the video distribution.
The following presents a simplified summary of aspects of the invention in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an extensive overview, and is not intended to identify key or critical elements or to delineate the scope of the claims. The following summary merely presents some concepts and aspects of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description provided below.
To overcome limitations in the prior art described above, and to overcome other limitations that will be apparent upon reading and understanding the present specification, aspects of the present invention are directed to a novel apparatus, method and system for providing quick access to a video file at a first resolution, with subsequent access to a more permanent version of the video file at a second, e.g., higher, resolution.
A first aspect provides a video file from a first source device live at a first resolution to a first destination device.
A second aspect provides the video file from the first source device at a second resolution.
A third aspect provides the video file from a second source device at the second resolution.
A fourth aspect provides the video to the second source device from the first source device.
A fifth aspect encodes video in a plurality of resolutions.
A sixth aspect embeds identifying information in the form of metadata into transmitted video during a first distribution.
A seventh aspect embeds identifying information into a distribution protocol during the first distribution.
An eighth aspect indicates a video file has already been accessed or received.
These and other aspects of the invention generally relate to a source device shooting and distributing video footage live at a first (e.g., lower) resolution, while simultaneously saving the video footage at a second (e.g., higher) resolution. Identifying information may be included with the distribution to enable a receiving device to determine the source and/or nature of the video being received. A receiving device may subsequently generate a request for redistribution based on the identifying information, wherein the receiving device sends the request to the source device. The source device may redistribute the saved video at the second resolution responsive to the request. The initial distribution and/or redistribution may take place via one or more protocols (e.g., BitTorrent), wherein the protocols may support live and/or “almost live” (e.g., slightly delayed) distribution. The source device may also upload the saved video to one or more servers, thereby enabling the video to be retrieved from the one or more servers. One or more URLs associated with the one or more servers may also be sent from the source device to the receiving device to provide an indication of the server(s) where the video file may be obtained from.
A more complete understanding of the present invention and the advantages thereof may be acquired by referring to the following description in consideration of the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numbers indicate like features, and wherein:
In the following description of the various embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration various embodiments in which one or more aspects of the invention may be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural and functional modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.
Conventional processes for producing video in two resolutions include the steps of: (1) while shooting live video, encoding the video in high resolution via video capture hardware, software, and/or firmware, (2) decoding the video to yield an unpacked “full image” version of the video in high resolution, (3) downscaling the full image to the low resolution, and (4) re-encoding the low resolution full image to another video stream or file. These processes, however, typically consume too much time to be carried out while also distributing the video concurrently. Thus, as demonstrated herein, one or more aspects of the invention provide for the simultaneous encoding of video into two (or more) resolutions, saving both time and processing resources.
Connections 120 and 150 illustrate interconnections for communication purposes. The actual connections represented by connections 120 and 150 may be embodied in various forms. For example, connections 120 and 150 may be hardwired/wireline connections. Alternatively, connections 120 and 150 may be wireless connections. Connections 120 and 150 are shown in
Computing environment 100 may be carried out as part of a larger network consisting of more than two peer devices. For example, PEER2140 may exchange communications with a plurality of other peer devices (not shown) in addition to PEER1110. The communications may be conducted using one or more communication protocols. Furthermore, computing environment 100 may include one or more intermediary nodes (not shown) that may buffer, store, or route communications between the various peer devices.
Computer program product implementations may include a series of computer instructions fixed either on a tangible medium, such as a computer readable medium (e.g., a diskette, CD-ROM, ROM, DVD, fixed disk, etc.) or transmittable to computer device 212, via a modem or other interface device, such as a communications adapter connected to a network over a medium, which is either tangible (e.g., optical or analog communication lines) or implemented wirelessly (e.g., microwave, infrared, or other transmission techniques). The series of computer instructions may embody all or part of the functionality with respect to the computer system, and can be written in a number of programming languages for use with many different computer architectures and/or operating systems, as would be readily appreciated by one of ordinary skill. The computer instructions may be stored in any memory device (e.g., memory 234), such as a semiconductor, magnetic, optical, or other memory device, and may be transmitted using any communications technology, such as optical infrared, microwave, or other transmission technology. Such a computer program product may be distributed as a removable medium with accompanying printed or electronic documentation (e.g., shrink wrapped software), preloaded with a computer system (e.g., on system ROM or fixed disk), or distributed from a server or electronic bulletin board over a network (e.g., the Internet or World Wide Web). Various embodiments of the invention may also be implemented as hardware, firmware or any combination of software (e.g., a computer program product), hardware and firmware. Moreover, the functionality as depicted may be located on a single physical computing entity, or may be divided between multiple computing entities.
For purposes of facilitating the following description, examples will be provided herein as they relate to the interaction of various types of computing platforms or devices, such as cell phones, handheld devices, personal computers (PCs), servers and the like. These platforms/devices are merely illustrative, and one of skill in the art will appreciate that they may readily be combined or interchanged with other types of computing platforms/devices without departing from the scope of the present invention.
Cell phone 350 may also include a first resolution module 308. First resolution module 308 may include software and/or hardware for facilitating distribution of live streaming video at a first resolution. First resolution module 308 may receive as input video output 304a from camera 302. First video output 332 (e.g., live streaming video) of first resolution module 308 may be acquired by a peer device (not shown in
Cell phone 350 may include storage 320 (e.g., memory 234) for purposes of saving the video footage. For example, the video footage may be saved as a video file or in another suitable format. Moreover, storage 320 may further include a second resolution module 326 to further facilitate saving the recorded video. Second resolution module 326 may receive as input video output 304b from camera 302. Generally, second resolution module 326 may be configured to produce a second video output 338 of different resolution than first video output 332. For example, second resolution module 326 may be configured to produce second video output 338 at a higher resolution than first video output 332. Alternatively, second resolution module 326 may be configured to produce second video output 338 at a lower resolution than first video output 332. Moreover, first resolution module 308 and second resolution module 326 may be configured to produce outputs (332 and 338) of the same resolution. Furthermore, the output (332 and 338) resolution produced by each of first resolution module 308 and second resolution module 326 may be variable. Second video output 338 may be accessed for later retrieval (e.g., after the live transmission associated with first video output 332) via peer-to-peer environment 314. Second resolution module 326 may include an additional output (video to server output 342) to facilitate uploading video to a server or the like as will be discussed in greater detail below, thereby providing an additional mechanism in which the video can be acquired after the live transmission associated with first video output 332 has finished.
As illustrated in
Handheld device 410 may maintain a listing of all videos that it has received in its history. Alternatively, handheld device 410 may maintain a listing of the last N (e.g., 100) videos it has received, or may apply some other criteria such as date or time to determine how many of the past videos to maintain a record of in the listing. The listing may be based on the identifying information received in conjunction with first video output 332. A user of handheld device 410 may later wish to save or view the video on another device, such as personal computer 420. A user may connect handheld device 410 to personal computer 420 via a cradle or some other wired or wireless connection, at which point personal computer 420 may synchronize a local copy of the listing of videos to that contained on the handheld device 410. The synchronization may occur in the opposite direction, so that a listing of videos viewed on personal computer 420 may instead be sent to the handheld device 410. Alternatively, the synchronization may be based on time stamps so as to bring the listings on both the personal computer 420 and handheld device 410 to the same status irrespective of on which platform a video was first viewed. Additional options may be included to enable a user to determine which videos to synchronize in the respective listings. Further, the listings might not be synchronized at all, and a user may simply use the listing on a first device (e.g., handheld device 410) as a reference by which to (manually) access the video on a second device (e.g., personal computer 420). For example, assuming that a video was first received/viewed on handheld device 410, a user may subsequently wish to view the video on personal computer 420. Thus, the user may use the identifying information included in first video output 332 to obtain a retransmission 440b of the video. Retransmission 440b may be generated directly from second video output 338 of second resolution module 326. Alternatively, or additionally, retransmission 440b may be generated via a BitTorrent file 446 or other transmission protocol wherein one or more peer devices contribute a portion of (or even the entire) retransmission 440b. Personal computer 420 may obtain BitTorrent file 446 via a torrent file URL transmitted by cell phone 350 that may contain at least some of the identifying information discussed previously.
The torrent file URL may be transmitted by cell phone 350 prior to the start of the live distribution of video content received via first video output 332. Alternatively, the torrent file URL (as well as the identifying information, and any other information or URL(s) that may provide further information or access to the video) may periodically be transmitted during the live distribution. Periodically transmitting the torrent file URL during the live distribution provides additional benefits which include: (1) enabling receiving/destination devices that were not initially present at the beginning of the live distribution to attain the torrent file URL, and (2) enabling receiving/destination devices to terminate reception prior to the conclusion of the live distribution, yet still having an ability to access one or more torrent files after the live distribution has concluded. Furthermore, cell phone 350 may transmit the torrent file URL at the end of the live distribution; this may be particularly true in an embodiment where the user of cell phone 350 (e.g., the source of the video) provides identifying information at the conclusion of the video shoot. For example, a user of cell phone 350 may desire to direct an audience's attention to one or more precursory videos (e.g., advertisements) prior to providing access (via the identifying information) to a primary video of interest. Thus, the user of cell phone 350 may purposely withhold the identifying information until the precursory videos have been received and/or viewed. The torrent files may be retrieved via a cellular data call based on a telephone number of the source device; this may be particularly advantageous when the source device cannot be contacted via the Internet, but the video itself is accessible on other BitTorrent hosts (e.g., other peer devices). The torrent files may be updated periodically as new material is shot; when the shooting of the video is completed, the torrent files may be finalized.
After video has been uploaded to one or more servers (e.g., server 430), a user of personal computer 420 may be able to retrieve (e.g., download) the video footage 452 from server 430 (via 452a) using a search query based on at least some of the identifying information. Alternatively, or additionally, the video footage 452 may be acquired by handheld device 410 (via 452b), or any other video camera, video capture device, and the like. Moreover, the server may provide additional classifying information to enable searching on a broader basis. For example, a user may enter a search query related to “animals”. Responsive to the entered search query, a number of videos may be returned including the video “Puppy or chicken?” as shot by Bob. The server may be a commercial server that typically hosts video files of this nature (e.g., YouTube). Alternatively, the server may be a personal web server belonging to Bob, allowing Bob greater flexibility with respect to controlling access to the video files he uploads. For example, Bob may impose additional security in the form of a password or the like in order for a user to gain access to Bob's files. The password may be included with the identifying information sent in the initial live broadcast. Alternatively, the password may be sent at the conclusion of the initial live transmission, and only to a select number of users; thus, some users may only have the option of viewing the live broadcast while not being granted access to files on Bob's personal server.
A receiving device may be configured to attempt to access the video footage from various entities in a particular order. For example, assume handheld device 410 initially received a live broadcast of the “Puppy or chicken?” video as shot by Bob on May 1, 2007. Handheld device 410 may thereafter maintain in a listing a record of the “Puppy or chicken?” video as having been viewed/accessed along with corresponding identifying information. On May 15, 2007, Bob may upload the video “Puppy or chicken?” from cell phone 350 to a commercial server and/or his personal server after having edited the video to remove a particular scene. In the process of uploading, cell phone 350 may remove/delete the video, torrent file URL, and any torrent files from cell phone 350. Thereafter, on Jun. 1, 2007, a user of handheld device 410 may want to watch the “Puppy or chicken?” video again after having reviewed a listing of videos that were accessed on handheld device 410 within the past two months. In response to a request to obtain the video, handheld device 410 may be configured to first attempt to retrieve the video via one or more torrent files. The BitTorrent retrieval attempt will fail, however, given that the torrent file URL and torrent files have been deleted. Next, handheld device may be configured to attempt to retrieve the “Puppy or chicken?” video from the commercial server based on at least some of identifying information as discussed previously. If Bob has not removed the “Puppy or chicken?” video from the commercial server between May 15, 2007, and Jun. 1, 2007, then the video retrieval from the commercial server will be successful. Conversely, if Bob removed the “Puppy or chicken?” video sometime in between (e.g., Bob removed the “Puppy or chicken?” video from the commercial server on May 23, 2007), then handheld device 410 will be unable to retrieve the “Puppy or chicken?” video from the commercial server. Under this scenario, handheld device 410 may be configured to attempt to retrieve the “Puppy or chicken?” video from Bob's personal server. Assuming that Bob has not removed the “Puppy or chicken?” video from his personal server, the retrieval will be successful; otherwise, handheld device 410 may generate a warning message indicating that the retrieval was not successful due to the video no longer being available. Alternatively, if handheld device 410 is not aware of Bob's personal server, a web browser may be launched on handheld device 410 and a search engine (e.g., Google) may be accessed with a search query automatically generated based on at least some of the identifying information discussed previously. The search engine may return the “Puppy or chicken?” video as a search result responsive to the search query. Initially, handheld device 410 (or any other receiving device) may be configured to engage in a polling process or a similar automatic mechanism to determine whether the video “Puppy or chicken?” is posted to a server based on a timestamp, watermark, the identifying information, or the like, thus allowing the video to be automatically retrieved without requiring a user to manually search for or determine whether the video has been uploaded to the server.
In at least one embodiment, the source device (e.g., cell phone 350) may prompt Bob at the time of the video shoot as to whether he intends to upload the video to one or more servers. If Bob indicates an intention not to upload the video to one or more servers, information to that effect may be included as part of the initial live distribution of the video “Puppy or chicken?”, and all information related to the video may be removed from cell phone 350 after a predetermined time period. Thus, if Bob indicates that he does not intend to upload the video, (a user of) receiving handheld device 410 will know to act quickly to retrieve the video via BitTorrent or the like before the video is potentially no longer available. Alternatively, even if Bob indicates that he does not intend to upload the video, cell phone 350 may be configured to retain the video and all the information related to the video on cell phone 350 until Bob decides to manually delete it, thereby allowing Bob to change his mind.
Various services may be established to support both the upload and retrieval processes associated with the video footage. A central service provided by a commercial server or the like may facilitate finding both live streaming and stored videos. Using metadata (e.g., the identifying information), it may be possible to “subscribe” to the stored video file while watching the live streaming video. There may be a mechanism wherein a login name of the author of the video (e.g., “bobisbest”) may be used to locate the user's World Wide Web (WWW) homepage, which may in turn provide further information including a cellphone number or the like, which may enable locating/retrieving videos attributed to the user. Some or all of these mechanisms may be incorporated as a part of a separate peer-to-peer portal or the like.
Other resolution schemes may be possible. The examples contained herein have primarily demonstrated using two resolutions (e.g., first resolution module 308 and second resolution module 326). Alternative embodiments may include additional resolutions (e.g., third resolution module, fourth resolution module, etc.) Still further, the architectures as shown in the various figures are merely illustrative. Other arrangements may be included without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, first resolution module 308 may be integrated with camera 302. Other modifications will be appreciated by those of skill in the art.
Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.
