Hulu, LLC

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology Academy of Military Medical Sciences Pla China

Biotech Research Laboratories

Other

Capitalbio Corporation

Tsinghua University

Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology

Academy of Military Medical Sciences P.l.a. China

Lan Xie

Wenhao Zhang

Deliang Fu

Kuo-Hsiung Lee

Yuting Gui

Qiang She

Chao Li

Tongyu Dai

Shenglan Huang

Yicheng Liu

Xizhi Xu

Yanping Zhou

Yoshiki Kashiwada

Mark Manak

Mark Cosentino

Li Huang

Jim Snider

Thomas Tung-Ying Lee

Chao Zhang

Jing Cheng

Rui Ma

Rui Zhang

Chen Liu

Shibo Jiang

Xiaobo Liu

Xuchang Huangfu

Shuai Lou

Tian Qiu

Hong Lu

Lei Wang

Yung-Chi Cheng

Wanli Xing

Graham P Allaway

Carl Thomas Wild

Xiaofeng Wang

Chao Han

Chin-Ho Chen

Na Liu

Louis Mark Cosentino

Shun Ni

Bingjie Qin

Mark Manax

Robert Kilkulskie

Jing-Xi Xie

Lianqi Sun

Xingtao Tian

Kou-Hsiung Lee

In some embodiments, a method sends a set of first requests for a set of first segments of a video in a playback session. A first protocol from a plurality of protocols is specified in at least one of the set of first requests. The set of first segments is received. The method determines whether to switch from using the first protocol to a second protocol in the playback session based on receiving the set of first segments. When switching to the second protocol, the method sends a second request in the playback session, wherein the second request indicates the second protocol is to be used to send a second segment of the video.

Multiple protocol prediction and in-session adaptation in video streaming

In some embodiments, a method receives a first request for a first time window and a first viewport position for a client that is viewing a 360 degree video. A first message is sent to indicate a computing device will push content in a stream for a first one or more time windows other than the first time window. The method pushes content based on the first viewport position for the first time window to the client. A second request is received to change from the first viewport position to a second viewport position. The method sends a second message to indicate the computing device will push content in the stream for a second one or more time windows without canceling the stream. The method pushes content based on the second viewport position in the 360 degree video for the second one or more time windows to the client.

Pushing content in time windows based on different positions

In some embodiments, after receiving a first set of video segments of a video, a method starts a first computing instance and receives a video segment of the video using the first computing instance. A measurement is calculated based on receiving the video segment. The method uses the measurement to determine whether the first computing instance should continue to be used to receive video segments in the video or should be terminated to not receive video segments in the video.

Concurrent downloading of video

In some embodiments, a method analyzes content of a video to generate a representation for a video that represents a relationship of a bitrate to a quality measurement for the video. A plurality of candidate points on the representation are selected. Then, the method selects a profile ladder from at least a portion of the plurality of candidate points. Each profile in the profile ladder is associated with a candidate point and the profile includes a corresponding bitrate and a quality measurement for the respective candidate point. The profile ladder is used for the video.

Adaptive transcoding of profile ladder for videos

In some embodiments, a method sends a set of requests for a video using a first protocol. The first protocol is selected from a plurality of protocols available for use in a playback session for the video. The method compares a first performance of the first protocol and a second performance of a second protocol and determines whether to switch from using the first protocol to the second protocol in the playback session based on the comparing.

In some embodiments, a method receives a request for a video and receives a ranking of content delivery networks for the request. Also, global constraints are received for the content delivery networks. The global constraints define an allocation for respective content delivery networks. The method selects a content delivery network using the global constraints and the ranking. A score for the content delivery network is altered from a first score to a second score in the ranking and used in the selecting of the content delivery network. The content delivery network that is selected for the request is outputted.

Global constraint-based content delivery network (CDN) selection in a video streaming system

In some embodiments, a method receives a first request for a first time window and a first position. A first message is sent to indicate a computing device will push content to a client in a stream for a video for a first one or more time windows other than the first time window. The method pushes content for the first time window based on the first position. A second request is received to change from the first position to a second position. The method pushes content for a second time window to the client based on the first position. A second message is sent to indicate the computing device will push content to the client in the stream for a second one or more time windows other than the second time window. The method pushes content for a third time window to the client based on the second position.

In some embodiments, a method receives session features for a session associated with a request for a video from a client and predicts network conditions for the session using the session features. A subset of available profiles is selected based on the network conditions. The available profiles are associated with a different playback characteristic. The method provides a profile ladder that includes the subset of available profiles for the playback of the video to the client. The profile ladder restricts the client to using the subset of available profiles to request segments of the video during the session.

Session based adaptive playback profile decision for video streaming

In some embodiments, a method receives a plurality of video segments of a video using a plurality of computing instances and measures data received for the plurality of computing instances during a time window. A video segment for a computing instance in the plurality of computing instances is not fully downloaded during the time window. The method calculates a video delivery metric for the plurality of computing instances based on the data received and calculates an evaluation measurement based on the video delivery metric. The evaluation measurement is used to control an addition or a termination of a computing instance.

In some embodiments, a method receives a first ranking of content delivery networks for a playback session of a video and receives global constraints for the content delivery networks. The global constraints define an allocation for respective content delivery networks. The method alters a score for a content delivery network in the first ranking to generate a second ranking of content delivery networks. Then, a content delivery network is selected from the second ranking for the playback session of the video.

In some embodiments, a method receives a probability distribution of a likelihood that a user might view one or more tiles in one or more segments of a video. The video is encoded in different profiles that are associated with different bitrates. An available bandwidth is determined. Then, the method selects a profile for each tile in a segment of the video based on the available bandwidth and the probability distribution for the tiles and sends a request for a respective profile for each tile for playback of the segment of the video.

Adaptive bitrate algorithm with cross-user based viewport prediction for 360-degree video streaming

In some embodiments, a method generates a representation for a video that represents a relationship of a bitrate to a quality measurement for the video and selects candidate transcoding points on the representation. A plurality of candidate profile ladders are generated based on the candidate transcoding points. Each of the plurality of candidate profile ladders includes a different combination of profiles and a profile is associated with at least one of a bitrate and a quality measurement. The method selects a profile ladder from the plurality of candidate profile ladders based on analyzing the bitrate or the quality of the profile ladder and uses the profile ladder for the video.

In some embodiments, a method sends a first frame that establishes a first state to push information to a client in a stream based on a first set of characteristics. The method transitions from the first state to a second state that allows pushing of content to the client. Content is pushed for a first time window to the client based on the first set of characteristics without receiving a request for the content in the first time window. The method receives a request to change the first set of characteristics to a second set of characteristics. The request includes information requesting a switch from the second state to the first state. In response to receiving the change, the method sends a second frame to continue pushing content to the client in the stream based on the second set of characteristics and transitions from the second state to the first state.

Soft server push in video streaming

In some embodiments, a method receives one or more segments for content from a first content delivery network during a playback session for the content. The content includes a number of segments. The method evaluates buffer occupancy of a buffer configured to store segments of the content for playback and evaluates a number of times of a failure to download a segment for the content. The buffer occupancy is compared to a first threshold and the number of times of the failure to a second threshold. The method determines a switch from the first content delivery network to a second content delivery network during the playback session based on the comparing.

Dynamic multi-content delivery network selection during video playback

In some embodiments, a method receives playback information for a plurality of representations based on one or more videos being played at a media player. The plurality of representations have at least one different characteristic that affects playback of the video. A dropped-frame measurement is predicted for the plurality of representations based on the playback information. Then, the dropped-frame measurement is compared to a threshold for the plurality of representations. The method marks a first set of the plurality of representations as not being available based on the comparing. A second set of the plurality of representations are provided to the media player when the media player requests a video for playback and the first set of the plurality of representations for the video are blocked from being requested by the media player.

Prediction-based representation selection in video playback

Growing community of inventors

Beijing, China

Lan Xie