The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 22, 2018
Filed:
May. 11, 2015
Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US);
William B. May, Jr., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
John Y. Su, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Roger N. Pantos, Cupertino, CA (US);
Hassan A. Shojania, Mountain View, CA (US);
Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US);
Abstract
A method of streaming media may include opening a single connection between a client device and a media source; requesting a first media segment of a media stream corresponding to selected tier of a media title over the single connection; determining a download bitrate of the single connection; comparing the download bitrate to a predetermined bitrate of the media title; and in response to determining that the download bitrate is less than the predetermined bitrate, opening a plurality of connections between the client device and media source. The predetermined bitrate may be a predetermined bitrate of a next higher bitrate tier in a group of tiers containing the selected tier when the selected tier is not a highest bitrate tier in the group, and a predetermined bitrate of the selected tier otherwise. The method may further include, in response to determining that an aggregate download bitrate of the plurality of connections is less than a multiple of a download bitrate of an individual one of the connections, closing some of the plurality of connections so that only the individual connection remains.