Patent Abstract:
A device may include an interface and one or more processors. The interface may obtain, from a content source via a network, a playlist file including a plurality of content file identifiers corresponding to a plurality of content files associated with alternate encodings of a content stream. The one or more processors may determine that the alternate encodings correspond to different logical divisions of an image area associated with the content stream, forward, to a client device, the playlist file for selection of one logical division of the different logical divisions, and request, from the content source via the communication interface and responsive to the forwarding, one or more content file, of the plurality of content files, associated with a particular encoding of the alternate encodings.

Full Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    Many entertainment and communication-related electronic (“client”) devices are capable of receiving, transmitting, and/or presenting streaming digital data (“content”). For example, a set-top box may be configured to receive multimedia programs, such as video-on-demand (VOD) programs, that are streamed from a content provider. A computer may be configured to receive a stream of a video clip over the Internet. A phone application may enable receipt of streaming audio data over a real-time transport protocol (RTP) link/channel that is established over an Internet protocol (IP) network or a cellular network. 
         [0002]    Service providers and/or content providers often offer multiple encodings of a multimedia presentation, for example, to allow a client device to dynamically switch between alternate versions of the multimedia presentation having different bitrates. Typically, however, a subscriber has limited options with respect to selecting different camera angles and/or displaying less than an entire viewing area of the multimedia presentation, for example, a select portion of an overall image area that may be of particular interest to the subscriber. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0003]      FIG. 1  depicts a diagram of an exemplary environment in which systems and methods described herein may be implemented; 
           [0004]      FIG. 2  illustrates exemplary components of one or more devices depicted in  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0005]      FIG. 3  is an exemplary functional block diagram of components implemented in one or more devices depicted in  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0006]      FIG. 4  illustrates an exemplary playlist according to one implementation; 
           [0007]      FIG. 5  is a flow chart of exemplary processes according to implementations described herein; 
           [0008]      FIG. 6  illustrates an exemplary graphical representation of the logical divisions identified in the playlist of  FIG. 4 , in which the image is presented having visual information superimposed thereon; and 
           [0009]      FIG. 7  illustrates a display screen in which a content stream segment for a particular ROI of  FIG. 6  has been obtained and transferred to a client device/media player. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0010]    The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers in different drawings may identify the same or similar elements. As used herein, the term “content” is intended to be broadly interpreted herein to include, for example, audio and/or video content (e.g., a movie, a three-dimensional (3D) movie, show, television program, video stream, audio stream, Internet radio, broadcast of a live event (e.g., sporting event, concert, etc.)). 
         [0011]    When a system described herein, such as a customer-premises distribution device, e.g., a content interface device (set-top box (STB), etc.), obtains a playlist/manifest file from a content source (e.g., a server), the system may present a client device/media player with multiple encodings corresponding to variant logical divisions of an image area associated with the content stream, which the client device/media player may dynamically switch between. The encodings may include a format such as, for example, H.264, MPEG-4 Advanced Video coding (AVC), high efficiency advanced audio coding (HE-AAC), etc. 
         [0012]      FIG. 1  is a diagram of an exemplary environment  100  in which systems and methods described herein may be implemented. As illustrated, network  100  may include a television (TV)  110 , a set top box (STB)  120 , a remote control  130 , a server  140 , and a user device  150 , which may connect to a network  160 , via wired and/or wireless connections, for example, cable, fiber optic, and/or wireless. The number of devices and networks, and configuration in environment  100  is exemplary and provided for simplicity. In practice, environment  100  may include additional devices, fewer devices, different devices, and/or differently arranged devices, than those illustrated in  FIG. 1 . Additionally, or alternatively, in practice, environment  100  may include additional networks and/or differently arranged networks, than those illustrated in  FIG. 1 . Also, one or more functions and/or processes described as being performed by a particular device may be performed by a different device, or some combination of devices, according to other embodiments. 
         [0013]    TV  110  may include a device configured to present streaming content provided by STB  120 , and/or other content provided by other devices (e.g., a digital video disk (DVD) player, a video camera, a home media player, etc.) connected to TV  110 . According to exemplary embodiments, TV  110  may be a television and/or other types of devices, for example, a monitor, a mobile device having a display (e.g., a cell phone or personal digital assistant), a laptop computer, a gaming console, a music device, etc. According to an exemplary embodiment, TV  110  and STB  120  may be separate devices, as illustrated in  FIG. 1 . According to other embodiments, TV  110  may include STB  120  or include some of the functionalities associated with STB  120 . According to still other embodiments, TV  110  may include STB  120 , and/or remote control  130 . 
         [0014]    STB  120  may include a device that communicates with server  140  to provide broadband services and/or streaming content to TV  110  or another device (e.g., user device  150 ). STB  120  may allow a user to select the content provided to TV  110  based on a signal generated by and received from remote control  130 . In one exemplary implementation, features of STB  120  may be incorporated directly within TV  110 . According to an exemplary embodiment, STB  120  may include a client, a thin client, a descrambler, a converter box, a receiver, a tuner, an optical termination point (OTP), an optical network terminal (ONT), a server device, a pedestal, or some other type of customer premises equipment. According to an exemplary embodiment, STB  120  may also include a digital video recorder (DVR) and/or a hard drive or other storage device. 
         [0015]    Remote control  130  may include a device that communicates with TV  110  and/or STB  120  (and/or other devices associated with TV  110  and/or STB  120 ) to allow a user to control content provided to TV  110  using, for example, a specified IPTV channel entry, channel up/down scrolling, channel scanning, etc. Remote control  130  may include one or multiple input mechanisms (e.g., buttons, a display, a keypad, a touchpad, a microphone, etc.) to receive user input to, for example, select content for viewing. According to an exemplary embodiment, remote control  130  may correspond to a remote control device, a tablet device, a mobile communication device, or some other type of user device. According to other embodiments, remote control  130  may include TV  110  and/or STB  120  and/or include one or more of the functionalities associated with STB  120 . 
         [0016]    Server  140  may include one or more server entities, or other types of computation or communication devices, that gather, process, search, and/or provide content in a manner described herein. In one implementation, server  140  may include a server (e.g., a computer system or an application), a cable head-end, or a broadcaster capable of providing media content (e.g., TV programming, movies, on-demand services, over-the-top (OTT) content, live television, news feeds, blog feeds, etc.), advertisements, instructions, codes, encryption keys, and/or other information associated with products and/or services, etc., to STB  120 . In some implementations, server  140  may be configured to receive information from STB  120 , TV  110 , and/or user device  150 . 
         [0017]    User device  150  may include a radiotelephone, a personal communications system (PCS) terminal (e.g., that may combine a cellular radiotelephone with data processing and data communications capabilities), a personal digital assistant (PDA) (e.g., that can include a radiotelephone, a pager, Internet/intranet access, etc.), a laptop or notebook computer, a personal computer, an ultra mobile personal computer (UMPC), a netbook, a tablet, or other types of computation or communication devices, threads or processes running on such devices, and/or objects executable by such devices. In one implementation, user device  150  may include any device (e.g., an Internet Protocol (IP)-based device) that is capable of accessing server  140 , for example, via network  160 . In other implementations, user device  150  may be configured to interact with STB  120  and/or TV  110 , via a local network other than network  160  (e.g., a home wired or wireless network—not shown in  FIG. 1 ). 
         [0018]    Network  160  may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), a telephone network, such as the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), an intranet, the Internet, an optical fiber (or fiber optic)-based network, or any combination of networks. 
         [0019]      FIG. 2  is an exemplary diagram of a device  200  that may correspond to any of STB  120 , server  140 , and/or user device  150 . As illustrated, device  200  may include a bus  210 , processing logic  220 , a main memory  230 , a read-only memory (ROM)  240 , a storage device  250 , an input device  260 , an output device  270 , and a communication interface  280 . Bus  210  may include a path that permits communication among the components of device  200 . 
         [0020]    Processing logic  220  may include a processor, microprocessor, or other type of processing logic that may interpret and execute instructions. Main memory  230  may include a random access memory (RAM) or another type of dynamic storage device that may store information and instructions for execution by processing logic  220 . ROM  240  may include a ROM device or another type of static storage device that may store static information and/or instructions for use by processing logic  220 . Storage device  250  may include a magnetic and/or optical recording medium and its corresponding drive. 
         [0021]    Input device  260  may include a mechanism that permits an operator to input information to device  200 , such as a keyboard, a mouse, a pen, a microphone, voice recognition and/or biometric mechanisms, remote control  130 , etc. Output device  270  may include a mechanism that outputs information to the operator, including a display, a printer, a speaker, etc. Communication interface  280  may include a transceiver that enables device  200  to communicate with other devices and/or systems. For example, communication interface  280  may include mechanisms for communicating with another device or system via a network, such as network  160 . 
         [0022]    As described herein, device  200  may perform certain operations in response to processing logic  220  executing software instructions contained in a computer-readable medium, such as main memory  230 . A computer-readable medium may be defined as a physical or logical memory device. The software instructions may be read into main memory  230  from another computer-readable medium, such as storage device  250 , or from another device via communication interface  280 . The software instructions contained in main memory  230  may cause processing logic  220  to perform processes described herein. Alternatively, hardwired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination with software instructions to implement processes described herein. Thus, implementations described herein are not limited to any specific combination of hardware devices, circuitry, and/or software. 
         [0023]    Although  FIG. 2  shows exemplary components of device  200 , in other implementations, device  200  may contain fewer, different, or additional components than depicted in  FIG. 2 . In still other implementations, one or more components of device  200  may perform one or more other tasks described as being performed by one or more other components of device  200 . 
         [0024]      FIG. 3  is an exemplary functional block diagram of components implemented in STB  120 , TV  110 , and/or user device  150  of  FIG. 1 . In an exemplary implementation, all or some of the components illustrated in  FIG. 3  may be stored in memory  230 . For example, referring to  FIG. 3 , memory  230  may include uniform resource identifier (URI) identification logic  300 , graphic generation logic  310 , and region of interest (ROI) determination logic  320 . In addition, various logic components illustrated in  FIG. 3  may be implemented by processing logic  220  executing one or more programs stored in memory  230 . 
         [0025]    URI identification logic  300  may include logic for determining whether a playlist file, for example, received from a content source (e.g., server  140 ), includes content file identifiers (e.g., URIs) corresponding to content files associated with alternate encodings of a content stream, in which the alternate encodings correspond to different logical divisions of an image area associated with the content stream. For example, URI identification logic  300  may determine whether tags in the URIs listed in the playlist includes ROI attributes and/or any other attributes that relate to spatial coordinates or other parameters that define alternate viewing portions of the image in the content stream. 
         [0026]    Based on information received from URI identification logic  300 , graphic generation logic  310  may generate a graphical representation illustrating the alternate logical divisions. For example, graphic generation logic  310  may use the ROI values (e.g., spatial coordinates) and information related to a coordinate system of TV  110 , to generate visual “hot spots,” indicative of the variant logical divisions, within an overall image in the content stream. Graphic generation logic  310  may present the graphical image with the hot spots to TV  100 , for example, with a prompt to a user of TV  100  to select an ROI corresponding to one of the hot spots. 
         [0027]    Based on information from TV  110 , remote control  130 , and/or user device  150  received in response to the presentation of the hot spots, ROI determination logic  320  may determine which content file identifier corresponds to an identified hot spot. In one implementation, in the absence of user input (e.g., after a particular amount of time) in response to the presentation of the graphical image, ROI determination logic  320  may select an ROI attribute value by default. ROI determination logic  320  may select a default ROI based on any number of factors, including historical information regarding previous ROI selections made by a particular user/client device. In any case, ROI determination logic  320  may identify the content stream segment corresponding to the selected ROI, and the corresponding content file can be requested and obtained, for example, via an HTTP live stream or other IP-based streaming protocol from server  140 . 
         [0028]      FIG. 4  shows an exemplary index file or a playlist file  400  that lists storage locations (e.g., universal resource locator (URL) or uniform resource identifier (URI), network addresses, etc.) of content file segments in an order that the segments are to be reassembled and/or played at TV  110  and/or user device  150 . Examples of index/playlist files may include M3U8 files, M3U files, PLS files, Advanced Stream Redirector (ASX) files, etc. Playlist file  400  is depicted as being in an extended M3U file format, including the comment character “#” preceding the tag “EXTM3U” in the first line  402 , and an ordered list of content file segment identifiers indicated by the tags “EXT-X-STREAM-INF” in content segment identifiers  404 - 426 . Other text files/protocols may be used. Playlist file  400  is depicted for simplicity and may include additional tags that may be defined by extended playlist file (e.g., M3U8) protocol. Each of segment identifiers  404 - 426  may include a character string (e.g., URI) that identifies a location of the content file segment, for example, in server  140 . Each of the URIs may include the attributes, “PROGRAM-ID,” “ROI,” and “BANDWIDTH.” Other attributes are possible. 
         [0029]    Because playlist file  400  includes variant content stream segments for a single content stream (presentation), each of content segment identifiers  404 - 426  includes an attribute value of “1” for the PROGRAM-ID attribute. Each of content segment identifiers  404 - 410  includes common attribute values of “940000” for the BANDWIDTH attribute; each of segment identifiers  412 - 418  includes common attribute values of “745984” for the BANDWIDTH attribute; and each of content segment identifiers  420 - 426  includes common attribute values of “1341568” for the BANDWIDTH attribute. The client device/media player may be configured to dynamically switch among the variant bandwidths based on an amount of bandwidth that the client device/media player can support at any given time. 
         [0030]    Each of content segment identifiers  404 ,  412 ,  420  includes common attribute values of “0:0:100:100” for the ROI attribute; each of content segment identifiers  406 ,  414 ,  422  includes common attribute values of “100:0:200:100” for the ROI attribute; each of content segment identifiers  408 ,  416 ,  424  includes common attribute values of “0:100:200:200” for the ROI attribute; and each of content segment identifiers  410 ,  418 ,  426  includes common attribute values of “100:100:200:200” for the ROI attribute. The above ROI values may include integers corresponding to Cartesian coordinates for pixels in a display. Other parameters may be used. 
         [0031]      FIG. 5  is a flow diagram illustrating exemplary processing  500  associated with the above-described features of  FIGS. 1-4 . Processing  500  may begin with STB  120  and/or user device  150  receiving a playlist file, for example, playlist file  400  (block  510 ). URI identification logic  300  may examine playlist file  400  to determine whether playlist file  400  includes multiple content file identifiers for a single content stream corresponding to content file segments having variant logical divisions of the content stream (block  520 ). When URI identification logic  300  determines that variant encodings are not listed with respect to variant logical divisions, the playlist file may be forwarded, for example, via output device  270  and/or communication interface  280  to TV  110  and/or user device  150  for selection of a particular content segment (NO—block  530 ). 
         [0032]    In one implementation, when URI identification logic  300  determines that variant encodings are listed with respect to variant logical divisions, as in playlist file  400 , graphic generation logic  310  may generate a graphical representation depicting the logical divisions corresponding to the ROI values (YES—block  540 ). The graphical representation may be provided, for example, via output device  270  and/or communication interface  280  to TV  110  and/or user device  150  for selection, by a user, of a particular ROI.  FIG. 6  illustrates an exemplary graphical representation of the logical divisions identified in playlist  400 , in which the image is presented with visual information superimposed on an image. That is, graphic generation logic  310  may superimpose lines indicating the perimeters of the various logical divisions, as well as numbers corresponding to, as shown here, “hotspot quadrants”  1 ,  2 ,  3 , and  4  corresponding to content segment identifiers  404 ,  412 ,  420 ; content segment identifiers  406 ,  414 ,  422 ; content segment identifiers  408 ,  416 ,  424 ; and content segment identifiers  410 ,  418 ,  426 , respectively. Other visual information may be used. It should be appreciated that any number of logical divisions may be presented of equal and/or unequal size; regularly- and/or irregularly-shaped; similar and/or dissimilar in shape; distinct and/or overlapping in area; comprise only a portion and/or an entirety of the image in toto, etc. 
         [0033]    Returning to  FIG. 5 , ROI determination logic  320  may determine whether a selection of an ROI is received, for example, from TV  110 , remote control  130 , and/or user device  150  via input device  260  and/or communication interface  280 , for example, within a particular amount of time for responding to a prompt provided with the graphical representation (block  550 ). When no response is detected, ROI determination logic  320  may select a default URI (NO—block  560 ), or simply provide the entire image segment. When a response is detected, for example, a user may input a particular number displayed over a particular region of interest, for example, using a keypad on remote control  130 , or by scrolling over the hotspots with an arrow key and pressing enter over the desired hotspot, ROI determination logic  320  may request the corresponding content stream segment from server  140 , for example, via network  160  (block  570 ). 
         [0034]    Assume that the user input hotspot (here, quadrant) no.  1  as the selected ROI.  FIG. 7  shows a display screen in which the content stream segment corresponding to content stream identifiers  404 ,  412 , or  420  has been obtained and transferred to TV  110  and/or user device  150 , and the image content relating to the rest of the image (i.e., quadrants  2 - 4 ) is not obtained by STB  120  and/or user device  150  and/or transferred to TV  110  and/or user device  150 . Subsequent content stream segments obtained by STB  120  and/or user device  150  and/or transferred to TV  110  and/or user device  150  may consistent with the particular ROI selected, or switched upon receiving an updated selection from STB  120  and/or user device  150 . 
         [0035]    The foregoing description of implementations provides illustration, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the implementations to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of the teachings. 
         [0036]    In addition, while series of blocks have been described with regard to an exemplary process illustrated in  FIG. 5 , the order of the blocks may be modified in other implementations. In addition, non-dependent blocks may represent acts that can be performed in parallel to other blocks. 
         [0037]    It will be apparent that aspects described herein may be implemented in many different forms of software, firmware, and hardware in the implementations illustrated in the figures. The actual software code or specialized control hardware used to implement aspects does not limit the invention. Thus, the operation and behavior of the aspects were described without reference to the specific software code—it being understood that software and control hardware can be designed to implement the aspects based on the description herein. 
         [0038]    Further, certain portions of the implementations have been described as “logic” that performs one or more functions. This logic may include hardware, such as a processor, a microprocessor, an application specific integrated circuit, or a field programmable gate array, software, or a combination of hardware and software. 
         [0039]    No element, act, or instruction used in the present application should be construed as critical or essential to the implementations described herein unless explicitly described as such. Also, as used herein, the article “a” is intended to include one or more items. Further, the phrase “based on” is intended to mean “based, at least in part, on” unless explicitly stated otherwise.

Technology Classification (CPC): 7