MXPA99009213A - Video on demand with vcr like functions - Google Patents

Abstract

The video distribution network system includes client configuration data (162), a client video buffer (165) for storing video information, a client video driver (170) coupled to the client video buffer (165) for presenting a portion of the video information on a display device (135), a current status manager (180) for determining current client status information indicative of the portion of video information presented, a computations engine (145) coupled to the client video buffer (165) and to the current status manager (180) for forwarding a burst of video information to the client video buffer (165) based on the client configuration data (162) and on the client status information, and a video buffer controller (175) coupled to the client video buffer (165) for controlling storage of the burst in the client video buffer (165).

Description

"VIDEO ON REQUEST WITH SIMILAR FUNCTIONS TO VCR" REFERENCE TO RELATED REQUESTS This application is related to the co-pending patent application serial number, filed on June 29, 1996, entitled "System and Method for Managing Digital Video Distribution Using Burst Transmission," by the inventor Nathaniel Polish, whose subject matter is incorporated in the present by reference. This related request has been commonly assigned to Instant Video Technology, Inc.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to digital video and, more particularly to a system and method for distributing and managing the digital video information in the video distribution network. 2. DESCRIPTION OF THE BACKGROUND OF THE TECHNIQUE Conventional network digital video servers operate in a multilevel environment to distribute digital video information (and corresponding audio) to multiple client computers. Client computers in turn offer VCR-like control of digital video information including fast forward, rewind, pause, stop and represent a user. In some modalities, the requesting client's computer expects to receive all the digital video work before starting to reproduce so that the user can enjoy the seam-free reproduction. However, to store all digital video work, you need a significant local disk space and other memory resources. In other modalities, the client's computer requests appropriate portions of the digital video work and presents the portions on a presentation device as they are received. If the application software is rapidly designed and the network communications channel over which the client's computer and the server are running is predictable, then these requests can only be completely transparent to the user and seamless reproduction is achieved. However, if the digital video data is not supplied within a rather fixed time window, then the client's computer is delayed and the reproduction is significantly affected. At most, this can result in spasmodic reproduction or perceptible pauses in digital video work. In the worst case, the application software can not be designed to handle a network communication failure, which could result in several system failures of greater consequence than any discomfort in the reproduction of digital video work. A typical solution to this problem is to design the system for the worst-case scenario in order to prevent the problem from occurring. Accordingly, the performance of the total video server for a worst case bit rate which, based on current digital video compression techniques, may be more than five times the average bit rate required. The worst-case scenario provides a system that inefficiently uses network bandwidth. In addition, this approach does not work well in an environment such as the Internet, which does not have dedicated mechanisms for seeding an available network bandwidth. The traditional methodology does not scale beyond a simple Local Area Network (LAN) environment. Therefore, a system and method for distributing and managing digital video information in a video distribution network environment beyond a LAN are needed.

COMPENDIUM OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a system and method for distributing and managing digital video information in a video distribution network. The video distribution network system includes client configuration data, a client video memory for storing a video information, a client video driver coupled with the client video buffer to present a portion of the client's video information. video on a presentation device, a current state manager to determine the current status information of the client indicative of the portion of the presented video information, a computing engine coupled with the client's video buffer and with the current status manager to send a pop from the video information to the client's video buffer based on the client configuration data and the client's status information, and a video buffer controller coupled with the client's video buffer to control the storage of the burst in the client's video buffer. The method includes the steps of storing the video information in a video buffer of the client, controlling the presentation of a first portion of the video information in a presentation device, sending the client's status information to the computing engine. in the presentation of the first portion of the video information, send to the client's video buffer a burst of a video information based on the data being set up by the client in the client's status information and storing the burst in the Video information on sites in the client's video buffer based on the client's status information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a functional diagram illustrating a video burst distribution network for managing digital video information in accordance with the present invention. Figure 2 is a functional diagram illustrating the client computer for controlling the client system of Figure 1. Figure 3 is a functional diagram illustrating the video server for controlling the video server system of Figure 1; Figure 4 is a functional diagram illustrating the video buffer of Figure 1, in an initial state; Figure 5 is a functional diagram illustrating the video buffer of Figure 1 after three seconds of representation; Figure 6 is a functional diagram illustrating the video buffer of Figure 1 after two seconds of review; Figure 7 is a functional diagram illustrating the video buffer of Figure 1 after three seconds of representation and two seconds of review; and Figure 8 is a flow chart illustrating a preferred method for managing digital video information in a vast network of video distribution.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED MODALITY Figure 1 is a functional diagram of a video burst distribution network 100 that includes a video server system 105 coupled via a signal bus 110 to a client system 115. The client system 115 is coupled through a communication channel 120 to an input device 125 and coupled through a communication channel 130 to a presentation device 135. The client system 115 receives input control signals from the customer. a user through the input device 125 and correspondingly sends the appropriate video information to a presentation device 135. The video server system 105 stores a video job 140 such as a music video, and includes a computer engine 145 for sizing and selecting a burst of video information from a video job 140 to be sent to the client system 115. The computation engine 145 selects and sends the burst to a communications engine 150 which compresses (eg, using MPEG compression), package, direct and send the burst through the communications channel 110 to the client system 115. Operations by the computing engine 145 including determination without allowing a client system 115 to access to the video server system 105 and selecting the most appropriate client system 115 in an environment having multiple client systems 115, and will describe in greater detail in the patent application in which reference has been made that is incorporated in the present by reference. The client system 115 includes a communications engine 155 for decompressing the bursts of the video server system 105 and for compressing, packaging, directing and transmitting the information to the communications engine 150, as described herein. A client configuration engine 160 sends the client configuration data 162 to the communication engine 155, and sends the data 162 through the communication engine 150 to the computing engine 145. The computing engine 145 then uses the data 162 to determine whether to allow the client system 115 to have access to the video server system 105. That is, the computing engine 145 can examine the needs of the client system 115 to determine whether the system 105 video server has sufficient capacity available to grant access. If access is granted, the communications engine 145 then uses the client configuration data 162 to determine the burst size of the video information that it must send to the client system 115. During the receipt of a burst of video information, the communication engine 155 sends the burst to a video buffer 165 for storage. A video buffer buffer 175 supplies a video buffer 165, that is, the portions tracks of the video buffer 165 are available for storage. The administration of the video buffer 165 is described in more detail below with reference to Figures 4-7. A video conductor 170 extracts the video information from the video buffer 165 to present it on the display device 135. After presenting the video information, the video driver 170 informs the controller 175 of the video buffer that accordingly updates the video buffer 165. A user operating an input device 125 can control the display of the video information by effectively controlling the video driver 170. That is, the user can select an input control signal of options including re-windings 182, fast send 184, display 186, pause 188 and stop 190. The input device 125 sends the control signal of the selected user to an input interface 195, which sends the user control signal to the 170 video driver. Based on the selected control signal, the video driver 170 regulates the video information extracted from the video buffer 165. For example, if representation 186 is selected, when the video conductor 170 extracts the video information from the video buffer 165 to produce a real-time video presentation if the re-winding 182 is selected, then the driver 170 of video selects the related portions such as each third frame of the video information from the video buffer 165 and the reverse direction to produce a fast rewinding of the video presentation. The video buffer controller 175 informs an administrator 180 of the current state, of the current state of the video information stored in the video buffer 165. The current state includes the amount of future video information and the amount of video information. past video information. For example, current state information may indicate that approximately two seconds of future video information (or approximately two megabytes of video information) and approximately eight seconds of past video information (or approximately eight megabytes of video information) remain in the video buffer 165. Based on any of the current state or at predetermined intervals, for example, every three seconds, the current state manager 180 sends the current state information to the computing engine 145 of the video server 105. The motor 145 of computations uses the current status information, as described in the patent application to which reference has been made to size and select a burst of video information to be transmitted to the client 115.

The network 100 may further include a disk buffer system 195, for use by a production manager to store a copy of the video job 140. Since the video server system 105 sends the video information to the client system 115, the disk buffer system 195 copies the video information in the memory (not shown). The disk buffer system 195 includes most of the same system components of the client 115. However, the video buffer 165 is replaced by the disk memory (not shown) that is large enough to keep the job complete video 140. The video buffer buffer 175 is replaced by a disk memory controller (not shown), which examines the video information and stores it chronologically. Alternatively, the disk buffer system 195 may be coupled within the client system 115 with the communication engine 155 and the video driver 170 to store a copy of the video work as presented in the presentation device 135 Figure 2 is a functional diagram of a computer system 200 that includes a Central Processing Unit (CPU) 205 such as a Motorola Power PC® microprocessor or an Intel Pentium® microprocessor. An inlet hole 210 for attaching an input device, such as a keyboard and a mouse, and an output hole 215 for attaching an output device such as a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) display device are coupled through of a signal bus 220 with the CPU 205. A communications interface 225, a data storage device 230 such as the Read Only Memory (ROM) and a magnetic disk, such as a Random Access Memory (RAM) 235 they are further coupled via the signal bus 220 with the CPU 205. The communications interface 250 is conventionally coupled through the communications channel 110, such as an internet with the communication interface 310 (Figure 3) of the video server 300 An operating system 240 includes a program that controls processing by the CPU 205, and is typically stored in the data storage device 230 and loaded into the RAM 235 for execution. The client system 115 is a program that operates as described in Figure 1, and can also be stored in the data storage device 230 and loaded into the RAM 235 for execution by the CPU 205. Figure 3 is a functional diagram of a video server 300, including a CPU 305, a communication interface 310, a data storage device 320 and a RAM 325 coupled with a bus 315 of es. The communication interface 310 is conventionally coupled through the communication channel 110 to the communication interface 225 of the client computer 200. An operation system 330 controls processing by the CPU 305 and is typically stored in the storage device 320 of data and it is loaded into RAM 325 for execution. The video server system 105 is a program that operates as described in Figure 1, and can also be stored in the data storage device 320 and loaded into the RAM 325 for execution by the CPU 305. Figure 4 is a diagram Functional illustrating the video buffer 165 in an initial state. The video buffer 165 is illustrated as including 11 seconds of sequence of the digital video information including the second stream of the video information (ie, the second of the video information to be displayed immediately on the display device). 135 based on the user's request through the input device 125), five previous seconds of the video information and five future seconds of the video information. That is to say, the computer engine 145 of the video server system 105 determines, based on the client configuration data 162, and in the current state of the client system 115, the sending of eleven seconds of the video job 140 to the client system 115 . The eleven seconds of information are stored in the video buffer 165 of the client system 115 and are administered by the controller 175 of the video buffer. The video buffer controller 175 maintains a pointer to the second video information stream (marked "t = 0") and can easily calculate the positions of the other seconds of information relative to the current pointer position. In this way, the video buffer controller 175 currently knows that the five seconds of information preceding the second information stream [marked as "(-5)," "(-4)," "(-3) , "" (-2), "and" (-1) "] correspond to the previous five seconds of information and the five seconds of information that follow the current second information [marked as" (+1), "" (+2), "" (+3), "" (+4), "and" (+5) "] correspond to the five seconds of future information. Although the video buffer controller 175 is illustrated and described as using only a pointer to the video buffer 165, the video buffer controller 175 may use additional pointers to maintain the temporal organization of the video information without requiring that the physical organization correspond to the temporary organization. Figure 5 is a functional diagram illustrating the video buffer 165 of Figure 4 after three seconds of playback relative to the state of the video buffer 165 in Figure 4. The video buffer controller 175 updates the pointer to have reference to the second video information stream which is three seconds of information beyond the second stream discussed in Figure 4. Correspondingly, the video buffer controller 175 determines that the video buffer 165 currently includes two future seconds and eight previous seconds of video information. Since the video buffer 30 of the exemplary embodiment described herein maintains five future seconds and five preceding seconds of information, the video buffer controller 175 determines that the oldest three seconds [marked in Figure 4 as "(-3)," "(-4)," and "(-5)"] are expendable. The current state manager 180 of the client system 115 sends the current status information to the computing engine 145 of the video server system 105, which correspondingly sends three future seconds of information to the client system 115. Upon receiving the next three seconds of information, the video buffer controller 175 stores the future three seconds of information [marked in Figure 5 as "(+3)," "(+4)," "(+5) ] instead of the oldest three seconds of information, the video buffer controller 175 can maintain the chronology of eleven seconds of information by plotting all the changes made to the video buffer 165. FIG. 6 is a functional diagram that illustrates the video buffer 165 of FIG. 4 after rewinding the two seconds of information relative to the state of the video buffer 165 in FIG. 4. The video buffer controller 175 updates the current pointer to reference of the second video information stream that is two seconds before the second stream of information discussed in Figure 4. Accordingly, the buffer memory controller 175 of DEO determines that the video buffer 165 includes three seconds of prior information and seven seconds of future information.

As stated in the foregoing, the video buffer buffer 175 of the embodiment described herein holds five future seconds and five previous seconds of information. Therefore, the video buffer controller 175 determines that the future sixth second [marked in Figure 4 as "(+4)"] and the future seventh second of information [marked in Figure 4 as y "(+ 5) "] are expendable and will replace them with the remainder of two previous information seconds [marked in Figure 6 as" (-4), "and" (-5)] of the video server system 105. Figure 7 is a functional diagram illustrating the video buffer 165 of Figure 4 after representing three seconds of information and then re-rolling two seconds of information.Figure 5 illustrates the video buffer 165 after three seconds of playback. therefore, the update of the video buffer 165 shown in Figure 5 for the two seconds of re-rolling is appropriate.The video buffer controller 175 updates the current pointer of Figure 5 to have reference of the second one runs Information that is two seconds of information to the past. Accordingly, the video buffer 165 includes seven future information seconds and three previous seconds of information, and the video buffer 175 determines that the next two seconds of information [marked in Figure 5 as "(+ 4), "and" (+5) "] are expendable. Therefore, during the receipt of two previous seconds from the video server system 105, the video buffer controller 175 will replace the two future seconds of information with two previous seconds of information [marked in Figure 7 as "(- 4), "and" (-5) "]. Figure 8 is a flow chart illustrating a preferred method 800 for managing the digital video information in a video distribution network 100. The method 800 starts with the video server system 105 in step 805 by storing the entire video job 140 in the memory 320 or 325. The video job 140 can be stored in the video server system 105 by transferring it from a compact disk, from an active record or through the internet from another computer (not shown). In step 810, the video transfer capability is negotiated as described in the co-pending patent application to which reference is made. By abbreviating, the client system 115 requests access to the video work 140 and sends the configuration information 162 of the client to the video server system 105.

The computation engine 145 examines the client configuration information 162 to determine if the server system 105 has sufficient transfer capacity available to allow the connection. If sufficient capacity is not available, then the video server system 105 and the client system 115 perform the negotiation of the reduced configuration data or terminate the connection. Assuming an acceptable video transfer capability has been negotiated, the computation engine 145 in step 815 sends a first burst of the video job 140 to the client system 115, which stores the first burst in the video buffer 165. The client system 115 in step 820 votes for an input signal, for example, to represent 186, re-roll 182, fast forward 184, pause 188 or stop 190. Based on the input signal, conductor 170 of video in step 825 retrieves the appropriate video information, i.e., the second stream of information from the video buffer 165 and sends it to the presentation device 135 for presentation. For example, if representation 186 is selected, then the video conductor 170 sends the video information to the presentation device 135 to present the images in real time. If forward fast forward 184 is selected then the video driver 170 retrieves the selected portions of the video information such as every third future frame from the video buffer 165 and sends them to the presentation device 135 to simulate sending to fast forward similar to VCR. If re-rolling 182 is selected, then the video driver 170 retrieves the selected portions of the video information such as every third previous frame from the video buffer 165 and sends the same to the display device 135 to simulate in VCR-like re-winding. If pause 188 is selected, then video conductor 170 retrieves the video information representing the current frame and sends it to presentation device 135 to maintain a pause similar to VCR. Finally, if you select stop 190, then the video driver 190 can retrieve the default "blue screen" video information and send it to the display device 135 for presentation. Other possible input signals include stroboscope, half of presenting, fast forward double forward, etc. The video buffer controller 175 in step 830 receives from the video driver 170 the presentation status information indicative of what has been presented in the presentation device 135 and consequently, manages the video integral memory 165. The video buffer controller 175 maintains the state of video media memory 165 and sends status to administrator 180 of the current state. The current status manager 180 in step 835 determines whether the predetermined criteria indicating how long to send the client status information to the computer engine 145 have been satisfied. The default criteria can be based on the number of seconds left in any direction. For example, if only three future seconds of video information remain in the video media 165, then the current state manager 180 may determine that it is time to inform the computing engine 105 of the client's status. If the predetermined criteria have been satisfied, the current status manager 180 in step 840 sends the current status information to the computation engine 145. The method 800 then proceeds to step 845. Otherwise, if the predetermined criteria have not been met satisfied, then method 800 jumps over step 840 and continues to step 845. In step 845, the computation engine 145 determines whether the predetermined criteria of the server system indicate the time to send more of the video work 140 to the system 115 of the customer have been satisfied. In this case, the predetermined criterion of the server system can be based on the client configuration data 162 including the expected video information consumption regime of the expected client, the expected video information transfer latency, the selected current input signal, etc. If the predetermined criteria have not been satisfied, then the computation engine 145 in step 850 calculates and sends a burst of the video job 140 to the client system 115 and the method proceeds to step 855. Otherwise, if the predetermined criteria have been satisfied, then the computation engine 145 jumps over step 850 and continues at step 855. In step 855, a determination is made as to whether to terminate the communication between the server system 105 and the client system 115 If so, then method 800 terminates. Otherwise, the method returns to step 820. The foregoing description of the preferred embodiments of the invention is by way of example only, and other variations are provided by the present invention. of the modalities and methods described above. The components of this invention may be implemented using a programmed general-purpose digital computer, using application-specific integrated circuits or using a network of conventional interconnected components and circuits. The modalities described herein have been presented for purposes of illustration and are not intended to be exhaustive or limiting. The system is limited only by the following claims.

Claims (47)

R E I V I N D I C A C I O N S

1. A computer-based method for managing digital video in a video distribution network comprising the steps of: receiving an input control signal for selecting from a video buffer a first portion of the video information for output; selecting for output in response to the input control signal, the first portion of video information from the video buffer; requesting a burst of video information from a video server, the request step includes the step of sending the client's status information to the video server; and replacing the second portion of the video information in the video buffer with the bursting of the video information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the input control signal is a reproduction request.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the input control signal is a rewinding request.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the input control signal is a fast forward request.

The method of claim 1, wherein the input control signal is a pause request.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the input control signal is a stop request.

The method of claim 1, wherein the client's status information indicates the amount of future video information and the amount of previous video information.

The method of claim 1, further comprising, after requesting the burst, the step of receiving from the video server the bursting of the video information in response to the status information of the client.

The method of claim 8, further comprising the step of selecting the second portion based on the client's status information.

The method of claim 9, wherein the step of selecting includes selecting the most expendable locations in the video buffer as the second portion.

11. A computer-based method comprising the steps of: storing the video information in a video buffer; receive an input control signal; presenting a first portion of the video information in the presentation device in response to the input control signal; send the current status information indicative of the first portion presented, to a video server system; receiving a burst of the video information in response to the current status information, from the video server, and replacing the video buffer in the second portion of the video information, based on the current state information with the burst of the video information.

The method of claim 11, wherein the video buffer is sized to store only a predetermined amount of video information.

The method of claim 11, wherein the input control signal is a reproduction request.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the input control signal is a winding request.

The method of claim 11, wherein the input control signal is a fast forward request.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the input control signal is a pause request.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the input control signal is a stop request.

The method of claim 11, wherein the current state information indicates the amount of future video information and the amount of previous video information.

19. The method of claim 11, further comprising, after receiving the burst, the step of selecting the most expendable locations in the video buffer as the second portion.

20. A system comprising: a video buffer to store the video information; a video driver coupled with the video buffer to present a first portion of the video information in a presentation device; an input interface coupled with the video driver, to receive an input control signal that controls the video driver; a current status manager to send the status information of the current customer indicative of the first portion presented, to a cellular video system; a communication engine coupled with the video buffer to receive a burst of video information from the video server system; and a video buffer controller coupled with the video buffer to control the burst storage in the video buffer based on the current status information of the client.

The system of claim 20, wherein the video buffer is sized to store only a predetermined amount of video information.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the input control signal is a reproduction request.

23. The system of claim 20, wherein the input control signal is a rewinding request.

24. The system of claim 20, wherein the input control signal is a fast forward request.

25. The system of claim 20, wherein the input control signal is a pause request.

26. The system of claim 20, wherein the input control signal is a stop request.

The system of claim 20, wherein the current state information indicates the amount of future video information and the amount of video information above.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the current state information further indicates the input control signal.

29. The system of claim 20, wherein the video buffer stores the burst at the most expendable locations in the video buffer.

30. A storage program program of the computer readable storage medium to cause a computer to perform the steps of: storing the video information in a video buffer; receive an input control signal; presenting a first portion of the video information in a presentation device that responds to the input control signal; send the current status information, indicative of the first portion presented, to a video server system; receive a burst of video information in response to the current status information from the video server; and replacing in the video buffer a second portion of the video information, based on the current state information, with the bursting of the video information.

31. A system comprising: a means for storing the video information; means for receiving an input control signal; means for presenting a first portion of the video information on a display device in response to the input control signal; means for sending the current status information indicative of the first portion presented, to a video server system; means for receiving a burst of video information in response to the current status information from the video server; and a means for replacing in a video buffer, a second portion of the video information, based on the current state information, with the bursting of the video information.

32. A computer-based method comprising the steps of: storing video information in a client video buffer; controlling the presentation of a first portion of the video information in a presentation device; sending to a computing engine the client's status information based on the presentation of the first portion of the video information; send a burst of video information to the client's video buffer based on the client's configuration data and the client's status information; and storing the burst of video information in locations in the client's video buffer based on the client's status information.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the client video buffer is sized to store only a predetermined amount of the video information, and the client configuration data includes a value representing the predetermined amount.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein the client's status information indicates the amount of future video information and the amount of video information based.

35. The method of claim 32, wherein the burst storage includes the step of storing the burst at the most expendable locations in the input control signal.

36. The method of claim 32, further comprising, before controlling the display of the first portion, the step of receiving an input control signal and wherein the step of controlling the display responds to the input control signal.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the input control signal is a reproduction request.

38. The method of claim 36, wherein the input control signal is a rewinding request.

39. The method of claim 36, wherein the input control signal is a fast forward request.

40. The method of claim 36, wherein the input control signal is a pause request.

41. The method of claim 36, wherein the input control signal is a stop request.

42. A network system, comprising: a client configuration data; a video buffer of the client to store the video information; a video driver of the client coupled with the client's video buffer to present a portion of the video information in a presentation device; a current state administrator to determine the current client status information indicative of the portion of the video information presented; a computer engine is coupled with the client's video buffer and with the current state manager to send a burst of video information to the client's video buffer based on the client's configuration data and information of the client's status; and a video buffer controller coupled to the client video buffer to control the burst storage of the video buffer the client.

43. The system of claim 42, wherein the client configuration data includes a value indicating the size of the client's video buffer.

44. The system of claim 42 wherein the client's status information indicates the amount of future video information and the amount of prior video information.

45. The system of claim 42, wherein the storage step includes storing the burst of video information at the locations in the video buffer of the client that have the most expendable data.

46. The system of claim 42, further comprising an input interface for receiving from an user an input control signal that controls the display of the first portion.

47. The system of claim 46, wherein the current status information of the client includes the input control signal.