Multimedia scheduler
View Patent ↗A song and ad scheduler supporting clip-based and stream-based scheduling of multimedia items generates several hours of schedule in advance. Having multiple channel capability, the scheduler uses as inputs: the channel, associated playlists associated, rotation pattern for the channel, and associated programming rules to produce a schedule of multimedia items for the channel. Initially, the scheduler produces a schedule for each channel of predetermined length; then it periodically revisits the channel to add more songs, keeping the schedule to the desired length. Length of the initial playlist is configurable. The scheduler uses a producer-consumer model for distributing work. Producer threads periodically scan the system for work to be done. When a producer thread encounters work to be done, e.g. adding to the schedule of a channel, the producer thread places a work request into a queue. Worker threads consume the work requests by fulfilling the requested work.
1. A multimedia scheduler for scheduling media items for network broadcast; comprising:
at least one work manager for each channel serviced, said work manager including at least one producer thread, a task queue and at least one worker thread; and
one or more scheduler objects associated with each producer thread;
wherein said work manager and associated scheduler objects create and maintain a broadcast schedule for each channel according to predefined criteria;
wherein said at least one producer thread checks a channel at configurable intervals and increments said channel's schedule by generating a work request and placing it in said task queue and wherein said worker threads execute said work requests; and
wherein said multimedia scheduler is scalable to service a plurality of broadcast channels and/or services simultaneously.
2. The multimedia scheduler of claim 1 , further comprising: at least one properties file;
at least one property manager, wherein said property manager provides access to application properties, said application properties stored in any of said property file and a configuration database;
at least one database;
at least one database connection manager for managing access to data sources, wherein said database connection manager comprises an access point to connect to said database;
at least one communication module for accepting requests on a server socket and calling appropriate routines to fulfill the requests;
at least one rules factory, wherein said rules factory maintains a cache of rule objects in memory;
at least one utility thread, wherein said at least one utility thread comprises any of: a property refresher thread, a GC (garbage collection) thread for memory management and a logfile rotator thread;
at least one logging system, wherein said logging system records transactions and activities; and
at least one work creator factory, wherein said work creator factory is created during initialization of said work manager;
at least one data cache, wherein said data cache caches data common to all scheduler objects and data that change infrequently, and wherein a static data cache object contains a concrete data cache instance for each data source defined on a system; and
at least one main application thread wherein said main application thread comprises a starting point for said multimedia scheduler and wherein said main application thread initializes main components within the multimedia scheduler.
3. The multimedia scheduler of claim 2 , wherein said predefined criteria comprise any of programming rules, a rotation pattern for each channel, and rotation codes assigned to individual media items.
4. The multimedia scheduler of claim 3 , wherein said media items comprise digital recordings of songs.
5. The multimedia scheduler of claim 2 , wherein said rules objects implement a rules interface.
6. The multimedia scheduler of claim 2 , wherein properties are loaded into a properties object in said property manager when said property manager is initialized by said main application thread.
7. The multimedia scheduler of claim 2 , wherein said property manager includes a method for refreshing properties at regular intervals, wherein said method is called by one of said utility threads.
8. The multimedia scheduler of claim 7 , wherein said database connection manager maintains a thread-local cache of connections for each thread.
9. The multimedia scheduler of claim 7 , wherein said database connection manager provides a connection pool to each data source.
10. The multimedia scheduler of claim 7 , wherein said database connection manager provides a thread-local cache of connections for each thread.
11. The multimedia scheduler of claim 9 , wherein said database connection manager includes methods for getting connections; returning connections; and flushing a thread local cache.
12. The multimedia scheduler of claim 9 , wherein said connection pool performs a sanity check on each connection requested from said pool by creating a dummy prepared statement, and executing it.
13. The multimedia scheduler of claim 12 , wherein said connection pool discards a connection if an exception is thrown.
14. The multimedia scheduler of claim 9 , wherein the connection pool opens a new connection if one is unavailable from the pool.
15. The multimedia scheduler of claim 2 , wherein a port number for said socket is configured in said property file.
16. The multimedia scheduler of claim 2 , wherein said requests comprise XML (extensible markup language) strings.
17. The multimedia scheduler of claim 2 , wherein said requests include strings for:
stop;
abort;
channel_schedule;
status;
ping;
rotate_logfile; and
refresh.
18. The multimedia scheduler of claim 2 wherein a sleep interval for each utility thread is configured in said properly file.
19. The multimedia scheduler of claim 2 , wherein logging behavior is configurable by means of a logging properties file.
20. The multimedia scheduler of claim 2 , wherein scheduler objects comprise work creator objects and wherein associating a scheduling scheduler object with a producer thread comprises wrapping a work creator object with a producer thread.
21. The multimedia scheduler of claim 20 , wherein said work creator objects encapsulate song and/or ad scheduling logic, wherein said work manager is independent of said song and/or ad scheduling logic.
22. The multimedia scheduler of claim 21 , wherein said scheduling logic includes processes for any of:
scheduling songs on stream-based channels;
scheduling ads on stream-based channels;
scheduling songs on clip-based channels; and
scheduling ads on clip-based channels.
23. The multimedia scheduler of claim 22 , wherein said ads are provided by a third party.
24. The multimedia scheduler of claim 22 , wherein said ads are provided in buckets, wherein a bucket is associated with a channel.
25. The multimedia scheduler of claim 21 , wherein said work creator objects create work objects representing tasks to be performed.
26. The multimedia scheduler of claim 21 , wherein work creator objects are created by at least one work creator factory.
27. The multimedia scheduler of claim 20 , wherein said work manager further comprises at least one delete symlink (symbolic link) thread.
28. The multimedia scheduler of claim 20 , wherein said work manager further comprises at least one monitoring thread.
29. The multimedia scheduler of claim 2 , wherein a data cache refresher thread reloads cached data, and wherein a refresh interval is specified in said property file.
30. The multimedia scheduler of claim 2 , wherein said main application thread waits for a ‘stop’ or ‘abort’ request after initializing said main components.
31. The multimedia scheduler of claim 2 , wherein said main application thread includes a monitor, wherein a socket listener thread notifies said monitor when a request is received by a server socket.
32. The multimedia scheduler of claim 31 , wherein an ‘abort’ request stops said multimedia scheduler immediately.
33. The multimedia scheduler of claim 31 , wherein a ‘stop’ request allows the multimedia scheduler to stop so that:
work managers are stopped;
a cleanup of the database connection manager is performed; and
the application is exited.
34. The multimedia scheduler of claim 2 , wherein said main application thread includes a plurality of public static methods to control and report on the multimedia scheduler.
35. The multimedia scheduler of claim 2 , wherein said main application thread constitutes a class.
36. The multimedia scheduler of claim 2 , wherein said properties file controls behavior of said multimedia scheduler and specifies parameters to tune said multimedia scheduler.
37. The multimedia scheduler of claim 36 , wherein said properties file specifies at least:
work manager properties;
scheduler object properties;
scheduler-wide properties;
rules module properties;
property manager properties; and
database connection pool properties.
38. The multimedia scheduler of claim 2 , wherein said database comprises a plurality of tables, and wherein said at least one work manager and said property manager access said database.
39. The multimedia scheduler of claim 38 , wherein said tables include tables for at least:
current state of multimedia scheduler wherein said state is persistently saved;
an exception log for recording events, wherein events include rule violations;
enumeration of log messages;
associating rotation patterns to a channel;
rotation patterns created by DJ's;
rule definitions;
associating rules to a channel;
defining channel specific rule values; and
channel configset.
40. The multimedia scheduler of claim 39 , wherein said tables further include:
channels;
channel-specific ads;
channel-specific playlists;
playlists;
playlists of clips;
clips;
encoding formats;
song location; and
song metadata.
41. The multimedia scheduler of claim 1 , wherein said multimedia scheduler creates schedules for clip-based channels.
42. The multimedia scheduler of claim 1 , wherein said multimedia scheduler creates schedules for stream-based channels.
43. The multimedia scheduler of claim 1 , wherein said services are broadcast at different bit rates.