Intelligent device media stream caching
A media stream delivery system encodes numerous media streams into media stream fragments. The media stream delivery system may encode each media stream into a number of variants each having different resolutions, frame rates, audio quality levels, etc. Devices access the media stream fragments from a fragment server in order to reconstruct a particular media stream for playback. A device may perform caching of media stream fragments so that particular fragments need not be accessed from a fragment server. The device monitors and analyzes media streams and viewing characteristics to intelligently select fragments that will likely be needed again, such as fragments associated with repeated advertisements, introduction sequences, and end sequences.
1. A method, comprising:
requesting a first media stream from a fragment server, the first media stream including a plurality of encoded fragments;
receiving a first encoded fragment and generating an identifier corresponding to the first encoded fragment to access a fragment table;
determining whether to cache the first encoded fragment using the fragment table at a device;
requesting a second encoded fragment using metadata from the first encoded fragment;
constructing the first media stream using the first encoded fragment and the second encoded fragment.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the device monitors and analyzes a plurality of media streams to identify sequences of media likely to be repeated.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein frames associated with the sequences of media likely to be repeated at identified for caching at the device.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the sequences of media include advertisement sequences.
5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the sequences of media include program introduction sequences.
6. The method of claim 3 , wherein the sequences of media include program end sequences.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fragment table includes a plurality of fragment identifiers associated with the number of times each fragment has been requested.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first encoded fragment is an H.264 encoded fragment processed using a plurality of distributed and dynamically scalable encoder resources.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of distributed and dynamically scalable encoder resources are a plurality of virtual machines configured to perform encoding and fragmentation.
10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the H.264 encoded fragment is encoded from an MPEG-2 group of pictures (GOP).
11. A device, comprising:
an interface operable to request a first media stream from a fragment server, the first media stream including a plurality of encoded fragment, wherein the interface is operable to receive a first encoded fragment;
a processor operable to generate an identifier corresponding to the first encoded fragment to access a fragment table and determine whether to cache the first encoded fragment using the fragment table at a device;
wherein the device requests a second encoded fragment using metadata from the first encoded fragment and constructs the first media stream using the first encoded fragment and the second encoded fragment.
12. The device of claim 11 , wherein the device monitors and analyzes a plurality of media streams to identify sequences of media likely to be repeated.
13. The device of claim 11 , wherein frames associated with the sequences of media likely to be repeated at identified for caching at the device.
14. The device of claim 13 , wherein the sequences of media include advertisement sequences.
15. The device of claim 13 , wherein the sequences of media include program introduction sequences.
16. The device of claim 13 , wherein the sequences of media include program end sequences.
17. The device of claim 11 , wherein the fragment table includes a plurality of fragment identifiers associated with the number of times each fragment has been requested.
18. The device of claim 11 , wherein the first encoded fragment is an H.264 encoded fragment processed using a plurality of distributed and dynamically scalable encoder resources.
19. The device of claim 18 , wherein the plurality of distributed and dynamically scalable encoder resources are a plurality of virtual machines configured to perform encoding and fragmentation.
20. An apparatus, comprising:
means for requesting a first media stream from a fragment server, the first media stream including a plurality of encoded fragments;
means for receiving a first encoded fragment and generating an identifier corresponding to the first encoded fragment to access a fragment table;
means for determining whether to cache the first encoded fragment using the fragment table at a device;
means for requesting a second encoded fragment using metadata from the first encoded fragment;
means for constructing the first media stream using the first encoded fragment and the second encoded fragment.