Transitioning between broadcast and unicast streams
In one embodiment, a method includes identifying a plurality of segments of media content, each of the plurality of segments including a plurality of media frames, generating segment metadata for each of the plurality of segments, the segment metadata including a segment identifier, transmitting a broadcast stream including the plurality of segments and the segment metadata for each of the plurality of segments, and making the plurality of segments available for retrieval via a unicast stream using the segment identifiers.
1. A method comprising:
at a network service provider including a processor, a memory, a unicast server, and a broadcast multiplexer:
identifying a plurality of segments of media content, each of the plurality of segments including a plurality of media frames;
generating segment metadata identifying the plurality of segments, including generating a respective Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for each of the plurality of segments, wherein the segment metadata includes a segment size for at least one of the plurality of segments and the segment size is used by a user device to infer a number of lost packets in a segment and determine whether or not to acquire the segment from the unicast server;
transmitting via the broadcast multiplexer, in a plurality of packets, a broadcast stream including the plurality of segments and the segment metadata including the respective URL, each respective URL being included in a respective field of a respective packet of the plurality of segments, wherein the broadcast stream comprises a Moving Picture Expert Group (MPEG) transport stream and the segment metadata included in an adaptation field;
uploading each of the plurality of segments and providing the segment metadata to the unicast server; and
generating by the unicast server an updated manifest based on the segment metadata including adding a plurality of entries, each of the plurality of entries including the respective URL for a corresponding segment of the plurality of segments at which one or more of the plurality of segments can be downloaded, wherein the unicast stream includes an alternative segment that differs from a corresponding one of the plurality of segments in the broadcast stream.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein transmitting the broadcast stream including a packet having a data field populated by the respective URL is performed in order to enable a user device to seamlessly transition between the broadcast stream and the unicast stream.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of segments includes between 2 and 10 seconds of video data.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of segments can be rendered by a user device independently of others of the plurality of segments.
5. An apparatus comprising:
a packager configured to identify a plurality of segments of media content, each of the plurality of segments including a plurality of media frames, and to generate segment metadata identifying the plurality of segments, including generating a respective Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for each of the plurality of segments, wherein the segment metadata includes a segment size for at least one of the plurality of segments and the segment size is used by a user device to infer a number of lost packets in a segment and determine whether or not to acquire the segment from the unicast server;
a broadcast multiplexer configured to transmit, as a plurality of packets, a broadcast stream including the plurality of segments and the segment metadata including the respective URL, each respective URL being included in a respective field of a respective packet of the plurality of segments, wherein the broadcast stream comprises a Moving Picture Expert Group (MPEG) transport stream and the segment metadata included in an adaptation field; and
a unicast server configured to receive each of the plurality of segments uploaded to and the segment metadata provided to the unicast server; and generate an updated manifest based on the segment metadata including adding a plurality of entries, each of the plurality of entries including the respective URL for a corresponding segment of the plurality of segments at which one or more of the plurality of segments can be downloaded, wherein the unicast stream includes an alternative segment that differs from a corresponding one of the plurality of segments in the broadcast stream.
6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein each of the plurality of segments can be rendered by a user device independently of others of the plurality of segments.
7. A system comprising:
one or more processors; and
a non-transitory memory comprising instructions that when executed cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
identifying a plurality of segments of media content, each of the plurality of segments including a plurality of media frames;
generating segment metadata identifying the plurality of segments, including generating a respective Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for each of the plurality of segments, wherein the segment metadata includes a segment size for at least one of the plurality of segments and the segment size is used by a user device to infer a number of lost packets in a segment and determine whether or not to acquire the segment from the unicast server;
transmitting, in a plurality of packets, a broadcast stream including the plurality of segments and the segment metadata including the respective URL, each respective URL being included in a respective field of a respective packet of the plurality of segments, wherein the broadcast stream comprises a Moving Picture Expert Group (MPEG) transport stream and the segment metadata included in an adaptation field;
uploading each of the plurality of segments and providing the segment metadata to a unicast server; and
generating an updated manifest based on the segment metadata including adding a plurality of entries, each of the plurality of entries including the respective URL for a corresponding segment of the plurality of segments at which one or more of the plurality of segments can be downloaded, wherein the unicast stream includes an alternative segment that differs from a corresponding one of the plurality of segments in the broadcast stream.
8. The system of claim 7 , wherein each of the plurality of segments can be rendered by a user device independently of others of the plurality of segments.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the alternative segment in the unicast stream includes an advertisement.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the broadcast stream includes a content insertion marker that corresponds to the corresponding one of the plurality of segments that differs from the alternative segment.
11. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the broadcast multiplexer is further configured to transmit the broadcast stream a packet having a data field populated by the respective URL in order to enable a user device to seamlessly transition between the broadcast stream and the unicast stream.
12. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the broadcast multiplexer is further configured to include a segment size of each of the plurality of segments between 2 and 10 seconds of video data.
13. The system of claim 7 , wherein transmitting the broadcast stream including a packet having a data field populated by the respective URL is performed in order to enable a user device to seamlessly transition between the broadcast stream and the unicast stream.
14. The system of claim 7 , wherein each of the plurality of segments includes between 2 and 10 seconds of video data.
15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the segment metadata is included out-of-band as a separate broadcast stream from the plurality of segments.
16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the segment metadata is included in the adaptation field of a first packet of a segment of the plurality of segments.
17. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the broadcast stream includes a content insertion marker that corresponds to the corresponding one of the plurality of segments that differs from the alternative segment.
18. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the segment metadata is included out-of-band as a separate broadcast stream from the plurality of segments.
19. The system of claim 7 , wherein the broadcast stream includes a content insertion marker that corresponds to the corresponding one of the plurality of segments that differs from the alternative segment.
20. The system of claim 7 , wherein the segment metadata is included out-of-band as a separate broadcast stream from the plurality of segments.