Apparatus and methods for latency reduction in digital content switching operations
Apparatus and methods for reducing latency in content and content source switching in a digital content delivery network. In one embodiment, linear addressable secondary content is “switched into” primary content within a cloud-based model using one or more latency-reducing techniques so as to minimize the user's perception of delay in performing the switch. In one implementation, secondary content video encodings are selected based on the encoding scheme of the primary content, and open GOPs within the primary content at the content transition point are closed or avoided, each to reduce processing overhead of the recipient client device. In another implementation, otherwise cloud-inaccessible functionality of the client device is accessed to reduce or suspend processing on non-essential tasks to make more processing resources available at the client. In yet another implementation, intelligent RF PHY scheduling of the primary and secondary content are utilized to minimize RF re-tuning by the client.
1. A computerized method for causing delivery of digital content data within a content distribution network, the computerized method comprising:
causing delivery of first digital content data to a computerized client device;
processing the first digital content data to identify at least one transition data element therein, the at least one transition data element configured to cause a transition to second digital content data by the computerized client device;
prior to the transition by the computerized client device, causing the computerized client device to configure one or more functions to increase an availability of processing assets to support the transition;
receiving data indicative of the transition; and
based at least on the received data, causing the computerized client device to return the configured one or more functions to a state thereof prior to the configuration;
wherein the processing of the first digital content data to identify the at least one transition data element therein comprises (i) processing the first digital content data to identify at least one open group of pictures (GOP), and (ii) closing the at least one open GOP, such that the transition occurs only on a closed GOP.
2. The computerized method of claim 1 , wherein (i) the processing of the first digital content data, (ii) the causing of the computerized client device to configure the one or more functions, and (iii) the receiving of the data indicative of the transition, are performed at least in part by a software process operative to run on the computerized client device.
3. The computerized method of claim 1 , wherein (i) the processing of the first digital content data, (ii) the causing of the computerized client device to configure the one or more functions, and (iii) the receiving of the data indicative of the transition, are performed at least in part by a software process operative to run on a network server apparatus with which the computerized client device is in data communication via the content distribution network.
4. The computerized method of claim 1 , further comprising selecting the one or more functions from a plurality of functions available for configuration, the plurality of functions ranked according to at least one of a processing overhead or latency reduction produced by the configuration, the selecting based at least in part on data relating to the ranking.
5. The computerized method of claim 1 , further comprising selecting the one or more functions from a plurality of functions available for configuration, the selecting based at least in part on determining which of the plurality of functions available for configuration are currently being used by the computerized client device.
6. The computerized method of claim 1 , wherein the transition comprises transcoding at least a portion of the second digital content data into an encoding format able to be rendered by the computerized client device.
7. The computerized method of claim 6 , wherein the transcoding comprises transcoding from an Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG)-2 encoding format to a format requiring a lower bit rate.
8. The computerized method of claim 1 , wherein:
the causing of the computerized client device to configure the one or more functions comprises reducing a streaming bit rate of data associated with the first digital content data; and
the reducing the streaming bit rate of the data associated with the first digital content data comprises causing a streaming server apparatus of a content delivery network that is delivering the first digital content data to reduce the streaming bit rate using at least an adaptive bitrate (ABR) process used for streaming the first digital content data to the computerized client device.
9. The computerized method of claim 1 , wherein:
the configuration of the one or more functions comprises a reduction of a display resolution associated with at least a portion of the first digital content data; and
the reduction of the display resolution associated with at least the portion of the first digital content data comprises a reduction of a display resolution of only data associated with one or more peripheral portions of respective ones of a plurality of frames of the first digital content data, while maintaining a display resolution associated with non-peripheral portions of the plurality of frames unchanged.
10. The computerized method of claim 1 , wherein the causing of the computerized client device to configure the one or more functions comprises suspending at least a portion of motion estimation processing utilized by a motion estimation-capable decoding process used to render the first digital content data.
11. Computer readable apparatus comprising a non-transitory storage medium, the non-transitory storage medium comprising at least one computer program having a plurality of instructions, the plurality of instructions configured to, when executed on a digital processing apparatus, cause a computerized apparatus to:
cause delivery of first content data to a computerized client device;
process the first content data to identify at least one transition data element indicative of an transition to second content data;
cause, prior to the transition to the second content data and based at least on the at least one transition data element, configuration of one or more functions to increase an availability of processing assets at the computerized client device to support the transition, the configuration of the one or more functions comprising: (i) an evaluation of data associated with the computerized client device to determine one or more native processing functions within the computerized client device which are then-currently inaccessible, and (ii) configuration of the computerized client device to suspend one or more cloud-based electronic program guide (EPG) functions to free processing resources to be used for making the one or more native processing functions accessible;
receive data indicative of the transition; and
based at least one the received data, cause a reconfiguration of the one or more functions to a prior configuration.
12. The computer readable apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the configuration of the one or more functions comprises reduction of a streaming bit rate of data associated with the first content data.
13. The computer readable apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the reduction of the streaming bit rate of the data associated with the first content data comprises a reduction of an adaptive bitrate (ABR) used for streaming the first content data to the computerized client device.
14. The computer readable apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the configuration of the one or more functions comprises an increase of at least one of a transmit power or spatial diversity of a wireless base station so as to reduce an error rate of wireless transmission of data associated with the first content data.
15. Computerized apparatus, comprising:
first data interface apparatus configured to communicate with a network;
digital processor apparatus in data communication with the first data interface apparatus; and
storage apparatus in data communication with the first data interface apparatus and the digital processor apparatus and comprising at least one computer program, the at least one computer program comprising a plurality of instructions which are configured to, when executed by the digital processor apparatus, cause the computerized apparatus to:
cause delivery of first content data to a computerized client device;
process the first content data to identify at least one transition data element indicative of an impending transition to second content data;
pre-position the second content data on a proximate carrier RF frequency to a carrier RF frequency utilized for the delivery of the first content data, thereby reducing latency associated with the transition;
cause, prior to the transition to the second content data, configuration of one or more functions to increase an availability of processing assets at the computerized client device to support the transition;
receive data indicative of the transition; and
based at least one the received data, cause a reconfiguration of the one or more functions to a state thereof prior to the configuration.
16. The computerized apparatus of claim 15 , wherein:
the at least one transition data element comprises indicates where the second content data is to begin;
the delivery of the first content data comprises delivery on at least one first radio frequency (RF) physical channel;
the transition to the second content data comprises a switch from the at least one first RF physical channel to at least one second RF physical channel, the at least one second RF physical channel being within a prescribed relationship to the at least one first RF physical channel; and
the configuration of the one or more functions reduces a latency associating with the switch.
17. The computerized apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the at least one first RF physical channel and the at least one second RF physical channel each comprises one or more quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM)-modulated carriers having a bandwidth of approximately 6 MHz.
18. The computerized apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the configuration of the one or more functions comprises suspension of at least a portion of motion estimation processing utilized by an H.264 decoding process used to render the first content data.
19. The computerized apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the plurality of instructions are further configured to, when executed by the digital processor apparatus, cause the computerized apparatus to:
cause caching of at least a portion of the second content data at a storage location which reduces latency of the computerized client device accessing and rendering the second content data over at least one other possible storage location available for storing the second content data.
20. The computerized apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the computerized apparatus comprises a just-in-time (JIT) packager apparatus.
21. The computerized method of claim 1 , wherein the processing of the first digital content data to identify the at least one open GOP comprises processing the first digital content data to identify one or more GOPs beginning with one or more B-frames.
22. The computerized method of claim 21 , wherein the closing the at least one open GOP comprises deleting the one or more B-frames and replacing the one or more B-frames with one or more transitional frames.
23. The computerized method of claim 1 , wherein the closing of the at least one open GOP comprises inserting at least one I-frame between a closed GOP that precedes the at least one open GOP and the at least one transition data element, the at least one I-frame comprising at least one I-frame from a subsequent portion of the second digital content data after the at least one transition data element.
24. The computerized method of claim 1 , wherein the closing of the at least one open GOP comprises removing one or more non-I-frame frames within the at least one open GOP at a beginning thereof.