Streaming enhancements through pre-fetch background

摘要

Media content that meets pre-fetching criteria may be distributed to the device, in a non-requested instance, and stored in the pre-fetched segments database. Rather than relying on caching methods for the first-time access of a media object, at least a portion of the media object may be pre-stored, prior to any requests for access, on the client's device. Thus, when a user attempts to access a particular media stream from the network, if the client's device already has a segment of the desired media object stored, the stored segment access can be directly from the client's device. To further efficiently use bandwidth, the distribution of the segment of a media object to be stored on a user's local machine, the distribution may be done out of band or based on a balance of network resources.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
receiving from a network, prior to a user request for any portion of media content being selected for distribution upon the user request, a first segment of at least one media object that meets pre-fetching criteria, wherein:
the first segment is received out of band on a separate data stream;at least one portion of the media content comprises the at least one media object; andthe pre-fetching criteria indicates that the first segment of the at least one media object is to be stored prior to the user request for the media content; receiving, after the user request for the media content, a second segment of the at least one media object; storing the first segment of the at least one media object in directly accessible noncache storage; when the user request is for the at least one portion of the media content that comprises the stored first segment of the at least one media object, implementing the first segment from the noncache storage; and when there is an indication that the second segment is desired, request, via the network, the second segment of the at least one media object.