Bidirectional communication on live multimedia broadcasts

摘要

A bidirectional connection between a multimedia stream distribution system and a user is used to communicate operational data to and from the user. The bidirectional connection is separate from a multimedia connection that transfers a multimedia stream from the multimedia stream distribution system to the user. Providing a bidirectional connection separate from the multimedia connection is advantageous, among other reasons, because the operational data can be collected effectively at the multimedia stream distribution system independent of any limitations in the multimedia connection. To organize users and reduce processing load, the multimedia stream distribution system assigns users to user groups based on shared characteristics. Groups may be used to propagate information to the users as well as analyze information collected from the users in an efficient manner.

主权项

1. A method for remotely communicating with a user over a network comprising:
by a connection handling component of a computing device for transmitting multimedia items to a plurality of users, creating a user profile for each of a plurality of users, the user profile describing characteristics of a corresponding user; by an application component of the computing device, assigning a first subset of the plurality of users to a first user group and a second subset of the plurality of users to a second user group based on user profiles of the plurality of users, the first subset of the plurality of users having user profiles sharing at least one common characteristic, the second subset of the plurality of users having user profiles sharing at least another common characteristic; by the connection handling component, establishing a bi-directional connection between the computing device and a user of the first user group or the second user group, the bi-directional connection configured to transmit operational data representing data associated with at least one of content, quality, and process of reproducing the multimedia items at the user; by the connection handling component, establishing a one-way connection with the user, the one-way connection separate from the bi-directional connection and configured to transmit the multimedia items from the computing device to the user; and by the connection handling component, sending the multimedia items to the user through the one-way connection responsive to establishing the one-way connection between the computing device and the user.