EFFICIENT ON-DEMAND STREAMING USING MULTICAST

摘要

A user device provides, to a content delivery system, a content request for selected media and receives, in response to the content request, a unicast link for receiving the selected media via a unicast stream and a multicast link for receiving the selected media via a multicast stream. The user device presents a first portion of the selected media via the unicast stream and buffers, in a local memory, a second portion of the selected media from the multicast stream. The second portion is later in linear sequence of the selected media than the first portion. The user device discontinues presenting the first portion of the selected media when the first portion would overlap the second portion and present the second portion of the selected media from the memory.

主权项

1. A method, comprising:
providing, by a user device and to a content delivery system, a content request for selected media; receiving, by the user device and in response to the content request, a unicast link for receiving the selected media via a unicast stream and a multicast link for receiving the selected media via a multicast stream; presenting, by the user device, a first portion of the selected media via the unicast stream; buffering, by the user device and in a local memory, a second portion of the selected media from the multicast stream, wherein the second portion is later in linear sequence of the selected media than the first portion; discontinuing presenting, by the user device, the first portion of the selected media when the first portion would overlap the second portion; and presenting, by the user device, the second portion of the selected media from the local memory.