Apparatus and method for rendering content

Apparatus and method for rendering content

Field of the invention

The present subject matter relates to rendering of content in a networked or Internet environment.

Background of the invention

Patent application WO2004/061608 discloses a system and method for rendering content on multiple devices. Generally, the bandwidth available in a network environment is a variable quantity. The bandwidth generally depends on the number of active users at any given point in time. This can affect the transfer of data in real-time and the solution disclosed in WO2004/061608 can result in unpleasant user experience.

Summary of the invention

Accordingly, it is an object of the present subject matter to improve the user experience while the content is being rendered.

The object of the present subject matter is achieved by providing a method for rendering content in a networked or Internet environment, the method comprising analyzing the buffered content based on semantics of the content and generating a semantically analyzed buffered content, the semantically analyzed buffered content having a plurality of semantic boundaries; identifying a logical end point in the semantically analyzed buffered content, the identified logical end point being closest to the size of the semantically analyzed buffered content; and rendering a portion of the semantically analyzed buffered content till the identified logical end point with a streaming application.

The solution disclosed in the patent application WO2004/061608 has several drawbacks. The playback of content can be interrupted at a random point. As an illustrative example, while watching a web tutorial that is being streamed, the interruption can be in the middle of a word being uttered by the presenter. The playback of content can then generally resume (once enough content is available) from the remaining syllable of the uncompleted word being spoken by the presenter. This kind of interruption at non-word boundaries can be annoying to a user (viewer) for e.g. the student trying to follow the web tutorial.

As a further illustrative example, while watching a clipping of a sport event from a web server, it is possible that the playback pauses while a scene change is in progress. This can be annoying and can result in unpleasant experience to the user (viewer).

The disclosed solution semantically analyzes the content that is being buffered and renders it only till a logical endpoint even if more buffered content is available. This makes it easier for the user (viewer) to follow the content (e.g. audio content/video content) that is being rendered. The disclosed solution can make the rendering of the buffered content more continuous and enhance user (viewer) experience. This in turn can reduce user (viewer) annoyance and create a much more pleasant experience to the user (viewer).

In an embodiment, analyzing the buffered content based on semantics of the content is carried out using at least one of

Inter- word silence detection Cut silence detection

Video shot detection

Video scene detection

Many content semantics analyzing networks which are part of frameworks like Movie-in-a-Minute, Sports-in-a-Minute or Commercial Block detection are available. Appropriate semantic analyzing components can be used to analyze the buffered content before rendering the buffered content.

In a further embodiment, the method comprises aggregating the portion of the semantically analyzed buffered content that is not rendered together with the new content to be rendered and rendering the aggregated semantically analyzed buffered content in the subsequent cycle of rendering. This can prevent rendering of buffered content that can cause discontinuities. This can enhance user (viewer) experience.

In a still further embodiment, the rendering of the buffered content is carried out at the server. This can reduce the additional processing that generally happens at the client-side otherwise. The object of the present subject matter is further achieved by providing an apparatus for rendering content in a networked or Internet environment, the apparatus comprising a semantic analyzer unit configured to analyze the buffered content based on semantics of the content and generate a semantically analyzed buffered content, the semantically analyzed buffered content having a plurality of semantic boundaries; an identification unit configured to identify a logical end point in the semantically analyzed buffered content, the identified logical end point being closest to the size of the semantically analyzed buffered content; and a rendering unit configured to render a portion of the semantically analyzed buffered content till the identified logical end point with a streaming application.

In an embodiment, the apparatus comprises an aggregation unit configured to aggregate the portion of the semantically analyzed buffered content that is not rendered together with the new content to be rendered and render the aggregated semantically analyzed buffered content in the subsequent cycle of rendering.

In a further embodiment, the apparatus can be deployed at the server.

The object of the present subject matter is further achieved by providing a software program for rendering content in a networked or Internet environment, the software program comprising program code means configured to analyze the buffered content based on semantics of the content and generate a semantically analyzed buffered content, the semantically analyzed buffered content having a plurality of semantic boundaries; identify a logical end point in the semantically analyzed buffered content, the identified logical end point being closest to the size of the semantically analyzed buffered content; and render a portion of the semantically analyzed buffered content till the identified logical end point with a streaming application.

Brief description of the drawings

The above-mentioned aspects, features and advantages will be further described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which the same reference numerals indicate identical or similar parts, and in which: Fig. 1 shows an exemplary clipping of a sport event being rendered in a networked or Internet environment;

Fig. 2 schematically shows a method of rendering content according to an embodiment of the present subject matter; Fig. 3a shows an exemplary content streamed from the server in multiples of basic packets;

Fig. 3b shows an exemplary audio content in MP3 format corresponding to the word "application" that is split over two basic packets; Fig. 4 schematically shows a flowchart illustrating the method of rendering content according to an embodiment of the present subject matter; and

Fig. 5 schematically shows an exemplary apparatus for rendering content according to an embodiment of the present subject matter.

Detailed description of the embodiments

Referring now to Fig. 1, while watching a clipping of a sport event from a web server, it is possible that the playback pauses while a scene change is in progress. This kind of interruption can be annoying to the user (viewer) and can create unpleasant experience.

Referring now to Fig. 2, the content to be rendered 202 is buffered in the buffer 204. The buffered content 206 is semantically analyzed. Many semantics analyzing network which are part of framework like Movie-in-a-Minute, Sports-in-a-Minute or Commercial Block Detection are available. Appropriate semantic analyzing components can be used to analyze the buffered content 206. Some of the known semantic analyzing techniques such as Inter-word silence detection, Cut silence detection, Video shot detection and Video scene detection can be used.

The inter-word silence detection can be for example carried out using a combination of energy and zero-crossing features on an audio frame as reported in the paper "Speech/music/silence and gender detection algorithm", Hadi Harb, Liming Chen and Jean- Yuves Auloge, proceedings of the 7^th International conference on Distributed Multimedia Systems DMSOl, 2001, pages 257 - 262. The cut silence detection can be performed using the subject matter disclosed in the patent application WO2002093801. Further, the video shot detection can be performed using the subject matter disclosed in US patent 7123769. The video scene detection can be performed using the techniques available in the paper "Fast pixel-based video scene change detection", Xiaoquan Yi, Nam Ling, ISCAS 2005, IEEE International symposium on Circuits and Systems, vol 4, page no. 3443 - 3446.

As an illustrative example, semantic boundaries Sb₁, Sb₂, Sb₃, ... Sb_n of the buffered content 206 can be found using Inter-word silence technique. A logical end point Sb_n which is as large as possible to the semantically buffered content size can be identified. The streaming application then can render the semantically analyzed buffer content 208 till the identified logical end point Sb_n.

The portion of the semantically analyzed buffered content that is not rendered

210 can be aggregated together with the new content to be rendered and the aggregated semantically analyzed buffered content can be rendered in the subsequent cycle of rendering.

This can prevent rendering of buffered content that can cause discontinuities. This can enhance user (viewer) experience.

The disclosed method can intelligently render the buffered content. This can enhance the user (viewer) experience and result in continuous content delivery to the user (viewer) without any interruptions. There may be interruptions due to limited bandwidth, but the user (viewer) can still be able to follow the streamed video effortlessly as it can be rendered at the client-side in an intelligent manner. Further, the user (viewer) can easily follow the content and have a pleasant experience.

The rendering of the buffered content can be carried out at the server. This can relieve the additional processing that happens at the client-side otherwise. The content (data) streamed from the server are generally in multiples of basic packet size as defined by the underlying transport protocol as shown in Fig. 3a. In case of Transport Stream (TS) this is defined as 188 bytes. The actual logical audio video content that is being transported using this basic packet can span over multiple basic packets. Referring now to Fig. 3b, in case the client-side audio video rendering application waits only till the reception of the basic packet, then the word "application" will be reproduced in a broken fashion. This would cause irritation to the user as it makes difficult for the user to follow the audio/video content. Similar disruptions can happen to video content also. The idea is to find the logical audio video endpoints at the client- side and then render the content in such a way that the user irritation is greatly reduced. The rendering at the client-side generally pauses (to wait for more content to be streamed from the server) after the word "application" is completely rendered.

As an alternative, instead of these logical audio video endpoints being determined in real-time at the client- side, this information can be added to the stream in advance (using offline processing) at the server side. In this case, the client will now have to wait to accumulate content till the next logical endpoint (and not till the basic packet length as it is done currently).

Referring now to Fig. 4, in step 402 the buffered content is semantically analyzed using suitable semantic analyzing techniques and a plurality of semantic boundaries are identified. In step 404 the logical end point is identified, the logical end point being closest to the size of the semantically analyzed buffer content. In step 406, a portion of the semantically analyzed buffered content till the identified logical end point is rendered with a suitable streaming application. Referring now to Fig. 5, the apparatus 500 for rendering content in a networked or Internet environment includes i. a semantic analyzer unit 502 configured to analyze the buffered content based on semantics of the content and generate a semantically analyzed buffered content, the semantically analyzed buffered content having a plurality of semantic boundaries ii. an identification unit 504 configured to identify a logical end point in the semantically analyzed buffered content, the identified logical end point being closest to the semantically analyzed buffered content iii. a rendering unit 506 configured to render a portion of the semantically analyzed buffered content till the identified logical end point with a streaming application iv. an aggregation unit 508 configured to aggregate the portion of the semantically analyzed buffered content that is not rendered together with the new content to be rendered and render the aggregated semantically analyzed buffered content in the subsequent cycle of rendering.

The disclosed subject matter can be used for televisions capable of operating in the Open IPTV environment. The present subject matter can also be used by DLNA client devices to improve the perceived quality of rendering content from other devices (e.g. Media

Center PC) in a Home Network. Any video rendering application from streaming web services (e.g. YouTube) can also use the present subject matter.

While the subject matter has been illustrated in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, such illustration and description are to be considered illustrative or exemplary and not restrictive; the subject matter is not limited to the disclosed embodiments.

Other variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art of practicing the claimed subject matter, from a study of the drawings, the disclosure and the appended claims. Use of the verb "comprise" and its conjugates does not exclude the presence of elements other than those stated in a claim or in the description. Use of the indefinite article "a" or "an" preceding an element or step does not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements or steps. A single unit may fulfill the functions of several items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependant claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage. The figures and description are to be regarded as illustrative only and do not limit the subject matter. Any reference sign in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope.