Consumers have an ever-increasing array of options for consuming media content, in terms of the types of media content (e.g., video, audio, text, etc.), providers of the media content, and devices for consuming the media content. Media content providers are becoming increasingly sophisticated and effective at providing media content quickly and reliably to consumers.
Media content is often streamed over networks using adaptive bitrate streaming for playback on a viewer's device. Adaptive bitrate streaming includes determining the viewer device's bandwidth and hardware resources in real time and adjusting the quality of the media content that is requested from a media server and played back on the viewer's device to account for changes in the bandwidth and hardware resources. Fragments at different quality levels, or bitrates, of the media content detailed in a manifest file are requested individually and stored in a buffer for playback.
Static objects, such as the fragments, are often stored within a cache of an edge server of a content delivery network (CDN) to provide fast and reliable playback. Dynamic objects, such as some manifest files, can vary in content. Unfortunately, dynamic objects are difficult to cache at an edge server of a CDN.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds