Utilizing a Replacement Pathway for Lost Packet Delivery During Media Reception in a Set-Top Box (STB)

Abstract

A replacement pathway in an STB is utilized to determine loss of packets and delivery error during reception of media broadcasts, and to retrieve replacement data from one or more replacement media servers. The retrieval of the replacement data is performed during playback of the received media broadcasts. The communication of media broadcast incorporates delays to accommodate the retrieval of replacement data. Alternatively, received broadcast media streams are buffered to enable retrieval of replacement data and to provide seamless presentation of media content in the media broadcasts. The replacement media server performs access authentication operations during replacement data retrieval. The replacement media server is accessed via markup language, for example, HTML and/or XML, based interfaces and/or dedicated APIs. The replacement media server may deny replacement data based on plurality of service criteria such as acceptance and denial criteria, which may comprise allowable bandwidth and/or error rates.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 at a data processing device,
 receiving a stream of data from a source over a network, the stream of data defining media content to be displayed to a user; 
 storing the data defining the media content in a media queue memory to buffer the stream of data during display of the media content to the user; 
 providing the data defining the media content from the media queue memory to a playback device for display to the user; 
 while providing the data defining the media content, determining an occurrence of an interruption in the stream of data from the source over the network; 
 while providing the data to the playback device for display to the user,
 transmitting to a remote server different from the source a request for replacement data to replace the interruption in the stream of data; 
 receiving the replacement data; and 
 combining the replacement data with error-free portions of the stored data defining the media content in the media queue memory to replace the interruption in the stream of data so that the display to the user is not interrupted. 
 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein determining an occurrence of an interruption in the stream of data from the source comprises:
 receiving a plurality of packets of data defining the media content, respective packets being ordered during encoding of the plurality of packets for correct reassembly and playback upon receipt; 
 detecting one or more out-of-sequence delivery errors among the plurality of packets; and 
 based on the detected one or more out-of-sequence delivery errors, determining that the interruption in the stream of data has occurred. 
 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2  further comprising:
 tracking frames sequence numbering information for the received plurality of packets to identify an out-of-sequence delivery error in the stream of data from the source. 
 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein determining an occurrence of an interruption in the stream of data from the source comprises:
 receiving a plurality of packets of data defining the media content, respective packets being ordered during encoding of the plurality of packets for correct reassembly and playback upon receipt; 
 detecting corruption of one or more packets of the plurality of packets of data; and 
 based on the corruption of the one or more packets, determining that the interruption in the stream of data has occurred. 
 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein determining an occurrence of an interruption in the stream of data from the source comprises:
 receiving a plurality of packets of data defining the media content, respective packets being ordered during encoding of the plurality of packets for correct reassembly and playback upon receipt; 
 detecting absence from the stream of data of one or more packets of the plurality of packets of data; and 
 based on the absence of the one or more packets, determining that the interruption in the stream of data has occurred. 
 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein transmitting to a remote server different from the source a request for replacement data comprises:
 upon detection of an occurrence of an interruption in the stream of data, determining whether a replacement media server is accessible over a network; 
 if the replacement media server is accessible, transmitting the request for replacement data to the replacement media server; and 
 if the replacement media server is inaccessible, returning an error indication. 
 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 determining identification information for at least one of the user and a user playback device; and 
 transmitting to the remote server the request for replacement data with the identification information for the at least one of the user and a user playback device. 
 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 8  further comprising:
 transmitting to the remote server authentication information operative to cause authentication of at least one of the user and the user playback device; and 
 wherein the replacement data received upon occurrence of authentication of either the user or the user playback device, or both. 
 
     
     
         9 . A media device comprising:
 a media communication interface circuit configured to receive a stream of media data from a remote media source over a network for playback by the media device;   a replacement media communication interface circuit configured to receive replacement media from a replacement media server which is different from the remote media source;   a media decoding circuit in data communication with the media communication interface circuit and configured to process the received stream of media and produce audio or video information for playback by the media device;   a delivery error handling circuit in data communication with the media communication interface circuit and the replacement media communication interface circuit, the delivery error handling circuit configured to detect a delivery error in the media data during reception of the stream of media data and to communicate through the replacement media communication interface circuit with the replacement media server to obtain replacement media to correct the delivery error; and   a user interface management circuit in data communication with the replacement media communication interface circuit and configured to implement an application programming interface for data communication with the replacement media server.   
     
     
         10 . The media device of  claim 9  wherein the delivery error handling circuit is further configured to generate information identifying replacement data sufficient to correct the detected delivery error and to communicate the generated information to the replacement media server a request for replacement media to correct the delivery error. 
     
     
         11 . The media device of  claim 9  wherein the delivery error handling circuit is further configured to track frame related information of the in the media data during reception of the stream of media data and to detect a delivery error using the frame related information. 
     
     
         12 . The media device of  claim 10  wherein the delivery error handling circuit is further configured to track frame sequence numbering information and, using the frame sequence numbering information, detect an out-of-sequence delivery error in the stream of media data. 
     
     
         12 . The media device of  claim 9  wherein the delivery error handling circuit is further configured to identify a corrupted frame of data in the stream of media data and to communicate through the replacement media communication interface circuit a request for replacement media to the replacement media server. 
     
     
         13 . The media device of  claim 9  further comprising:
 a media queue memory; and 
 a queue management circuit in data communication with the media communication interface, the replacement media communication interface and the media queue memory for storing in the media queue memory received media data and replacement media data. 
 
     
     
         14 . The media device of  claim 13  wherein the queue management circuit is configured to buffer the received media data in the media queue memory so as to provide uninterrupted playback by the media device while the media communication interface circuit receives the stream of media data from the remote media source and while the delivery error handling circuit detects the delivery error in the received media data and communicates with the replacement media server to obtain the replacement media to correct the delivery error. 
     
     
         15 . The media device of  claim 14  wherein the queue management circuit is configured to combine the replacement media in the media queue memory with error-free portions of the received media data so as to provide uninterrupted playback by the media device. 
     
     
         16 . The media device of  claim 9  wherein the user interface management circuit is configured to communicate authentication information through the replacement media communication interface circuit to the replacement media server, the authentication information sufficient for authentication of the media device with the replacement server. 
     
     
         17 . The media device of  claim 16  wherein the user interface management circuit is configured to receive a request failure indication when authentication of the media device with the replacement server fails and is configured to receive the requested replacement data. 
     
     
         18 . The media device of  claim 16  wherein the user interface management circuit is configured to receive a request failure indication when service denial criteria cause the replacement media server to deny a request to obtain replacement media to correct the delivery error. 
     
     
         19 . The media device of  claim 16  wherein the user interface management circuit is configured to receive a request failure indication when allowable bandwidth or maximum allowable error rate are exceeded by communication of the stream of media data from the remote media source over the network to the media device.