Multiple bitrate format-agnostic streaming architecture

Abstract

Delivering a content stream within a content delivery network (CDN) includes recording the stream using a recording tier, and playing the stream using a player tier. For a live stream, recording the stream begins when the stream is received at a CDN entry point in a source format. The stream is then converted into an intermediate format (IF), which comprises a stream manifest, a set of one or more fragment indexes (FI), and a set of IF fragments. A player process begins when a requesting client is associated with a CDN HTTP proxy. In response to receipt at the HTTP proxy of a request for the stream, the HTTP proxy retrieves the stream manifest and at least one fragment index. Using the fragment index, the IF fragments are retrieved to the HTTP proxy, converted to a target format, and then served in response to the client request. Preferably, fragments are accessed, cached and served by the HTTP proxy via HTTP.

Having described our invention, what we claim is as follows: 
     
         1 . Apparatus for Internet Protocol (IP)-based media content delivery, the IP-based media comprising one or more media object types, and a set of content chunks, comprising:
 a hardware processor, and computer memory, the computer memory hosting an HTTP proxy server, and a translator process, the HTTP proxy server having associated therewith a partial object cache (POC);
 the HTTP proxy responsive to receipt of a request for content to determine whether a media object associated with the content exists in the partial object cache, to return the media object in response to the request when the media object exists, and to request the translator process to generate the media object otherwise; 
 wherein the content request is a request for a content stream, and wherein the HTTP proxy fetches chunk information from an entry point when a request timestamp is within a given time period of a last chunk's timestamp, and wherein the HTTP proxy fetches chunk information from a persistent data store when the request timestamp is older than the given time period. 
   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus as described in  claim 1  wherein the media object is a stream manifest. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus as described in  claim 1  wherein the media object is a fragment index associated with the stream manifest. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus as described in  claim 2  wherein the stream manifest includes one or more bitrates of a multi-bit (MBR) stream.