Recording of abr content

Abstract

A system and method for recording ABR content at a client recording device. A variety of recording service selection mechanisms may be applied at the client side based on network bandwidth conditions and other criteria for selecting ABR content fragments encoded at suitable bitrate quality levels to be downloaded for recording at the client recording device. One or more post-recording optimization schemes may also be applied in one arrangement with respect to, for example, the client recording device's media storage space.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method operating at a client recording device disposed in an adaptive bitrate (ABR) communications network, the method comprising:
 recording ABR program fragments of a particular program received via an ABR streaming session with a network node, each recorded ABR program fragment having multiple bitrate quality levels;   creating local manifest files for the recorded ABR program fragments;   providing local manifest files to a local ABR player device pursuant to a playback message therefrom; and   responsive to requests from the local ABR player device, providing the ABR program fragments at requested bitrate quality levels to the local ABR player device for playback of the particular program.   
     
     
         2 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the ABR program fragments comprising segments of a select range of bitrate quality levels are deleted from the client recording device after determining at least one of: (i) a certain amount of time has elapsed since the particular program has been recorded, (ii) the client recording device's available storage space has reached a certain capacity limitation, and (iii) number of times the particular program has been played back over a certain duration of time has fallen to a threshold value. 
     
     
         3 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the ABR program fragments of the particular program are initially recorded as segments having a low bitrate quality. 
     
     
         4 . The method as recited in  claim 3 , wherein segments of higher bitrate quality for the ABR program fragments are recorded during time periods when network bandwidth conditions are improved. 
     
     
         5 . A client recording device operative in an adaptive bitrate (ABR) communications network, comprising:
 one or more processors and a storage unit coupled thereto, the storage unit operative to store ABR program fragments for one or more programs downloaded from one or more network nodes via respective ABR streaming sessions;   a bandwidth monitor configured to monitor bandwidth conditions on a network connection relative to the one or more ABR streaming sessions; and   a persistent memory module coupled to the one or more processors and having program instructions stored therein, which program instructions are configured perform when executed by the one or more processors:
 record, at the storage unit, ABR program fragments of a particular program received via an ABR streaming session with a network node, each recorded ABR program fragment being stored at multiple bitrate quality levels; 
 create local manifest files for the recorded ABR program fragments; 
 provide local manifest files to a local ABR player device upon receiving a playback message; and 
 responsive to requests from the local ABR player device, provide the ABR program fragments at requested bitrate quality levels to the local ABR player device for playback of the particular program. 
   
     
     
         6 . The client recording device as recited in  claim 5 , wherein the program instructions further comprise instructions configured to delete ABR program fragments comprising segments of a select range of bitrate quality levels from the storage unit after determining at least one of: (i) a certain amount of time has elapsed since the particular program has been recorded, (ii) the client recording device's available storage space has reached a certain capacity limitation, and (iii) number of times the particular program has been played back over a certain duration of time has fallen to a threshold value.