System, apparatus and method to facilitate live video streaming

Abstract

Systems and methods for generating a master video stream from at least two live video streams are provided in this disclosure. The systems include a combination component that combines the live video streams to generate the master video stream. In one aspect, the live video streams can be copies of the same recording that are multicast from different locations according to User Datagram Protocol. The live video streams suffer different errors, such as stream corruption or stream error, due to the transmission. The combination component eliminates the errors in the live video streams due to transmission and creates a substantially error-free master video stream.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system, comprising:
 at least one media content generator that generates at least two live video streams;   a non-transitory memory that stores computer executable components; and   a processor that executes the following computer executable component stored within the memory:
 a combination component that combines the at least two live video streams to generate a master video stream. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least two live video streams are identical copies. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least two live video streams are not identical. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the at least two live video streams originate from at least two data centers at different geographical locations. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the at least two live video streams are encoded in different manners at the at least two data centers. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein
 the at least one media content generator generates N live video streams, and   the combination component combines the N live video streams,   wherein N is at least four.   
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising: a synchronization component that synchronizes the at least two live video streams. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the synchronization component matches a fingerprint of a segment of a first video stream of the at least two live video streams to a fingerprint of a segment of a second video stream of the at least two live video streams. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the fingerprints include metadata associated with a set of data packets of the segment of the first video stream and a set of data packets of the segment of the second video stream. 
     
     
         10 . A method, comprising:
 receiving at least two live video streams;   combining the at least two live video streams; and   generating a master video stream from the at least two live video streams.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the receiving further comprises: receiving the at least two live video streams that are multicast as at least two data streams according to User Datagram Protocol. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the receiving further comprises: receiving a first data stream of the at least two data streams with a first stream corruption or stream error and receiving a second data stream of the at least two data streams with a second stream corruption or stream error. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising: correcting the first stream corruption or stream error of the first data stream with a corresponding packet of the second data stream, wherein the first stream corruption or stream error is different from the second stream corruption or stream error. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the correcting further comprises:
 identifying a fingerprint of a packet of the first data stream that has been lost;   searching the second data stream for a packet with a substantially similar fingerprint to the packet of the first data stream; and   replacing the packet of the first data stream that has been lost in the master video stream with the packet with the substantially similar fingerprint from the second data stream.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the receiving further comprises: receiving a first video stream of the at least two data streams from a first location and receiving a second video stream of the at least two data streams from a second location geographically remote from the first location. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the generating further comprising: generating a substantially error-free master video stream from the at least two live video streams. 
     
     
         17 . A computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution, cause a system to perform operations, comprising:
 receiving at least two live video streams; and   generating a master video stream by combining the at least two live video streams.   
     
     
         18 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 17 , wherein
 the receiving further comprises: receiving at least three video streams and assigning at least three weights to the at least three video streams; and   the generating further comprises:   detecting an error in a segment of one of the at least three video streams;   replacing the segment of the one of the at least two live video streams with a corresponding segment of another stream based on the weight.   
     
     
         19 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 18 , wherein the assigning further comprises:
 assigning the at least three weights to the at least three video streams based on originating locations of the at least three video streams.   
     
     
         20 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 18 , wherein the assigning further comprises:
 assigning the at least three weights to the at least three video streams based on reliabilities of the at least three video streams.