Catching up to the live playhead in live streaming

Abstract

Techniques are described for reducing the delay between the live playhead of live streaming content and the client playhead of a client device consuming the live stream. In one technique, an increased playback speed is used by the media player on the client device so that the delay is gradually reduced. In another technique, the media player jumps forward in the stream, skipping content identified as expendable.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A client device, comprising:
 memory;   an output device; and   one or more processors configured, in conjunction with the memory, to:
 acquire a stream of content for playback on the output device, the content being characterized by an encoding according to an encoding scheme; 
 determine that a delay between a live playhead of the content and a client playhead associated with the playback of the content exceeds a first threshold; 
 in response to determining that the delay exceeds the first threshold, increase a normal playback speed of the content by a media player on the client device to an increased playback speed without modifying the encoding of the content; and 
 dynamically vary the increased playback speed resulting in a plurality of different increased playback speeds, each of the different increased playback speeds being higher than the normal playback speed. 
   
     
     
         2 . The client device of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to achieve the increased playback speed by increasing a number of frames per second of the content rendered and displayed on the output device without skipping frames of the content. 
     
     
         3 . The client device of  claim 1 , wherein the increased playback speed is less than approximately 15% greater than the normal playback speed. 
     
     
         4 . The client device of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
 determine that the delay is below a second threshold, the second threshold being lower than the first threshold; and   decrease the increased playback speed.   
     
     
         5 . The client device of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
 identify one or more expendable portions of the content using content metadata associated with at least some video fragments of the content; and   skip playback of at least one of the one or more expendable portions of the content.   
     
     
         6 . The client device of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
 determine that a playback quality of the content has dropped below a second threshold; and   decrease the increased playback speed.   
     
     
         7 . The client device of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to determine the delay based on one or more rebuffering events, or using time stamps associated with fragments or frames of the content. 
     
     
         8 . The client device of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to dynamically vary the increased playback speed by determining that the increased playback speed has not sufficiently reduced the delay and further increasing the increased playback speed. 
     
     
         9 . The client device of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to dynamically vary the increased playback speed by reducing the increased playback speed for portions of the content that include a specific content type. 
     
     
         10 . The client device of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to dynamically vary the increased playback speed by using the different increased playback speeds for different corresponding ranges of the delay. 
     
     
         11 . A computer-implemented method, comprising:
 acquiring a stream of content for playback on an output device of a client device, the content being characterized by an encoding according to an encoding scheme;   determining that a delay between a live playhead of the content and a client playhead associated with the playback of the content exceeds a first threshold;   in response to determining that the delay exceeds the first threshold, increasing a normal playback speed of the content by a media player on the client device to an increased playback speed without modifying the encoding of the content; and   dynamically varying the increased playback speed resulting in a plurality of different increased playback speeds, each of the different increased playback speeds being higher than the normal playback speed.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein increasing the normal playback speed includes increasing a number of frames per second of the content rendered and displayed on the output device without skipping frames of the content. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the increased playback speed is less than approximately 15% greater than the normal playback speed. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 determining that the delay is below a second threshold, the second threshold being lower than the first threshold; and   decreasing the increased playback speed.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 identifying one or more expendable portions of the content using content metadata associated with at least some video fragments of the content; and   skipping playback of at least one of the one or more expendable portions of the content.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 determining that a playback quality of the content has dropped below a second threshold; and   decreasing the increased playback speed.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising determining the delay based on one or more rebuffering events, or using time stamps associated with fragments or frames of the content. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein dynamically varying the increased playback speed includes determining that the increased playback speed has not sufficiently reduced the delay and further increasing the increased playback speed. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein dynamically varying the increased playback speed includes reducing the increased playback speed for portions of the content that include a specific content type. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein dynamically varying the increased playback speed includes using the different increased playback speeds for different corresponding ranges of the delay.