Measuring user quality of experience for a streaming media service
Granted: October 25, 2016
Patent Number:
9479562
Techniques are disclosed for representing a user quality of experience (QoE) experienced by users of a streaming media service using a single QoE metric. The single QoE metric may be determined based on a set of empirical characteristics relating to the streaming video service such as startup latency, video quality, and the likelihood of interruptions in streaming playback. The empirical characteristics may be weighted according to how much one factor influences user quality of…
Selecting and ordering groups of titles
Granted: October 25, 2016
Patent Number:
9477713
Techniques for selecting and ordering groups of titles to present as recommendations. In one embodiment, for example, a method performed by one or more computing devices of an online services comprises selecting, for each of a plurality of row positions, a group of titles to fill the row position based at least in part on a relevance score computed for the group of titles. The relevance score is based at least in part on a personalized ranking for a particular user of titles in the…
Relationship-based search and recommendations
Granted: September 27, 2016
Patent Number:
9454530
Techniques are described for determining relationships between user activities and determining search results and content recommendations based on the relationships. A plays-related-to-searches application may determine a relationship score between plays of a media title and searches of a query by determining a distance between a projection of the search onto the space of the users and a projection of plays of the media title onto the space of the users. A plays-after-searches…
Securely connecting control device to target device
Granted: September 6, 2016
Patent Number:
9438571
In an approach, a target computing device receives a pairing request from a controller computing device, the pairing request including controller credentials that were previously received by the controller computing device from an authentication server computer and encrypted under a service key. The target computing device forwards the pairing request to the authentication server, the authentication server computer being configured to return a pairing response based at least in part on…
Universal data storage system that maintains data across one or more specialized data stores
Granted: August 30, 2016
Patent Number:
9430539
In an embodiment, a method comprises receiving an input defining organization of one or more universal data elements; generating a universal schema that defines organization of the one or more universal data elements based on the input; associating the universal schema with a specialized plug-in, wherein the specialized plug-in maps the one or more universal data elements with data elements in one or more specialized databases maintained by a specialized data store; receiving, from a…
Media content rankings for discovery of novel content
Granted: August 30, 2016
Patent Number:
9430532
A content provider system ranks media content items with respect to a particular user based on selection scores determined for each of the media content items. The selection scores may be determined using a particular model that calculates a predicted selection score based on feature values associated with the content item with respect to the particular user. The feature values may indicate properties of the media content item, the particular user, or the particular user's relationship…
Automatically generating volume images and launching virtual computing instances
Granted: August 30, 2016
Patent Number:
9430212
In an embodiment, a method comprises using a first server computer, executing a process that is configured to generate virtual computer instances; receiving a request to generate a first custom virtual computer instance, wherein the request identifies one or more software packages to install on the first custom virtual computer instance; copying a first pre-configured volume image onto a volume of a data storage device, wherein the volume includes one or more base software packages in a…
Detecting segments of a video program
Granted: August 16, 2016
Patent Number:
9418296
In an embodiment, a data store storing a first video and a second video that is associated with the first video; a computer processor coupled to the data store and programmed to: generate a first model fingerprint of the first video, based on pixels in a first model frame in a first model segment of the first video stored in the data store; generate a first test fingerprint of the second video based on pixels in a first test frame in the second video stored in the data store; determine a…
Insertion points for streaming video autoplay
Granted: August 16, 2016
Patent Number:
RE46114
Techniques are described for presenting streaming media content to users in an engaging manner. A streaming media player may provide an interface that allows users to browse though a collection of available titles sorted into different categories (e.g., science fiction titles, television shows, westerns, etc.). The interface may be configured to automatically begin playback of one of the media titles at a designated insertion point, providing a user with a preview of the title. The…
Parallel video encoding based on complexity analysis
Granted: July 19, 2016
Patent Number:
9398301
Embodiments of the invention provide techniques for encoding chunks of a video file in parallel. Embodiments may divide a source video file into a plurality of chunks, and may encode each chunk at a rate based upon complexity data associated with the chunk. The encoded chunks may then be reassembled to produce an encoded video file.
Recommending media items based on take rate signals
Granted: May 10, 2016
Patent Number:
9338489
In an approach, a method comprises using a server computer in a media content delivery system that is configured to selectively deliver a particular media title from among a library of titles, for a source title, generating title data that specifies an order of a plurality of titles that are related to the source title based on a plurality of stored probability values; wherein each probability value in the plurality of probability values represents, for each particular title of the…
Network security system with remediation based on value of attacked assets
Granted: May 10, 2016
Patent Number:
9338181
A data processing method comprising obtaining a plurality of computer network security threat feeds from two or more computer threat detection systems; based upon computer network attack information in the computer network security threat feeds, determining a threat score that represents a severity of an actual or suspected attack on a particular host in a computer network; obtaining an asset value for the particular host that indicates a worth of the particular host, and updating the…
Bit rate stream switching
Granted: April 19, 2016
Patent Number:
9319696
Embodiments for changing bit rates in streaming media are provided. As portions of a streaming media file are downloaded for playback, the size of the portion is compared with an expected size determined prior to initiating playback of streaming AV data. The portion of the media file may be padded such that the size of the portion matches the size specified prior to initiating playback of streaming AV data.
Site-based server selection
Granted: April 19, 2016
Patent Number:
9319458
In an embodiment, a method comprises receiving a first data streamed from a first server computer at a first site; collecting a first throughput data for the first site based, at least in part, on a first throughput of the first data streamed from the first server computer; receiving a second data streamed from a second server computer at a second site; collecting a second throughput data for the second site based, at least in part, on a second throughput of the second data streamed from…
Web server constraint support
Granted: April 19, 2016
Patent Number:
9319321
Techniques are disclosed for a web server to support constraints specified by a client. In one embodiment, the web server receives, from the client, a request for one or more blocks of data. The request includes one or more constraints provided by the client. The web server may perform an action responsive to an increase in network congestion, based on the one or more constraints. Accordingly, the web server may handle the request in a manner that more closely meets the needs of the…
Long term metrics applied to multivariate testing
Granted: April 19, 2016
Patent Number:
9319297
A set of variations of a user experience on a subscription-based online site are tested, where each of the set of variations is distinct from other variations in the set of variations. Each of a group of users is assigned to one of the set of variations. For each user request received during a predetermined window of time, one of the set of variations is determined for use in processing the user request, based on a user associated with the user request, and the respective user request is…
Multi-CDN digital content streaming
Granted: March 29, 2016
Patent Number:
9300734
Techniques for optimizing a plurality of parallel network connections for a digital content stream through a network between a plurality of content servers and a content player. Embodiments determine an indication of network performance for each of the plurality of parallel network connections. Additionally, upon determining that a first one the plurality of parallel network connections is underperforming, based on whether the indication of network performance associated with the first…
Proxy application with dynamic filter updating
Granted: March 22, 2016
Patent Number:
9294415
The disclosure describes a proxy server application that supports the dynamic modification of proxy rules implemented by a proxy server. The proxy rules implemented by the proxy server specify network behaviors to be performed at various points during the handling of requests from client applications. A proxy server implements the proxy rules by processing one or more user-generated network traffic filters for managing network traffic. In an embodiment, users generate network traffic…
System and method for detecting active streams using a heartbeat and secure stop mechanism
Granted: February 9, 2016
Patent Number:
9258207
One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a technique for identifying active streaming connections associated with a particular user account. Each active streaming connection transmits heartbeat packets periodically to a server that tracks the receipt of the heartbeat packets. If, for a particular streaming connection, the server stops receiving heartbeat packets, then the server is able to infer that the streaming connection has been terminated.
Audio and video streaming for media effects
Granted: January 5, 2016
Patent Number:
9232243
One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a technique for streaming digital media content with transition effects. Audio data may be modulated and received by the streaming device for an audio fade-in effect. Similarly, video data may be modulated to perform various visual effects. Such a technique allows for fading-in of audio and/or video, fading-out of audio and/or video, and effects that blend audio from different content and video from different content during a transition…
