The disclosed computer-implemented method includes accessing information related to a playback session in which at least a portion of requested multimedia content is streamed over a network to a client electronic device. The method further includes accessing network topology information for the network to identify which route through the network was used to provide the requested multimedia content during the playback session, including indicating which end node was used to provide the multimedia content. Still further, the method includes accessing network steering factors that indicate why the requested multimedia content was steered through the identified network route, determining, based on the network steering factors, which end node would have been more suited to providing the requested multimedia content for the playback session, and then transferring the requested multimedia content to the determined end node for provisioning during subsequent playback sessions. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.

The invention relates to a method of initializing a communications session between a plurality of terminals. According to the invention, the initialization method is adapted, as a function of capacity data for at least one terminal, to determine a set of at least one stream transmission channel to be set up between entities of a group of entities comprising said terminals, each channel being for setting up between a first entity and a second entity of the group either directly, or indirectly via at least one third entity of said group, and to transmit at least one entity identifier to at least one first entity of the group in order to set up at least one channel of the set. The invention also relates to a method of accessing a communications session, the method being adapted to receive at least one identifier of at least one entity with which at least one channel is to be set up and to set up at least one channel with at least one entity for which said at least one identifier has been received. The invention also relates to a server (S) and to a terminal (TA) respectively for performing the initialization method and the method of accessing a communications session.

A streaming policy management system and method wherein bandwidth may be allocated based on external device information received from a streaming client device connected to one or more external audio/video (A/V) devices. When a streaming network back office receives a request from the streaming client device for delivery of a particular content, wherein the request includes external device information of one or more external A/V devices connected to the streaming client device, a bandwidth is determined for streaming the particular content to the streaming client device and a request may be made to a content delivery network to create a distribution pipe having the bandwidth to accommodate the delivery of the particular content. A manifest file is provided to the streaming client device that includes one or more pointers that point to content segments of the particular content.

A user device receives a first media item that is associated with a second media item. The device determines that a playback state for the device indicates that the device is paired with an alternative playback device. The device sends the playback state in a request for the second media item, receives the second media item in a first format for playback on the user device and in a second format for playback on the alternative playback device. The device determines whether the playback state of the device is the same. The device displays a first graphical representation of the second media item in the first format on the user device if the user device is no longer paired with the alternative playback device and displays a second graphical representation of the second media item in the second format on the user device if the user device is still paired with the alternative playback device.

A user device receives a first media item that is associated with a second media item. The device determines that a playback state for the device indicates that the device is paired with an alternative playback device. The device sends the playback state in a request for the second media item, receives the second media item in a first format for playback on the user device and in a second format for playback on the alternative playback device. The device determines whether the playback state of the device is the same. The device displays a first graphical representation of the second media item in the first format on the user device if the user device is no longer paired with the alternative playback device and displays a second graphical representation of the second media item in the second format on the user device if the user device is still paired with the alternative playback device.

Systems, methods, and computer-readable media for porting locally processed media data with low latency to a remote client device via various wireless links are provided. In one example embodiment, a transceiver module may include a local network interface and a controller that may receive a client control signal from a client device over a wireless local area network via the local network interface, transmit a media control signal based on the client control signal to a media device, receive media data based on the media control signal from the media device, and transmit to the client device over the wireless local area network via the local network interface client data based on the media data and a low-latency compression technique. The receipt of the media data and transmission of the client data may be accomplished with substantially no detectable latency. Additional embodiments are also provided.

A method for controlling devices to present content includes: determining content to be presented in response to a content request event occurring; determining a content presentation form supported by a presentation device; and providing corresponding presentation content to the presentation device in accordance with a determined presentation form. As such, the current content presentation form can be determined based on the content presentation forms supported by the presentation device, and the content in different presentation forms can be continuously presented, thereby enhancing the user experience.

A region of interest (ROI)-based virtual reality (VR) content streaming server and a method are disclosed. The streaming server includes a communication unit that receives a request signal for a media presentation description (MPD) file regarding tiles of a tiled video, ROI) information, and a request signal for a segment file from an electronic device, and transmits the MPD file and the segment file corresponding to the request signal to the electronic device. The streaming server further includes a controller configured to, when the request signal for the MPD file is received, control the MPD file corresponding to the request signal to be transmitted to the electronic device.

Disclosed is a 5G or pre-5G communication system for supporting a data transmission rate higher than that of a 4G communication system such as LTE. A method for supporting a streaming service of a terminal, according to the present disclosure, comprises the steps of: requesting a streaming service from a server; receiving, from the server, metadata associated with the streaming service; and receiving predetermined configuration information and the streaming service, wherein the predetermined configuration information is included in a transmission control protocol (TCP) option.

Methods and apparatuses for real-time or near real-time streaming of content using transfer protocols such as an HTTP compliant protocol. In one embodiment, a method includes dividing a stream of data, representing the contiguous time based content of a program (e.g. a live video broadcast), into a plurality of distinct media files, and generating a playlist file having a plurality of tags and Universal Resource Indicators (URIs) indicating an order of presentation of the plurality of distinct media files. The plurality of media files and the playlist file can be made available for transmission to a client device which can retrieve the media files using the playlist file.