Techniques for improved rendition switching in association with adaptive bitrate streaming are described herein. The disclosed techniques may allow switching between segments at P-frames in addition to IDR-frames. By allowing switching at P-frames, the disclosed techniques may improve efficiency by, for example, reducing end-to-end latency without causing an undesirable decrease in image quality and image fidelity. In some examples, switching to a lower image quality rendition (e.g., lower bitrate, lower resolution, etc.) may be accomplished using P-frame switching, IDR-frame switching or both. Also, in some examples, switching to a higher image quality rendition (e.g., higher bitrate, higher resolution, etc.) may be accomplished using only IDR-frame switching.

Systems and methods for quick start-up of playback in accordance with embodiments of the invention are disclosed. Media content may be encoded in a plurality of alternative streams and a quick start-up stream. The quick start-up stream may include media content that is encoded at a lower quality that the alternative streams and may be encrypted with a different, less secure encryption process than that of the alternative streams. During a start-up of playback, the playback device streams the media content from a quick start-up stream until a metric, such as a decryption key for the alternative streams is met. The device then streams the media content from the alternative streams in response to the metric being met.

Provided is an apparatus and method for adjusting a bandwidth allocation for a traffic flow associated with a user as a function of a sensed characteristic of the user. A communication device has a sensor data receiver for receiving sensor data pertaining to a sensed characteristic of a user, and circuitry implementing an IRSCU (information representative of the sensed characteristic of the user) messenger configured for sending, to a network entity used for adjusting a bandwidth allocation for a traffic flow associated with the user, a message containing IRSCU. A network management entity, which receives the IRSCU, has circuitry implementing a bandwidth adjustor, which is configured for adjusting, based on the IRSCU, a bandwidth allocation for a traffic flow associated with the user. Accordingly, the bandwidth allocation for the traffic flow associated with the user is adjusted as a function of the sensed characteristic of the user.

An information processing apparatus includes: a first specifying unit that specifies a size of a display region of a video delivered by streaming, the video having a bit rate that is changeable during a playback; a second specifying unit that specifies a data amount of data temporarily stored for a period of the video to be next played back; and a third specifying unit that specifies a bandwidth in reception of the data. The information processing apparatus further includes a determining unit that determines a bit rate of the video that is played back based on the size, the data amount, and the bandwidth that are specified.

Apparatus and methods for providing enhanced consumer access to information sources and controllable entities. An Access device can be a stand alone device such as a DVD player in which the DVD disk contains the back-end information network. Other Access devices obtain the back-end information network from remote sources. By way of a specific example, the consumer can then view a game and interactively select every television camera located at the game venue.

Systems, devices, and methods for streaming or otherwise delivering media content over a network are provided. One exemplary method of streaming media content over a network using a RS-DVR system involves receiving, at the RS-DVR system, a request for a portion of the media content from a media player on a client device via the network, receiving, at the RS-DVR system, the portion of the media content from an origin server on the network, buffering the portion of the media content at the RS-DVR system, and transmitting the portion of the media content to the media player on the client device. The portion of media content may be transmitted using a modified transport layer protocol, and in some embodiments, marked as non-cacheable.

A system can include a memory to store machine readable instructions. The system can also include a processing unit to access the memory and execute the machine readable instructions. The machine readable instructions can include a scheduling agent that can determine a download time for selected media content from a content provider. The download time can be based on a viewing time and a monitored network usage pattern over an extended period of time at the system.

This disclosure describes methods and systems for managing video frame rate at a video production site. A video processor of a first video production site may process received video frames received via a network with dynamic transmission properties. A frame rate controller may monitor at an output buffer of the site, an average rate of processed video frames received from the video processor, and may detect that the average rate of processed video frames received from the video processor has decreased to a level below a predefined output frame rate for transmitting processed video frames to a third video production site. The frame rate controller may increase a rate of video frames being provided to the video processor, to a level above the predefined output frame rate to restore the average rate of processed video frames received from the video processor, to the predefined output frame rate.

A wearable digital video camera (10) is equipped with wireless connection protocol and global navigation and location positioning system technology to provide remote image acquisition control and viewing. The Bluetooth® packet-based open wireless technology standard protocol (400) is preferred for use in providing control signals or streaming data to the digital video camera and for accessing image content stored on or streaming from the digital video camera. The GPS technology (402) is preferred for use in tracking of the location of the digital video camera as it records image information. A rotating mount (300) with a locking member (330) on the camera housing (22) allows adjustment of the pointing angle of the wearable digital video camera when it is attached to a mounting surface.

Power aware adaptation for a power aware video streaming system may be based on the complexity information conveyed in different ways. A complexity level of a data stream, such as a video data stream, may be selected as a function of a remaining battery power of a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) and on a state set of a plurality of state sets that may be stored and/or managed by the WTRU. These state sets may correspond to, for example, different content sources and/or different complexity estimation algorithms and may be used to select the complexity level of the data stream. The data stream may then be received at the selected complexity level. The complexity level and/or a bitrate of the data stream may be adapted to accommodate, for example, the remaining battery power and/or other circumstances. The adaptation may be customized according to the objectives of use cases.