초록 ▼

A proxy apparatus and method for streaming media information via at least one network and for building-up a good quality version of the media information. When a user device communicates with the proxy apparatus using a particular bandwidth and requests that media information be provided, the proxy

A proxy apparatus and method for streaming media information via at least one network and for building-up a good quality version of the media information. When a user device communicates with the proxy apparatus using a particular bandwidth and requests that media information be provided, the proxy apparatus first determines if a version of the media information encoded for the user device's connection bandwidth has been stored in the proxy apparatus. If a version of the media information encoded for the user device's bandwidth is not available from the proxy apparatus, the proxy apparatus sends a request to a media server for the media information. If the version of the media information has missing packets, the proxy device sends retransmission requests to the media server to obtain the missing packets, thereby building-up a good quality version of the media information.

대표청구항 ▼

1. A method for streaming media information, comprising: streaming, from a gateway proxy device, a first version of the media information at a first bandwidth to a user device having a user device connection with a user bandwidth;wherein the first version of the media information is received from a

1. A method for streaming media information, comprising: streaming, from a gateway proxy device, a first version of the media information at a first bandwidth to a user device having a user device connection with a user bandwidth;wherein the first version of the media information is received from a media server in response to a determination that the user bandwidth is less than a second bandwidth;wherein the first version of the media information is received at the gateway proxy device from the media server in response to a meta tag that identifies multiple versions of the media information on the media server, the multiple versions including at least the first version and a second version encoded for transmission at the second bandwidth, wherein the second bandwidth is greater than the first bandwidth; andwherein the first version of the media information is stored at the gateway proxy device as the first version of the media information is transmitted to the user device. 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying, at the gateway proxy device, the multiple versions of the media information and requesting the second version of the media information from the media server. 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending a request to the media server for information detected as being missing from the second version of the streaming media information. 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising receiving the information detected as being missing from the second version of the streaming media information. 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving information detected as being missing from the first version of the streaming media information in response to an determination that network congestion is below a predetermined threshold, wherein the network congestion is determined via a measured delay of a media server ping. 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining that packets are missing from the second version of the streaming media information based upon a set missing packet data flag. 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising comparing a count of missing data packets in the first version of the streaming media information with a count of missing data packets in the second version of the streaming media information; and retaining the first version of the streaming media information if the first version has fewer missing data packets. 8. A method, comprising: receiving, at a gateway proxy device, a first version of media information from a media server, the first version of the media information being encoded for transmission at a first bandwidth;identifying multiple versions of the media information from a meta tag, the multiple versions including at least the first version and a second version;requesting the second version of the media information from the media server, the second version of the media information being encoded for transmission at a second bandwidth, wherein the second bandwidth is greater than the first bandwidth;receiving, at the gateway proxy device, a request from a user device for the media information, the user device having a user device connection;determining a user bandwidth for the user device connection;streaming, from the gateway proxy device, the first version of the media information when the user bandwidth is greater than or equal to the first bandwidth but less than the second bandwidth; andstreaming, from the gateway proxy device, the second version of the media information when the user bandwidth is greater than or equal to the second bandwidth. 9. The method of claim 8, further comprising storing the first version of the media information. 10. The method of claim 8, further comprising generating the second version of the media information in response to the request from the user device and after the determining that the user bandwidth is greater than or equal to the second bandwidth. 11. The method of claim 8, further comprising requesting the second version of the media information from the media server in response to the request from the user device and after the determining that the user bandwidth is greater than or equal to the second bandwidth. 12. The method of claim 8, further comprising storing the first version of the media information and the second version of the media information. 13. The method of claim 8, wherein determining comprises determining the user bandwidth at the gateway proxy device. 14. A method, comprising: receiving, from a user device having a user device connection to a gateway proxy device, a request for media information;identifying multiple versions of the media information from a meta-tag, the multiple versions including at least a first version and a second version;determining a user bandwidth of the user device connection;streaming, from the gateway proxy device, the first version of the media information when the user bandwidth is greater than or equal to a first bandwidth but less than a second bandwidth, the first version of the media information being encoded for transmission at the first bandwidth;streaming, from the gateway proxy device, the second version of the media information when the user bandwidth is greater than or equal to the second bandwidth, the second version of the media information being encoded for transmission at the second bandwidth and the second bandwidth being greater than the first bandwidth; andstoring at least one of the first version and the second version of the media information at the gateway proxy device. 15. The method of claim 14, wherein storing comprises storing the first version of the media information in storage, and wherein streaming the first version comprises retrieving the first version of the media information from the storage. 16. The method of claim 14, wherein storing comprises storing the second version of the media information in storage and wherein streaming the first version comprises generating the first version of the media information by using the second version of the media information from storage. 17. The method of claim 14, wherein storing comprises storing the first version of the media information, the method further comprising requesting the second version of the media information from a media server, receiving the second version of the media information from the media server, and wherein streaming comprises streaming the second version of the media information to the user device. 18. The method of claim 17, wherein storing further comprises storing the second version of the media information. 19. The method of claim 14, wherein determining comprises determining the user bandwidth at the gateway proxy device. 20. A network server comprising: a memory that stores instructions;a processor that executes the instructions to perform operations, the operations comprising: receiving a first version of media information from a media server in response to a determination that a user device is unable to receive a second version of the media information configured to be transmitted at a first bandwidth; andstreaming the first version of the media information at a second bandwidth that differs from the first bandwidth to the user device, wherein the first version of the media information is transmitted from the media server to the network server in response to a meta tag that identifies versions of the media information that are present on the media server.