Abstract: Method for retrieving, by a client terminal, a content part of a multimedia content, a cache being arranged along the transmission path between the client terminal and a server, several representations of said content part being available, comprising: A/ sending a request for a first representation of said content part belonging to a set of allowable representations selected among said available representations of the content part; B/ in case said first representation is not cached, receiving a response message from said cache indicating that the first representation is not cached; and wherein, upon receipt of a response message, steps A/ and B/ are successively repeated with an alternative representation of said content part, different from the first representation, until one requested alternative representation has been received by the client terminal from said cache or until all allowable representations of the set have been requested.

Abstract: The disclosure relates to a method for receiving a multimedia content, comprising: receiving (21) at least one fragment of a first representation of a segment; determining (22), by considering an available bandwidth along a transmission path between a client terminal and a server, the expected delivery time of all the following fragments of the first representation of said segment, and the expected delivery time of all the fragments of at least one alternative representation of said segment; selecting (23), by considering the expected delivery times, between receiving at least one subsequent fragment of the first representation of said segment; or receiving at least a first fragment of a second representation of said segment, said second representation belonging to said at least one alternative representation.

Abstract: Device for adapting a manifest received from at least one server and associated with a multimedia content requested by a client terminal, said manifest comprising a list of representations of said multimedia content, comprises: a module configured to intercept said manifest; an estimator configured to estimate the achievable data rate of at least a part of the path between the client terminal and said server; a module configured to select, among the listed representations of said intercepted manifest, a representation having an associated bitrate at most equal to the estimated achievable data rate; a module configured to deliver to the client terminal an adapted manifest, wherein the selected representation is recommended.

Abstract: The present invention concerns an adaptive streaming method, at a client device, for receiving content split into chunks corresponding to a content duration, the chunks being encoded at a server into at least a first and a second formats, the first format corresponding to a better content rendering quality level than the second format, a chunk being received during a chunk reception period. According to the invention, the method comprises the steps of measuring the available bandwidth between the client and the server for the next chunk reception period, requesting the server to send a chunk encoded at a format so that the chunk can be received during the next chunk reception period, and if some bandwidth is available for the next chunk reception period, requesting the server to send a part of a chunk encoded at a second format, the chunk having been received encoded at the first format.

Abstract: A cache arranged between client terminals and at least one server, said cache being configured to receive, from client terminals, requests for at least a first representation of a segment of a multimedia content available in a plurality of representations, comprising: a communication module configured to receiving, in a first period of time, a plurality of requests for a given segment from the client terminals, each request specifying one first representation and at least one alternative representation of said given segment; a module of relevancy configured to determining at least one main relevant requested representation amongst the representations of the requests received during the first period of time; and wherein the communication module is further configured to request said main relevant representation from a remote server.

Abstract: The invention concerns a method for estimating a distance from a first communication device to a second communication device. According to an aspect of the invention, the method comprises: Taking a picture of the second communication device by the first communication device; Obtaining a description of the second communication device; Identifying the second communication device in the picture, by using said description; Estimating a distance from the first communication device to the second communication device by using the description of the second communication device and dimensions of the second communication device identified in the picture.

Abstract: According to the invention, the method for establishing a multipath connection across multiple communication paths between a first and a second multi-homed equipments within a least one communication network, both equipments being able to support a multipath protocol, wherein said method comprises the successive steps of: sending, from the first equipment, main connection establishment requests across at least two communication paths between said first and second equipments; receiving, from the second equipment, at least one acknowledgement message across one of said communication paths; and determining, at the first equipment, as a main communication path, the communication path whereby the first one of said at least one acknowledgement message from the second equipment has been received by the first equipment, in order to establish the main connection of said multipath connection across said main communication path.

Abstract: First type cache adapted to be arranged between a client terminal and at least one server, which: is configured to receive, from the client terminal, a request for a first representation of a segment of a multimedia content, said multimedia content being available in a plurality of representations, and comprises a module configured to send a response to the client terminal which comprises: one alternative representation of said segment, which is cached by said first type cache; first additional information preventing a second type cache—arranged between the first type cache and the client terminal—from caching the alternative representation of said response; and second additional information identifying the alternative representation of said response, allowing a further first type cache to cache said alternative representation.

Abstract: The disclosure relates generally to the domain of the adaptive streaming technology over, for instance but not exclusively, HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol). A method and a system are described for downloading at a client terminal an upcoming sequence of segments of a multimedia content, with each segment being derived from one or more representations.

Abstract: A method of providing a plurality of versions of a content stream with different bit-rates is suggested. According to the method a set of versions of a content stream with different bit-rates is offered to a client. A manifest part describing the offered set of versions of the content stream is submitted to the client. The client requests one version of the content stream having a specific bit-rate. The bit-rate of the versions offered to the client is dynamically selected such that the difference between bit-rates of neighbouring versions is dynamically adapted. The suggested method improves adaptive transcoding so that it uses a small manifest part based on a small set of bit-rate values distributed around the currently delivered bit-rate. In addition to that a system is suggested for implementing the method.

Abstract: The invention concerns a relay module comprising a capturing module for intercepting a first connection establishment request sent by a first host; a communication module configured for sending a second connection establishment request to establish an initial auxiliary connection between the relay module and a second host and for receiving, from said second host, a first acknowledgment response and a context discovery unit configured for activating: a forward mode to handle the traffic carried by the established main connection, in case the first connection establishment request and the first acknowledgment response present the same multipath property; a relay mode to handle the traffic carried by: an additional auxiliary connection established between the first host and the relay module; and the initial auxiliary connection established between the relay module and the second host, in case the first connection establishment request and the first acknowledgment response present different multipath proper

Abstract: This invention relates to a system, server and client for multiplexed streaming of multimedia content comprising at least one server being capable of transmitting multimedia content in a streaming environment through one or more data paths to a client, wherein the multimedia content is de-multiplexed by the server into a plurality of sub-streams with each sub-stream comprising a unique mark such that the client is capable of multiplexing said sub-streams into a continuous stream. Furthermore, the invention relates to a method for multiplexed streaming of multimedia content.

Abstract: This invention relates to a client device capable of receiving a multicast content through multiple communication networks, comprising at least one broadband network having a broadband bandwidth and one broadcast network for connection respectively to at least one broadband interface and one receive-only broadcast interface of the client device, wherein said client device comprises an adapter selector capable of selecting the interface to be used in order to save the broadband band-width.

Abstract: A device is intended to process three-dimensional content for a server. The three-dimensional content comprises at least two image sequences obtained from different angles, wherein a three-dimensional rendering is associated to a level of disparity between said at least two image sequences. This processing device is configured to generate from a content at least two different content versions corresponding to different levels of disparity adapted to different transmission bit rates, wherein the disparity level decreases with said transmission bit rate. A server comprising the processing device, a three-dimensional content-obtaining device, and a content receiver comprising three-dimensional content-obtaining device are further disclosed.

Abstract: A device is intended to obtain content by means of at least two transport protocols having different requirements in terms of available network bandwidth. Such content is available in different versions on at least a content server and the versions correspond to different transmission binary bit rates and are subdivided into chunks adapted to be transmitted via a communication network. This device is arranged to request to said at least one server a transmission of at least one chunk according to a version of a content and according to a transport protocol, the transport protocol and the version being selectable in response to a current value of the available bandwidth of said communication network.

Abstract: The present invention concerns a device and a method at the device, the device comprising a first interface to a first network comprising an adaptive streaming server, a second interface to a second network comprising at least one adaptive streaming client device, a stream identifier for detecting at least one streaming content requested by the at least one adaptive streaming client device, the at least one streaming content being available at more than one data rate, a bandwidth manager for selecting a data rate among the more than one data rate, a scheduler for transmitting at the second interface the at least one streaming content to the at least one client device at a data rate above said selected data rate but below any higher data rate available for said streaming content.

Abstract: A method of streaming an output content stream adaptively transcoded from a corresponding input content stream includes offering, to a client device, a number of alternative versions of the output content stream, for selection by the client device, and dividing the input content stream into two or more segments. Prior to the offering step at least a first segment of the input content stream is transcoded into at least one corresponding segment of an output content stream corresponding to at least one version from the number of alternative versions offered to the client device. Upon receiving a request from the client device for a selected version of the output content stream, streaming is begun with using a first one of the at least one corresponding segments of an output content stream corresponding to at least one version from the number of alternative versions offered to the client device that had been transcoded and stored prior to offering.

Abstract: The invention discloses a method for reception of an audio-visual programme transmitted via portions over a network, the method using a real-time transport protocol and a real-time control protocol between a server and a receiver, the audio-visual programme being available on the server in a plurality of versions corresponding to the programme coded in different resolutions and enabling its transmission at different bitrates according to requests of the receiver. The method comprising a regular measurement of the bandwidth of the network by the receiver in order to adjust the transmission bitrate according to the state of the network.

Abstract: According to the invention, the method for establishing a multipath connection across multiple communication paths between a first and a second multi-homed equipments within a least one communication network, both equipments being able to support a multipath protocol, wherein said method comprises the successive steps of: sending, from the first equipment, main connection establishment requests across at least two communication paths between said first and second equipments; receiving, from the second equipment, at least one acknowledgement message across one of said communication paths; and determining, at the first equipment, as a main communication path, the communication path whereby the first one of said at least one acknowledgement message from the second equipment has been received by the first equipment, in order to establish the main connection of said multipath connection across said main communication path.

Abstract: A method for downloading multimedia contents is disclosed. The multimedia contents exists in at least two versions. Each of the versions corresponds to a different required transmission bit rate and each of the versions is temporally divided into chunks corresponding to a determined duration, one chunk being identified by an item of information representative of a temporal position i and by an item of information representative of a version j. A content receiver implementing this method is also described.