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U.S. Patent No. 7,577,559 (“Ryujin”)

The patent-at-issue, U.S. Patent No. 7,577,559 (“Ryujin”), which was filed on Jun. 2,
2017 and claims an Aug. 8, 2008 priority date, is directed to an apparatus for transcoding
encoded content, which is encoded using a first coding algorithm. The first interface is adapted
for receiving a request for content being encoded using a second coding algorithm and for
providing a transcoded content being encoded using the second coding algorithm. The apparatus
is further adapted for providing a request for the encoded content being encoded using the first
coding algorithm and for receiving the encoded content being encoded using the first coding
algorithm, as well as a processing unit adapted for processing the encoded content being encoded
using the first encoding algorithm to provide the transcoded content being encoded using the
second coding algorithm.

The first patent reference, U.S. Patent No. 7,296,295 (“Broadcom”), filed on Sep. 30,
2003 and claims a Dec. 11, 2002 priority date, relates to systems and methods for media
processing supporting various media formats based on server-based transcoding. The systems
include a server and a first and second devices. The server and the first and first devices are
operatively coupled to a network, wherein the second device, for example, receives from the first
device a device profile relating to the first device and may send the device profile and media
content to the server. The server may reformat the media content based on the device profile.

The second patent reference (which was cited by the examiner during the prosecution of
the patent application that issued into the Broadcom patent), U.S. Patent No. 7,962,640
(“CUHK”), filed on May 22, 2008 and claims a Jun. 29, 2007 priority date, relates to systems
and methods for real-time encoding and transmission of media content suitable for presentation
in a variety of formats, particularly suited to mobile device environments. The invention covers
techniques for prefix, postfix, interrupted and midway insertions of multi-media data and
techniques for seamlessly handling media duration. The invention further relates to techniques
for retaining synchronization among inserted media segments, for reducing startup delay, and for
traffic smoothing for media transcoding.

A sample claim chart comparing Ryujin to Broadcom and CUHK is provided below.

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US7577559 (“Ryujin”)
12.pre. A method for providing
transcoded content to a content
sink,
the content being encoded using a
first coding algorithm, the method
comprising:
12.a. receiving a request for
information on supported source
and target formats for providing
transcoded content using the first
encoding algorithm;
providing said information on
supported source and target
formats for providing transcoded
content using the first encoding
algorithm;
A. US7296295 (“Broadcom”)
B. US7962640 (“CUHK”)
A. US7296295
“The media exchange network 100 may support, for
example, the re-formatting (e.g., transcoding) of
media content based on device capabilities of an
end-user on the media exchange network 100.”
Broadcom at col. 5, lines 42-45.
“Also, the media exchange network 100 may include
a format conversion server 118, dedicated to
converting the formats of media on the media
exchange network 100 and interfacing to the Internet
infrastructure 115.” Id. at col. 4, lines 58-62.
B. US7962640
“First is Prefix Insertion, i.e., inserting a second media
stream B in front of (before) the transcoded media
stream A. The insertion media stream is itself
generated dynamically or pre-encoded using a
compression format and encoding parameters
compatible with the transcoded media stream.”
CUHK at col. 6, lines 37-40.
A. US7296295
“In another embodiment, a method may include, for
example, one or more of the following: receiving, by a
server, a device profile of a communications device
and media content destined for the communications
device, the server being operatively coupled to the
communications device via a network; and
reformatting, by the server, the media content based on
the device profile.“ Broadcom at col. 3, lines 5-11.
“In step 202, the end-user device sends the device
capability profile to a media source device on the
media exchange network. In step 203, the media
source device pushes a media channel and the
device capability profile to a server on the media
exchange network.” Id. at col. 6, lines 52-56.
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(cont.)
12.a. receiving a request for
information on supported source
and target formats for providing
transcoded content using the first
encoding algorithm;
providing said information on
supported source and target
formats for providing transcoded
content using the first encoding
algorithm;
12.b. receiving a request for
providing the content being encoded
using a second coding algorithm
from the content sink;
B. US7962640
“09 Receive media requests from mobile handset.
10 Determine the source of the original content
requested.
11 Determine the encoding format, streaming
protocol, and presentation format for the mobile
handset.” CUHK at col. 4, lines 58-61.
“Media Streams of Known Duration: If the original
media stream has a known duration then performing
media stream insertion requires additional processing.
Specifically, in a typical streaming session as depicted
in FIG. 9, a client 50 first sends a media request A to
a transcoding system 52, which after verifying the
request sends back a reply B containing the
properties of the requested media stream.” Id. at
col. Col. 10, lines 61-67 through col. 11, col. 1.
A. US7296295
“The media exchange network also allows a user to
construct personal media channels that comprise his
personal digital media (e.g., captured digital pictures,
digital video, digital audio, etc.), request that third-
party media channels be constructed from third-
party digital media, and access the media channels
pushed to the user by other users on the media
exchange network.” Broadcom at col. 8, lines 36-42.
“The media exchange network 100 may support, for
example, the re-formatting (e.g., transcoding) of
media content based on device capabilities of an
end-user on the media exchange network 100.” Id. at
col. 5, lines 42-45.
B. US7962640
“The transcoding server system 18, upon receiving
the request from the user, requests the
corresponding media data from the source media
content server 16 (or directly to the media storage14)
and then performs on-the-fly transcoding to convert
the media data into a format with encoding
parameters that are compatible with the user's
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(cont.)
12.b. receiving a request for
providing the content being encoded
using a second coding algorithm
from the content sink;
12.c. requesting a content being
encoded using the first coding
algorithm from a content source;
receiving the content being
encoded using the first coding
algorithm from the content source;
device 22.” CUHK at col. 3, lines 16-21.
“Incompatibilities that prevent a user from viewing
any media content anywhere using any device at any
time can be addressed by converting the source
media content to a target media format while
encoding parameters that are compatible with a
user's device, and then delivering the media data to
the user's device using a compatible protocol. This can
be done in one of three ways, server-side real-time
transcoding, independent real-time transcoding
and integrated real-time transcoding.” Id. at col. 2,
lines 53-61.
A. US7296295
“The media exchange network also allows a user to
construct personal media channels that comprise his
personal digital media (e.g., captured digital pictures,
digital video, digital audio, etc.), request that third-
party media channels be constructed from third-
party digital media, and access the media channels
pushed to the user by other users on the media
exchange network.” Broadcom at col. 8, lines 36-42.
“The user of the MPS 102 at the 1st home 104 desires
to send a channel including a digital video file to the
user at the 2nd home 108. The MPS 102 sends the
channel of digital video, which is in a Windows
Media format, to the media exchange server 113
along with the device capability profile of the MPS
106. The media exchange server re-formats (e.g.,
transcodes) the channel of digital video from the
Windows Media format to the MPEG-IV format and
pushes the transcoded channel to the MPS 106 via the
media exchange network 100. The user of the MPS
106 may view the digital video in the MPEG-IV
format.” Id. at col. 7, lines 8-18.
B. US7962640
“Thus, when the user selects at the user device 22 the
virtual URL, the request is sent to the transcoding
server 24, which in turn fetches the media data from
the origin media server 16, transcodes it, and then
streams it to the user device 22 using a known
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(cont.)
12.c. requesting a content being
encoded using the first coding
algorithm from a content source;
receiving the content being
encoded using the first coding
algorithm from the content source;
12.d. processing the encoded
content being encoded using the
first coding algorithm for getting
transcoded content being encoded
using the second coding algorithm;
and
compatible format, encoding parameters and
communication protocol.” CUHK at col. 4, lines 13-
18.
“First is Prefix Insertion, i.e., inserting a second media
stream B in front of (before) the transcoded media
stream A. The insertion media stream is itself
generated dynamically or pre-encoded using a
compression format and encoding parameters
compatible with the transcoded media stream.
Typically, multiple versions of the insertion media
stream are pre-encoded and stored in a file system
accessible by the transcoding server 42.” Id. at col. 6,
lines 36-43.
“This startup media stream set 60-71 is either
precomposed and encoded (inserted using Prefix
Insertion), or composed and encoded in real-time
by the transcoding system.” Id. at col. 14, lines 1-4.
“13 While receiving original content data, perform
on-the-fly transcoding to convert the original content
into the required encoding format, streaming protocol,
and presentation format.” Id. at col. 4, lines 64-67.
A. US7296295
“The user of the MPS 102 at the 1st home 104 desires
to send a channel including a digital video file to the
user at the 2nd home 108. The MPS 102 sends the
channel of digital video, which is in a Windows
Media format, to the media exchange server 113
along with the device capability profile of the MPS
106. The media exchange server re-formats (e.g.,
transcodes) the channel of digital video from the
Windows Media format to the MPEG-IV format
and pushes the transcoded channel to the MPS 106 via
the media exchange network 100.” Id. at col. 7, lines
8-17.
“In step 204, the server reformats (e.g., transcodes)
the content of the media channel based on the end-
user destination device capability profile.” Id. at col.
6, lines 57-59.
B. US7962640
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(cont.)
12.d. processing the encoded
content being encoded using the first
coding algorithm for getting
transcoded content being encoded
using the second coding algorithm;
and
“First is Prefix Insertion, i.e., inserting a second media
stream B in front of (before) the transcoded media
stream A. The insertion media stream is itself
generated dynamically or pre-encoded using a
compression format and encoding parameters
compatible with the transcoded media stream.
Typically, multiple versions of the insertion media
stream are pre-encoded and stored in a file system
accessible by the transcoding server 42. Upon
execution, the transcoding server operates to select
the matching version of the insertion media stream
for use in the insertion process.” CUHK at col. 6,
lines 40-45.
“13 While receiving original content data, perform
on-the-fly transcoding to convert the original
content into the required encoding format,
streaming protocol, and presentation format.” Id. at
col. 4, lines 64-67.
“This conversion is typically done in real-time as
data from the insertion media stream are scheduled
for transmission. The transcoding server may or
may not transmit the whole duration of the
insertion media stream.” Id. at col. 6, lines 63-67
through col. 7, lines 1.
“Techniques for Dynamically Composing and
Inserting Media Streams: In addition to inserting pre-
encoded media stream into the transcoded media
stream, the invention includes a technique to
dynamically compose and insert media streams into
the transcoded media stream. The primary
difference from pre-encoded media stream is that the
media content in this technique is generated and
rendered at runtime and in real-time.” Id. at col.
12, lines 33-40.
“The media composer 114 dynamically determines
which media of the other media sources 106, 110 to
insert into the current transcoded media stream
104 for real-time encoding in a media encoder 116,
transfer to a media streaming server 118 and
transmission to clients 120. All of the insertion
operations mentioned herein above can be
implemented by the dynamic media stream
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 composition and insertion method.” Id. at col. 12,
lines 50-57.

“Upon receiving the media request the source server

will process it (Step L) and begin sending the media
data to the transcoding server (Step M). Upon
receiving the media data the transcoding server
will transcode the media data and then stop sending
the startup media stream (Step R) and replace it by the
actual transcoded media stream (Step P as shown as
solid arrows).” Id. at col. 14, lines 22-28.

12.e. providing the transcoded A. US7296295

content to the content sink. “In step 205, the server pushes the reformatted
media channel to the end-user device via the media
exchange network.” Broadcom at col. 6, lines 59-61.

B. US7962640
“13 While receiving original content data, perform on-
the-fly transcoding to convert the original content into
the required encoding format, streaming protocol, and
presentation format.
14 Stream the transcoded content data to the
mobile handset.” CUHK at col. 4, lines 64-67
through col. 5, lines 1-2.

NOTES (from Ryujin):

1. Ryujin asserts that it provides the following advantages over the prior art:
(a) It does not require many data transfera between the data source and the data sink
and any intermediate devices or servers (e.g., user device).

(b) It does not require the data sink to transcode or reformat the requested data
content from the data source to a format compatible with the data sink (i.e., usable
by the data sink). Instead, a transcoder such as a central transcoding facility does
the transcoding of the requested data for the data sink.

(c) The required number of data transfers is reduced because the transcoding of the
requested data is performed while the data is being transmitted to the data sink.

For example, Ryujin’s specification discloses the following:

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 “As indicated by the transcoding example illustrated in FIG. 4, the state of the
art procedure necessitates a lot of data transfer. First, the sink 410 has to
download the content, although it is not capable of decoding it, then it has to
upload the content to the transcoder 430, and finally the transcoder 430 has
to upload the transcoded content to the sink 410. The state of the art
procedure is very disadvantageous, as it necessitates a huge amount of data
transfer, it is very inefficient and very time intensive.”

“The present invention provides the advantage that devices, which are not
capable of carrying out transcoding of formats, can receive transcoded
content in real-time. Another advantage of the present invention is, that in
general devices do not need to keep an updated database of different coding
algorithms. Nowadays new coding algorithms are developed frequently, and the
according decoders and encoders need to be updated frequently. With the
inventive apparatus 100, a central transcoding entity is provided, which can
serve as a content source to network devices, in one embodiment of the present
invention transcoding all conceivable content formats into a single format, which
would be the advantageous format of a network entity requesting the content.”

“The source 220 then provides the first part of the original data to the
transcoder 230 in step 365, upon which the transcoder 230 starts real-time
transcoding of the received data part in step 370. After the first data part has
been transcoded in step 370, the transcoder 230 can provide the first transcoded
data part to the sink 210 in step 375. In the meantime, or in another embodiment
of the present invention also after that, the source 220 can provide the second
data part in a step 380 to the transcoder 230, which in turn starts the real-
time transcoding of the second received data part in a step 385. The real-time
transcoded data can then be provided to the sink 210 in a step 390. The
procedure continues until the last data packet is provided from the source 220 to
the transcoder 230, which real-time transcodes the last data packet and also
provides it to the sink 210 which is indicated in the step 395 in FIG. 3.”

2. In the absence of an available file wrapper from the USPTO Public Pair database, we thus
assumed that the “being encoded” language in claim 12 means that claim 12 of Ryujin
requires that the encoding (or transcoding) of the requested information is performed in
real-time.

3. Broadcom discloses methods involving server-based transcoding, while CUHK discloses

real-time media data transcoding through a transcoding server independent of the data
sink.

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