Alex X Zhang, 368036 Bagley Ave N, Seattle, WA 98103

2020032, Oct 15, 2020

Jun 25, 2020

16/912489

- Seattle WA, US
Craig Wesley Howard - Seattle WA, US
Gregory Kenneth Truax - Portland OR, US
Alex Xiaoye Zhang - Seattle WA, US

H04L 29/06
G06F 16/172
G06F 16/182
H04N 21/482
H04N 21/231
H04N 21/262
G06F 21/64
H04N 21/414
H04N 21/845
G06Q 30/02
H04L 29/08
H04N 21/235
H04N 21/239
H04N 21/24
H04N 21/81
H04N 21/84

Systems and methods are described to enable delivery of streaming content while inhibiting or preventing removal, blocking, or skipping of portions within that streaming content. A content delivery system can generate a manifest indicating content portions that form the streaming content. Each content portion can be identified in the manifest using a concealed identifier, which conceals the actual identifier of the content portion from the client to inhibit or prevent the client from automatically removing or modifying the content portion. On receiving a request for a content portion, the content delivery system can convert the concealed identifier into the actual identifier, and return the appropriate content portion to the client. In some instances, the specific identifiers included within a concealed manifest may be modified or adapted based on monitoring information of the client device, to ensure clients view given portions of streaming content.

2019006, Feb 28, 2019

Aug 23, 2018

16/111080

- Seattle WA, US
Alex Xiaoye Zhang - Seattle WA, US

H04L 29/06
H04N 21/81
H04N 21/488
H04N 21/2668
H04N 21/234
H04L 29/08

Systems and methods are described to enable request-driven encoding of content portions to be played back as part of a content stream. A content stream can represent multiple types of content, each initially encoded according to different formatting parameters. Thus, playback of the multiple types of content as initially encoded would result in an inconsistently formatted content stream. To address this, a streaming content delivery service may respond to requests by including in a manifest file for a stream consistently formatted content portions, even when one or more of such portions is not yet available. The streaming content delivery service can initiate encoding of the not-yet-available portions, such that they are available and delivered to a client when requested.

2018036, Dec 20, 2018

Jun 15, 2017

15/624450

- Seattle WA, US
Meera Jindal - Portland OR, US
Khawaja Salman Shams - Portland OR, US
Alex Xiaoye Zhang - Seattle WA, US

H04N 21/236
H04N 21/25

A multimedia stream may include an indication to insert multimedia content to the multimedia stream. An insertion segment may be selected from among multiple segments such that the insertion segment is selected based in part on metadata such as metadata associated with the recipient of the multimedia stream. Metadata associated with the insertion segment may be obtained. Satisfaction of a compliance requirement may be determined based on various information, such as metadata associated with the recipient and metadata associated with the insertion segment. The insertion segment may be made available as part of the multimedia stream.

2018036, Dec 20, 2018

Jun 15, 2017

15/624453

- Seattle WA, US
Meera Jindal - Portland OR, US
Khawaja Salman Shams - Portland OR, US
Alex Xiaoye Zhang - Seattle WA, US

H04N 21/442
H04N 21/236
H04N 21/25

A multimedia stream may be abandoned (e.g., terminated) under various contexts. Metadata surrounding the abandonment, such as information regarding multimedia segments shown at or near the time of abandonment, may be stored. A system may detect satisfaction of a condition based at least in part on abandonment metadata associated with an abandoned stream, obtain a set of abandonment metadata sharing a characteristic in common, and determine a cause. Depending on the determined cause, various mitigations may be executed—for example, if abandonment of streams is detected in a specific location at a particular point or period in time, one or more network diagnostics tests may be executed to determine whether there are network connectivity issues for viewers from the specific location.

2018009, Apr 5, 2018

Sep 30, 2016

15/283075

- Seattle WA, US
Alex Xiaoye Zhang - Seattle WA, US

H04L 29/06
H04L 29/08
H04N 21/81
H04N 21/2668
H04N 21/234
H04N 21/488

Systems and methods are described to enable request-driven encoding of content portions to be played back as part of a content stream. A content stream can represent multiple types of content, each initially encoded according to different formatting parameters. Thus, playback of the multiple types of content as initially encoded would result in an inconsistently formatted content stream. To address this, a streaming content delivery service may respond to requests by determining whether consistently formatted content portions are available, and if such portions are not available, select fallback content portions for inclusion in the stream. The streaming content service can further initiate generation of the consistently formatted content portions in response to the request, such that subsequent requests may be serviced using the consistently formatted content portions.

2017033, Nov 23, 2017

May 23, 2016

15/162423

- Seattle WA, US
Craig Wesley Howard - Seattle WA, US
Gregory Kenneth Truax - Portland OR, US
Alex Xiaoye Zhang - Seattle WA, US

H04L 29/06
H04N 21/81
H04N 21/24
H04N 21/235
G06F 17/30
H04L 29/08
G06Q 30/02
H04N 21/84
H04N 21/239

Systems and methods are described to enable delivery of streaming content while inhibiting or preventing removal, blocking, or skipping of portions within that streaming content. A content delivery system can generate a manifest indicating content portions that form the streaming content. Each content portion can be identified in the manifest using a concealed identifier, which conceals the actual identifier of the content portion from the client to inhibit or prevent the client from automatically removing or modifying the content portion. On receiving a request for a content portion, the content delivery system can convert the concealed identifier into the actual identifier, and return the appropriate content portion to the client. In some instances, the specific identifiers included within a concealed manifest may be modified or adapted based on monitoring information of the client device, to ensure clients view given portions of streaming content.

2017018, Jun 22, 2017

Dec 18, 2015

14/975341

- Seattle WA, US
Alex Xiaoye Zhang - Seattle WA, US
David Alexander Dunlap - Seattle WA, US
Craig Wesley Howard - Seattle WA, US

H04L 12/24
H04L 29/06

Systems and methods are described that enable high-data-rate network communications by use of a data transmission system, which can at least partially redirect data transmitted between two computing devices on a public network to a private network. The data transmission system may include a variety of endpoints at different locations, such that source and destination computing devices may pass information into and out of the data transmission system via the endpoints. To ensure that endpoints are able to communication with each computing device via a path of sufficient network quality, the data transmission system may dynamically generate additional endpoints within points of presence of the system. Where no endpoints or points of presence have a connection of sufficient quality to a source and destination computing device, the data transmission system may decline to transmit data, and instruct the source or destination computing devices to utilize traditional communication channels.

2017018, Jun 22, 2017

Dec 18, 2015

14/975157

- Seattle WA, US
Alex Xiaoye Zhang - Seattle WA, US
David Alexander Dunlap - Seattle WA, US
Craig Wesley Howard - Seattle WA, US

H04L 12/919
H04L 29/08
H04L 12/851
H04L 29/06

Systems and methods are described that enable high-data-rate network communications by use of a data transmission system, which can at least partially redirect data transmitted between two computing devices on a public network to a private network. The data transmission system may include a variety of endpoints at different locations, such that source and destination computing devices may pass information into and out of the data transmission system via the endpoints. To ensure that endpoints are able to communication with each computing device via a path of sufficient network quality, the data transmission system may dynamically generate additional endpoints within points of presence of the system. Where no endpoints or points of presence have a connection of sufficient quality to a source and destination computing device, the data transmission system may decline to transmit data, and instruct the source or destination computing devices to utilize traditional communication channels.