Determining download times for a sequence of multimedia data segments obtained from a plurality of data sources

摘要

A communication device, such as a smartphone or other portable client device, receives a multimedia data stream composed of a sequence of multimedia data segments obtained from a plurality of data sources. Each multimedia data segment has an execution time slot relative to an execution time slot of an initial multimedia data segment of the sequence. A first multimedia segment of the sequence, which may comprise a video mash-up, is received and executed on the communication device. During execution of the first multimedia segment, for at least one multimedia data segment subsequent in the sequence a time to start downloading the subsequent multimedia data segment is determined, preferably by defining a sliding time window. The determination is based on the execution time slot of the subsequent multimedia data segment relative to the current time slot and the transmission capability between the data source of the said subsequent multimedia data segment and the communication device. The subsequent multimedia data segment is then downloaded at the determined time for execution during the execution time slot. The transmission capability between a particular data source and the communication device may be increased by decreasing the transmission capability with respect to other data sources.