US 8868772B2

A detailed analysis of U.S. Patent 8,868,772 B2 is provided below.

Patent Summary

• Title: Apparatus, system, and method for adaptive-rate shifting of streaming content
• Assignee: Dish Technologies LLC
• Inventors: R. Drew Major, Mark B. Hurst
• Filing Date: April 28, 2005
• Issue Date: October 21, 2014
• Abstract: An apparatus for adaptive-rate shifting of streaming content includes an agent controller module configured to simultaneously request at least portions of a plurality of streamlets. The agent controller module is further configured to continuously monitor streamlet requests and subsequent responses, and accordingly request higher or lower quality streamlets. A staging module is configured to stage the streamlets and arrange the streamlets for playback on a content player. A system includes a data communications network, a content server coupled to the data communications network and having a content module configured to process content and generate a plurality of high and low quality streams, and the apparatus. A method includes simultaneously requesting at least portions of a plurality of streamlets, continuously monitoring streamlet requests and subsequent responses, and accordingly requesting higher or lower quality streamlets, and staging the streamlets and arranging the streamlets for playback on a content player.

Plain-Language Overview of Independent Claims

This patent has one independent claim, which is claim 1.

• Claim 1: This claim outlines a method for a media player on a user's device to stream video. The core of the invention is a process where the video is broken down into small segments, called "streamlets," which are available at different quality levels (and thus different file sizes). The media player requests these streamlets from a set of standard web servers, not specialized streaming servers. A key feature is that the player continuously monitors how quickly it's receiving these streamlets. Based on this real-time feedback, it decides whether to request a higher quality version of the next streamlet (if the network connection is good) or a lower quality one (if the connection is poor). This allows the video quality to adapt on the fly to changing network conditions. The claim also specifies that this is done using at least one standard TCP/IP connection.

CAFC Docket Information

As of April 26, 2026, a search for dockets in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) for the year 2026 involving US patent 8,868,772 B2 did not yield any specific results. Publicly accessible resources, including the federal judiciary's PACER system, do not indicate any active appeals concerning this patent in the CAFC for the specified year. It is possible that no such litigation is currently before the court, or that any recent filings have not yet been made widely public. Therefore, there is no authoritative information available regarding CAFC dockets for this patent in 2026.