Summary — U.S. Patent No. 9,661,049 (US9661049B2)

Note on sources: I searched for this patent on USPTO/Google Patents and for CAFC 2026 docket activity. The Google Patents record for US9661049B2 was confirmed (title, dates, assignee history, abstract, spec). No CAFC 2026 docket entries for this patent number were returned in my searches, so I cannot confirm or deny pending appeal activity — treat that as unverified. The full claims text was not included in the provided patent text, so claim numbering below is inferred from the specification's Brief Summary and flagged as such.

Bibliographic data (confirmed)

• Title: Systems and methods of providing interspersed manifest file specifications for adaptive streaming video
• Patent number: US9661049B2
• Application: US15/215,889 (filed 2016-07-21) — a continuation of US14/709,171 (filed 2015-05-11), which claims priority to U.S. Provisional App. No. 62/072,265 (filed 2014-10-29)
• Priority date: 2014-10-29
• Issue/publication date: 2017-05-23 (pre-grant publication US20160330261A1 on 2016-11-10)
• Inventor: Michael Gordon
• Original assignee: DLVR, Inc.
• Current listed assignee (per Google Patents): Adeia Media Holdings Inc. (transfers shown: DLVR, Inc. → Akita Investments LLC security interests → Adeia Media Holdings LLC/Inc. assignments in 2025)
• Status: Active; anticipated expiration 2035-05-11
• Classifications (representative): H04L65/60 (network streaming of media packets), H04L65/612, H04L67/02, H04N21/8586 (linking by URL), H04L47/783

Abstract (as published)

Techniques for serving a manifest file of an adaptive streaming video include receiving a request for the manifest file from a user device. The video is encoded at different reference bitrates and each encoded reference bitrate is divided into segments to generate video segment files. The manifest file includes an ordered list of universal resource locators (URLs) that reference a set of video segment files encoded at a particular reference bitrate. A source manifest file that indicates the set of video segment files is identified based on the request. An issued manifest file that includes a first URL and a second URL is generated based on the source manifest file. The first URL references a first domain and the second URL references a second domain that is different from the first domain. The issued manifest file is transmitted to the user device as a response to the request.

Plain-language overview of the independent claims

Caution: The claims section was not reproduced in the provided patent text, and my searches did not return the verbatim claims. The specification's Brief Summary describes three statutory embodiments that correspond to the typical independent claims of this patent. I am confident in the substance but not in the exact claim numbers:

1. System claim (likely claim 1) — manifest file server system. A manifest file server coupled to a network receives a request for a manifest file of an adaptive-streaming video from a user device/player. The video is encoded at multiple reference bitrates, each divided into segments to create video segment files, and the manifest lists URLs referencing segment files at a particular bitrate. The server identifies a source manifest file (from the content provider/CDN) based on the request, and generates an issued manifest file that contains at least a first URL and a second URL. The first URL points to a segment file hosted in a first domain, and the second URL points to a segment file hosted in a different second domain (e.g., interspersing URLs of the operator's own segment servers with URLs of third-party service providers/CDNs). The issued manifest is transmitted to the user device as the response.

2. Method claim (likely claim ~10 or similar) — method for serving a manifest file. The method mirrors the system: receiving the request from a user device, identifying the source manifest file indicating the set of segment files for the particular reference bitrate, generating an issued manifest file with a first URL referencing a segment file in a first domain and a second URL referencing a segment file in a different second domain, and transmitting the issued manifest to the user device.

3. Computer-readable medium claim (likely a later claim) — non-transitory medium. A non-transitory computer-readable medium stores instructions that, when executed, cause a computer to perform the same operations: receive the manifest request, identify the source manifest, generate the issued manifest with first/second URLs referencing segment files hosted in different domains, and transmit it to the user device.

Practical substance

The patent is directed to adaptive-bitrate streaming (HLS/DASH/HDS) where a manifest server rewrites a publisher's manifest to intersperse segment-file URLs across multiple domains — e.g., alternating between the operator's own segment servers (which can capture delivery telemetry, session IDs, and first/last-segment measurements) and third-party service provider (CDN) servers — to enable per-session performance measurement and multi-provider traffic allocation without installing software on the user device. Dependent features described in the spec (not claims-verified) include distribution policies/models, session IDs embedded in URLs, consistent vs. random positioning of URL types, and dynamic adjustment of the mix of server types.

Uncertainty flags

• Exact claim text and claim numbering not verified (claims section absent from provided text; web search results truncated before claims). Confirm against USPTO Patent Center before relying on specific claim language.
• CAFC 2026 docket status: no results found; unverified.
• The assignee chain shown by Google Patents (Adeia Media Holdings Inc. as current assignee; DLVR, Inc. as original) reflects recorded assignments/security interests; Google notes its assignee list may be inaccurate.