US20160259453A1 - Dynamic adjustment of cloud game data streams to output device and network quality - Google Patents

Abstract

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to systems and methods for the dynamic adjustment of data streamed over a network which is then displayed on an output device. In particular, aspects of the present disclosure relate to systems and methods for determining the display capabilities of an output device and then formatting two or more streams of data configured for display on the output device, wherein the user interface and video data are contained in separate streams, such that the content is displayed in a manner consistent with the display capabilities of the output device. The output can then be adjusted or prioritized based on device orientation and network quality.

Description

FIELD
• The present disclosure relates to the dynamic adjustment of data streamed over a network. In particular, aspects of the present disclosure relate to systems and methods for determining the display capabilities of an output device and then formatting two or more streams of data configured for display on the output device.
BACKGROUND
• With the increasing prevalence of digital streaming services and various cloud-based computing solutions, the ability to quickly and accurately transfer large amounts of data between remote devices is a critical task. Currently, data streaming services do not take into account the specifications of the device that the data is meant to be displayed on. As a result, scaling and pixel variation between devices can create undesirable display scenarios, for example, text being unreadable on a smaller screen, or an aspect ratio of a display may not be suitable for a certain piece of media.
• Additionally, digital streaming services and cloud-based computing solutions may experience limitations in the quality and bandwidth of networks established or used during the transfer of data between remote devices when utilizing applications that are sensitive to latencies, such as video games. These limitations may lead to delays in the data transmission and can thus cause latency, which typically creates inconsistencies during the use of an application. While client devices will attempt to achieve the lowest latency through a variety of methods, inevitably, each client device will experience a different amount of latency due to differences in factors such as the decode speed of transmitted data, render rates, input polling, or even the client's network connection. In some forms of media, the latent display of specific media such as text or user interface (UI) data may be more detrimental to the enjoyment of the user, causing user frustration and perhaps even abandonment of a title or the platform altogether.
• Furthermore, on a wide variety of media playing devices available to consumers, the orientation of the display may rapidly change depending on the needs of the user. Certain device orientations may make viewing a media title, which would otherwise be normally viewable in an alternative orientation nearly impossible. Accordingly, there is a need in the art to find alternative means for adjusting and displaying media streamed over a network that takes into account network latency, display orientation, and the specific display capabilities of a wide variety of devices.
SUMMARY
• In accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure, a non-transitory computer readable medium may contain computer readable instructions embodied therein. The instructions may be configured to implement a method when executed. The method may include determining the display capabilities of an output device. Two or more data streams configured for display on the output device may be established and formatted. The data streams may include separate streams for video data and user interface (UI) data. The data streams may then be delivered to an output device.
• In accordance with certain implementations of the present disclosure, a method for streaming data to an output device may include determining the display capabilities of the output device. Two or more data streams configured for display on the output device may be established and formatted. The data streams may contain separate information for video data and user interface (UI) data. The data streams may then be delivered to the output device.
• In accordance with certain implementations of the present disclosure, a computing system may include at least one processor unit, and at least one memory unit coupled to the at least one processor unit. The at least one processor unit and the at least one memory unit may be configured to perform a method. The method may include determining the display capabilities of an output device. Two or more data streams configured for display on the output device may be established and formatted. The data streams may contain separate information for video data and user interface (UI) data. The data streams may then be delivered to the output device.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
• The teachings of the present disclosure can be readily understood by considering the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
• FIG. 1 is an example of a screen shot of a portion of a media title displayed on an output device derived from data streamed over a network, and is intended to illustrate various components of displaying a title.
• FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of an example system in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.
• FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example system in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.
• FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of an example asset management technique from the server side in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.
• FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of an example asset management technique from the output device side in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
• Although the following detailed description contains many specific details for the purposes of illustration, anyone of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that many variations and alterations to the following details are within the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the illustrative implementations of the present disclosure described below are set forth without any loss of generality to, and without imposing limitations upon, the claimed invention.
Introduction
• Aspects of the present disclosure relate to systems and methods for the dynamic adjustment of UI and video streaming data in response to varying device types, orientations, and network quality.
• In accordance with certain aspects, a client device configured to operate on a network may provide a user with a list of one or more digital assets that can be borrowed from a providing user. The may then be able to request the use of an asset that can be borrowed from a providing user. The user may then receive certain rights, such as access to an application or application features, from the providing user. Alternative embodiments provide a method in which a providing user may grant asset rights to another user without first receiving a request.
Implementation Details
• InFIG. 1, an example is provided of a screen shot of a media title displayed on an output device derived from data streamed over anetwork10. This example is intended to illustrate the various components of a streamed title. For example, on theoutput device12, various portions of the display may vary in quality and clarity depending on the orientation of the device or the quality of the network connection. For example, video data such as14 may be clear when displayed independent of the device upon which it is displayed. However, UI data such astext16 andmap data18 may be difficult to display properly on a smaller screen, or may be rendered unreadable or unusable when formatted to fit a smaller display.
• Turning now toFIG. 2, an illustrative example is provided of how a media title may be displayed on various devices from data streamed over anetwork100. In particular,FIG. 2 depicts an example process flow for providing a varying output devices with several data streams in accordance with certain implementations of the present disclosure. It is noted that the example method of providing an application asset inFIG. 2 may have one or more aspects in common with the methods indicated inFIGS. 4 and 5. It is also important to note that the example ofFIG. 2 is only a simplified example for purposes illustrating only certain aspects of how data streams may be provided in accordance with the present disclosure.
• At the outset, it is important to note that in this example, a data stream is provided to an output device that is requesting a stream from a server containing media information, but data may be requested from and delivered by alternative sources. In this example, as shown inFIG. 2, a user utilizing anoutput device103 requests the stream of a media title from aserver102. The server receives thisrequest182 and determines thecapabilities186 of theoutput device103 from a list of compatible devices. Relevant capabilities may include parameters such as screen size in pixels, physical screen dimensions, screen resolution, color format (e.g., 8-bit, 15-bit, 16-bit, 24-bit, 30-bit, 36-bit, or 48-bit color), and the like.
• Additional examples of parameters which may be of use include, but are not limited to the following: pixel aspect ratio (a pixel is typically assumed to be square with the same width and height. This is not necessarily true especially for old SD television signals); color space information (RGB, YUV, etc.), gamma correction information, screen orientation, display backlight level (‘brightness level’), refresh rate of the display. With respect to refresh rate, is may be useful to know the maximum refresh rate (60 Hz), but the device may also support lower or even variable refresh rates.
• Some of these parameters could change over time. For example, for handheld devices such as tablets and smartphones, orientation may change. It is also possible for the display capabilities to change when streaming to one device that is locally connected to a different display device. For example, a user who is streaming video to a device such as a tablet or phone may suddenly connect the device to a 4K display. This can change some of the capabilities.
• There may also be some other relevant graphics processing unit (GPU) parameters. For example some GPUs (especially on embedded platforms) have support for video overlays. Specifically, a frame may have multiple drawing layers, which are somehow combined (‘composited’) before the frame is output to the display. This can allow for independent rendering of video and UI. For example the video stream could be rendered on a different layer than the UI. The UI and video streams can have different update frequencies and both don't have to ‘wait’ for each other. For example, digital televisions use overlays to layer a system menu system on top of the ‘TV image’.
• In alternative embodiments, the server may request thedevice information183 from the output device when the display capabilities are unknown, and the output device may in turn deliver thatinformation184 to the server. For example, the output device may include one or more sensors, e.g., an inertial sensor and/or user-facing camera, that allow the output device to sense the orientation of a display screen relative to a user. The display screen may be rectangular but have a non-square aspect ratio (ratio of width to height). Theserver102 may request that the output device indicate whether it is in a horizontal or vertical orientation relative to the user so that the data to be streamed may be best formatted for presentation at that orientation.
• Information regarding device capabilities (e.g. whether device supports 480p, 720p . . . ) give the server information on what is technically possible. It would also be useful for the server to know certain current settings of the device such as orientation and output resolution. Other information such as color depth may be less important, e.g., because it can be adjusted at the client device or the server would dictate this information for compression efficiency reasons or to reduce required bandwidth.
• Theserver102 may also request information about the quality of thenetwork100 between the server and theoutput device103. Such information may include parameters such as network latency, available network bandwidth, packet loss, or network protocol. This information can be used in formatting the data streams188. For example, some network protocols, e.g., Uniform Datagram Protocol (UDP) are highly unreliable. If theserver102 knows that thenetwork100 uses UDP the streams188 can be configured to include Forward Error Correction (FEC) packets that theoutput device103 can use to recover lost data packets.
• Streaming technology often uses FEC techniques. Before starting streaming to a client device a server sets a bandwidth budget, e.g., 8 Mbps for the stream. To set the bandwidth budget it is useful for the server to pick some client device settings such as video resolution, frame rate and compression settings.
• During streaming the server can monitor bandwidth and based on network parameters such as bandwidth and packet loss and adjust our video resolution, frame rate and compression settings accordingly. Similar settings can be adjusted for audio streaming, which may become more important. Knowing the audio settings allows the server to optimize the audio stream for, e.g., a six channel surround sound setup (e.g., 5.1 surround sound) or a stereo setup.
• Some streaming technology reduces frame rate or resolution somewhat crudely. For example, some video game streaming systems capture video from HDMI, so if a game is generating 60 fps and the streaming rate needs to be reduced to 30 fps, the streaming server simply throws frames away. In addition if resolution needs to be reduced, the server can just scale the video frame received from the game. By way of example, the game may be generating video at 720P and if theserver102 needs to stream at 540P, the frame is just scaled in software.
• Servers for some applications, such as online video games, often run the application software on different hardware than the hardware used to handle streaming of video to the client devices. The streaming server and application hardware may be located in a data center and connected by a local area network. According to aspects of the present disclosure, formatting the video data could be done using the application that generates video frames that are used for the video stream. By way of example, and not by way of limitation, the streaming server could notify the hardware running the application that it needs to reduce frame rate or display resolution. The application can then adjust the frame rate or resolution or otherwise adjust the video formatting for theoutput device103. The application that generates the video frames often can do a better job of adjusting frame rate, display resolution or other video formatting parameters. In addition, formatting the video this way could even save a little bit of electrical power (a lower resolution or framerate is less intensive for a server and hence uses less power).
• Once the device display capability information is determined, the server may create separate streams for the video and UI information188. This step is performed so that the UI and video data information can be formatted separately on theoutput device103, allowing for the separate scaling of UI and video data to ensure that all aspects of the streamed title are clear and useable. These formatted streams are delivered190 to theoutput device103 where they are received and displayed140 in a manner consistent with the display capabilities of the output device. In alternative embodiments, the output device may prioritize the display of thestreams150. By way of example, and not by way of limitation, if each aspect of the UI data is contained in a separate stream, the output device may prioritize the display of the streams in the order of (text data, video data, map data, etc.) so that certain aspects of the display maintain clarity during times of network latency while others become less defined.
• As an example, a ‘game’ stream for an online video game may be a compressed video stream. The UI stream for the game may not necessarily be a video stream, but as noted above can be text, bitmap data, vectored graphics and other types of data. These types of data may be shared with theoutput device103. In some implementations, theoutput device103 may already have some of the data locally, e.g., as part of thedata236′ in thememory232′ orcache244′. For example the fonts used to render text may already be available on the client. In some implementations, theoutput device103 may be able to configure the UP based on user settings. In such an implementation the user could, e.g., override bitmaps or fonts with whatever data is already stored on theoutput device103 to create something like a game ‘mod’ which is often used in massive multiplayer online games (MMOs).
• The illustration inFIG. 2 also provides an example of a second user requesting to stream a media title from a server, and is provided to show that the data may be streamed to various devices which each have their own respective data stream140′ such that the data is received and displayed in a manner consistent with the display capabilities of a multitude of output devices.
• It is emphasized that the example depicted inFIG. 2 is provided for purposes of illustration only, in order to highlight certain aspects of the present disclosure. In practice, implementations of the present disclosure may factor in additional or alternative considerations not depicted by the example ofFIG. 2, and may be more complex than the simplified scheme depicted inFIG. 2.
• Certain implementations of aspects of the present disclosure include systems configured for the dynamic adjustment of streamed content. By way of example, and not by way of limitation,FIG. 3 depicts a distributed computing system that includes threedevices102,103, and104, and thecomputing systems102,103, and104 are configured to transfer data over a network in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. In certain implementations, thedevice102 may be configured to execute instructions that have one or more aspects in common with those described with respect toFIG. 2 and/orFIG. 4. In certain implementations, thedevices103 and104 may be configured to execute instructions that have one or more aspects in common with one or more of those described above with respect toFIG. 2 or below with respect toFIG. 5. Each of thedevices102,103, and104 may be configured with suitable software and/or hardware to implement various aspects of the methods described herein. Each of thedevices102,103, and104 may be a server, an embedded system, mobile phone, personal computer, laptop computer, tablet computer, portable game device, workstation, game console, wearable devices such as a smart watches, “dongle” devices and the like. As used herein, the term “dongle device” refers to a device that plugs into other equipment, such as a computer or television, to add functionality to the equipment. Such functionality may include as copy protection, audio, video, games, data, or other services that are available only when the dongle is attached. Examples of dongle devices include, but are not limited to internet content streaming devices and infrared remote control adapters available for “smart” mobile phones. Theoutput devices103,104 have certain components in common with theserver102. InFIG. 3 components of theserver102 are denoted by reference numerals without primes, corresponding components ofoutput device103 are denoted by the same reference numerals with primes (′) and corresponding components ofoutput device104 are denoted by the same reference numerals with double primes (″).
• In accordance with certain implementations, thedevice102 may be a server configured to format and provide media streaming data, and thedevices103 and104 may be an output device utilized by a user who wishes to display a media title. Theserver102 may be configured to create and format media188 and deliver thedata190 to anoutput device103 or104 over anetwork260, e.g., using an internet connection or a local area network connection. It is noted that thenetwork260 need not be an internet connection. In some implementations streaming may take place from one device at a given location to another device in that location via a local area network.
• Furthermore, even if thenetwork260 is a wide area network, it may be implemented by technology other than the internet, such as, a cable network.
• The data streams188 may be separately formatted forrespective devices103 or104 even if the media title requested is the same, as thedevice capabilities186 of the respective output devices may vary. By way of example, and not by way of limitation, the data streams188 may include streams for video data, UI data, text, inventory data, map data, or audio data. In some implementations certain types of data streams may be compressed to reduce the number of bits of data that need to be transmitted in the stream. In particular, video data and audio data are commonly compressed prior to being transmitted.
• Each of thedevices102,103, and104 may include one ormore processor units231,231′,231″ which may be configured according to well-known architectures, such as, e.g., single-core, dual-core, quad-core, multi-core, processor-coprocessor, cell processor, and the like. Either of the devices Each of thedevices102,103, and104 may also include one ormore memory units232,232′,232″ (e.g., RAM, DRAM, ROM, and the like). Theprocessor unit231,231′,231″ may execute one ormore programs233,233′,233″ which may be stored in thememory232, and theprocessor231,231′,231″ may be operatively coupled to thememory232,232′,232″, e.g., by accessing the memory via adata bus250,250′,250″. Thememory unit232,231′,231″ may includedata236,236′,236″ and theprocessor unit231,231′,231″ may utilize thedata236,236′,236″ in implementing theprogram233,233′,233″. Thedata236,236′,236″ for each of thedevices102,103, and104 may include, e.g., a request for streamingdata120 transmitted from anoutput device103 or104 to theserver102, and a specially formatted set of data streams188 fordelivery140 from theserver102 to anoutput device103 or104 according to various aspects of the present disclosure. Theprogram233,233′,233″ may include optionally instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform one or more operations associated with requesting streaming data for amedia title120, determining the capabilities of the output device from which the request was received186, creating and formatting two or more video streams which respectively contain video and UI data188 for display on theoutput device103 or104, or receiving and displaying data streams formatted140 to best utilize the display capabilities of theoutput device103 or104; e.g., a method having one or more features in common with the methods ofFIGS. 2, 4, and/or5. For example, theprogram233,233′,233″ of theserver102 may include instructions that, when executed by theprocessor231,231′,231″, cause the server to format and deliver streaming data to the at least onerecipient device103 or104, in accordance with aspects of the server side of the method depicted inFIG. 2 and/or the sending of streaming data. In alternative embodiments, theprogram233,233′,233″ of theserver102 may include instructions that, when executed by theprocessor231,231′,231″, cause the server to request display capability information from the at least onerecipient device103 or104, in accordance with aspects of the server side of the method depicted inFIG. 2 and/or the sending of streaming data. Theprogram233,233′,233″ of theoutput device103 or104 may include instructions that, when executed by theprocessor231,231′,231″, cause the output device to request streamingdata120 that can then be provided by theserver102 in accordance with aspects of the output device side of the method depicted inFIG. 2 and/or the sending of streaming data. In alternative embodiments, theprogram233,233′,233″ of theoutput device103 or103 may include instructions that, when executed by theprocessor231,231′,231″, cause the output device to deliverdisplay capability information184 to theserver102 in accordance with aspects of the output device side of the method depicted inFIG. 2 and/or the sending of streaming data.
• Each of thedevices102,103, and104 may also include well-knownsupport circuits240,240′,240″, such as input/output (I/O)circuits241,241′,241″ (which in the case ofoutput devices103,104 may be coupled to acontroller245′,245″), power supplies (P/S)242,242′,242″, a clock (CLK)243,243′,243″, andcache244,244′,244″, which may communicate with other components of the system, e.g., via thebus250,250′,250″. Each of thedevices102,103, and104 may optionally include amass storage device234,234′,234″ such as a disk drive, CD-ROM drive, tape drive, flash memory, or the like, and themass storage device234,234′,234″ may store programs and/or data. Each of thedevices102,103, and104 may also optionally include adisplay unit237,237′,237″. Thedisplay unit237,237′,237″ may be in the form of a cathode ray tube (CRT), flat panel screen, touch screen, or other device that displays text, numerals, graphical symbols, or other visual objects. Each of thedevices102,103, and104 may also include auser interface206,206′,206″ to facilitate interaction between thedevice102/103 or104 and a user. Theuser interface206,206′,206″ may include a keyboard, mouse, light pen, game control pad, touch interface, or other device. The user interface may also include an audio I/O device, such as a speaker and/or microphone.
• A user may interact with either of the computer systems through theuser interface206,206′,206″. By way of example, the server may102 may be a cloud gaming server, and theoutput device103 or104 may be a cloud gaming client, and a video game user may interact with a video game executed by theserver102 and streamed to theoutput device104 through theuser interface206,206′,206″. Portions of theuser interface206,206′,206″ may include a graphical user interface (GUI) that can be displayed on thedisplay unit237,237′,237″ in order to facilitate user interaction with thesystem102/103 or104. Thesystem102/103 or104 may include anetwork interface239,239′,239″, configured to enable the use of Wi-Fi, an Ethernet port, or other communication methods. Thenetwork interface239,239′,239″ may incorporate suitable hardware, software, firmware or some combination thereof to facilitate communication via atelecommunications network260, and may support data transport using an unreliable protocol in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. Thenetwork interface239,239′,239″ may be configured to implement wired or wireless communication over local area networks and wide area networks such as the Internet.
• As shown inFIG. 4, a set ofserver side instructions370 may be implemented, e.g., by theserver102. Theserver instructions370 may be formed on a nontransitory computer readable medium such as thememory232,232′,232″ or themass storage device234,234′,234″. Theserver side instructions370 may also be part of theprocess control program233,233′,233″. As indicated at372 theserver instructions370 may include instructions for requesting output device information, optionally including outputdevice display capabilities183 to be received from ormore client devices103 or104 over anetwork260. Theinstructions370 may includeinstructions374 for formatting two or more streams of content data188 based on the capabilities of the output device. Thereafter, at376 the instructions may include instructions for delivering190 the data streams to theoutput device103 or104 and subsequently, at378 may include instructions for delivering data stream formatting or priority information to the respective output device.
• As shown inFIG. 5, a set ofoutput device instructions480 may be implemented, e.g., by theoutput device103 or104. Theoutput device instructions480 may be formed on a nontransitory computer readable medium such as thememory232,232′,232″ or themass storage device234,234′,234″. Theoutput device instructions480 may also be part of theprocess control program233,233′,233″. As indicated at482, theinstructions480 may include instructions for delivering output device information, optionally including outputdevice display capabilities183 to be delivered by the ormore client devices103 or104 over anetwork260. The instructions470 may include instructions474 for receiving140 two or more streams of content data188 based on the capabilities of the output device. Thereafter, at476 the instructions may include instructions for prioritizing150 the display of the data streams on theoutput device103 or104 and subsequently, at478 may include instructions for formatting text or other user interface (UI) such that the streamed content is displayed in a manner consistent with the display capabilities of theoutput device103 or104.
• The above components may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or some combination thereof.
• Although the examples described above assume a game stream and a UI stream, which are combined on the client side, additional streams, example a video chat stream, may be included. Such additional streams may come peer-to-peer from other users' client devices and could be combined by the client devices. In some implementations, theprogram233 on theserver102 may be aware that there is a video chat stream betweenoutput devices103 and104 and could reserve resources for handling this stream. For latency reasons theserver102 could coordinate a peer-to-peer (p2p) session to let theclient devices103,104 combine the video chat stream with the other streams. There may be types of local content which could be composited by the client devices.
• Aspects of the present disclosure allow for formatting and streaming of data in different formats that are displayed together to be optimally displayed on different devices.
• While the above is a complete description of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to use various alternatives, modifications and equivalents. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should be determined not with reference to the above description but should, instead, be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with their full scope of equivalents. Any feature described herein, whether preferred or not, may be combined with any other feature described herein, whether preferred or not. In the claims that follow, the indefinite article “a”, or “an” refers to a quantity of one or more of the item following the article, except where expressly stated otherwise. The appended claims are not to be interpreted as including means-plus-function limitations, unless such a limitation is explicitly recited in a given claim using the phrase “means for.”

Claims (31)

What is claimed is:

1. A non-transitory computer readable medium having processor-executable instructions embodied therein, wherein execution of the instructions by a processor causes the processor to implement a method, the method comprising:

a) determining the display capabilities of an output device;

b) formatting two or more data streams configured for display on the output device such that the content is displayed in a manner consistent with the display capabilities of the output device, wherein the two or more data streams include a data stream for user interface data and a separate data stream for video data; and

c) delivering the two or more streams of content data to the output device.

2. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 1, wherein the two or more data streams include a data stream containing compressed data.

3. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 1, wherein the two or more streams of content include a data stream containing data to be displayed as text.

4. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 1, wherein the two or more streams of content include a data stream containing data to be displayed as a heads-up-display (HUD).

5. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 1, wherein the two or more data streams include a data stream containing data to be displayed as inventory information.

6. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 1, wherein the two or more data include a data stream containing data to be displayed map information.

7. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 1, wherein the display of one data stream is prioritized over the display of another.

8. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 7, wherein the prioritization of display is determined by the quality of the network connection.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 1, wherein the display instructions are delivered by a server to a client device platform used in combination with the output device.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 9, wherein the client device platform is a gaming console.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 9, wherein the client device platform is a computer.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 9, wherein the client device platform is a cellular phone.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 9, wherein the client device platform is a tablet.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 9, wherein the client device platform is a hand-held computing device.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 9, wherein the client device platform is a set top box.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 9, wherein the client device platform is a telephonic system.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 9, wherein the client device platform is a dongle device.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 9, wherein the client device is configured to query the output device to determine the display capabilities of the output device and deliver this information to the server.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 1, wherein the display capability information also includes a picture orientation of the output device.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 1, wherein the content data includes a video portion of a video game.

21. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 1, wherein the content data is a stream of a computer program session running on a remote machine.

22. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 1, wherein the output device is a television.

23. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 1, wherein the output device is a projector.

24. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 1, wherein the output device and the client device platform are the same device.

25. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 1, wherein b) includes formatting the video data with an application used to generate video frames for the data stream for video data.

26. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 1, wherein the two or more streams include a game stream and a user interface stream.

27. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 26, wherein the two or more streams include a game stream, a user interface stream and one or more additional streams.

28. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 26, wherein the two or more streams include a game stream, a user interface stream and a video chat stream between a first client device and a second client device.

29. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 26, wherein the two or more streams include a game stream, a user interface stream and a video chat stream between a first client device and a second client device, wherein the method further comprises coordinating a peer-to-peer session between the first and second client devices to let the first and second client devices combine the video chat stream with the game stream and the user interface stream.

30. On a server configured to operate on a network, a method, comprising:

a) determining the display capabilities of an output device;

b) formatting two or more data streams configured for display on the output device such that the content is displayed in a manner consistent with the display capabilities of the output device, wherein the two or more data streams include a data stream for user interface data and a separate data stream for video data.

31. A system comprising:

a processor, and

a memory coupled to the processor;

wherein the processor is configured to perform a method, the method comprising:

a) determining the display capabilities of an output device;

b) formatting two or more data streams configured for display on the output device such that the content is displayed in a manner consistent with the display capabilities of the output device, wherein the two or more data streams include a data stream for user interface data and a separate data stream for video data; and

c) delivering the two or more streams of content data to the output device.

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