Conflict detection and resolution in an ABR network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10142259-B2
Application number	US-201414194868-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 3, 2014
Priority date	Mar 3, 2014
Publication date	Nov 27, 2018
Grant date	Nov 27, 2018

Abstract

A scheme for managing conflict resolution in an ABR streaming environment with respect to a bandwidth pipe serving a customer premises. In one aspect, when a session request is received from a new ABR client launched in the customer premises that includes one or more existing ABR clients having corresponding streaming sessions, a bandwidth forecasting module is configured to forecast bandwidth requirements with respect to the corresponding ABR streaming sessions after accounting for a bandwidth requirement for the new ABR client's session request. A conflict may be detected if any of forecasted bandwidth requirements violates a bitrate threshold policy relative to the corresponding ABR streaming sessions and/or the new session being requested. If there is a conflict, a conflict notification message to the new ABR client is provided and the session request from the new ABR client is rejected.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for managing conflict resolution in a customer premises disposed in an adaptive bitrate (ABR) streaming environment with respect to a subscriber bandwidth pipe serving a plurality of client devices of the customer premises of a subscriber, the method comprising:
receiving, at a network element, a request from a new ABR client for an ABR streaming session to be served via the subscriber bandwidth pipe of the customer premises that includes one or more existing ABR clients executing on at least a subset of the client devices, wherein each existing ABR client is engaged in a corresponding ongoing ABR streaming session via the subscriber bandwidth pipe;
determining, at the network element, a forecast of bandwidth requirements for the one or more existing ABR clients of the customer premises with respect to the corresponding ongoing ABR streaming sessions after accounting for a bandwidth requirement for the new ABR client's streaming session request, the determining based on modeling of bandwidth allocation of the subscriber bandwidth pipe serving the customer premises of the subscriber, using at least priority weights respectively associated with the one or more existing ABR streaming sessions via the subscriber bandwidth pipe and the requested ABR streaming session;
responsive to the determining, detecting a conflict if a forecasted bandwidth requirement of at least one of the existing ABR clients of the customer premises violates a bitrate threshold policy relative to the corresponding ongoing ABR streaming session of the at least one of the existing ABR clients of the subscriber's customer premises; and
if there is a conflict, providing a redirect message to the new ABR client for receiving a conflict notification that comprises a video-encoded still image of a message that the streaming session request from the new ABR client is being rejected on account of a bandwidth conflict in the customer premises, the message further indicating a total number of ongoing ABR streaming sessions in the customer premises.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the still image is encoded at a particular bitrate.

3. The method as recited in claim 2 , wherein the particular bitrate for encoding the still image is computed using a Kush Gauge calculation.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the redirect message is provided to the new ABR client by way of a HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) redirect message generated by an ABR back office that includes a manifest URL for the video-encoded still image.

5. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that there is no conflict relative to the streaming session request from the new ABR client; and
setting up a new streaming session responsive to the streaming session request from the new ABR client.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the determining of the forecast of bandwidth requirements with respect to the ongoing ABR streaming sessions is further based on display device information associated with the one or more existing ABR clients and the new ABR client.

7. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the determining of the forecast of bandwidth requirements with respect to the ongoing ABR streaming sessions is performed at a premises gateway operating as the network element responsive to a forecasting request from a subscriber policy management node.

8. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the determining of the forecast of bandwidth requirements with respect to the ongoing ABR streaming sessions is performed at a content delivery network (CDN) edge delivery node operating as the network element responsive to a forecasting request from a subscriber policy management node.

9. A system for managing conflict resolution in a customer premises disposed in an adaptive bitrate (ABR) streaming environment with respect to a subscriber bandwidth pipe serving a plurality of client devices of the customer premises of a subscriber, the system comprising:
a back office operative to receive a request from a new ABR client for a new ABR streaming session to be served via the subscriber bandwidth pipe of the customer premises that includes one or more existing ABR clients executing on at least a subset of the client devices, wherein each existing ABR client is engaged in a corresponding ongoing ABR streaming session via the subscriber bandwidth pipe;
a subscriber policy management node operative to request, responsive to a message from the back office, one of a premises gateway and a CDN edge delivery node for forecasted bandwidth requirements of the one or more existing ABR clients of the customer premises with respect to the corresponding ongoing ABR streaming sessions after accounting for a bandwidth requirement for the new ABR client's streaming session request, the subscriber policy management node further operative to detect a conflict if a forecasted bandwidth requirement of at least one of the existing ABR clients of the customer premises violates a bitrate threshold policy relative to the corresponding ongoing ABR streaming session of the at least one of the existing ABR clients, wherein a determination of a forecast of the bandwidth requirements is based on modeling of bandwidth allocation of the subscriber bandwidth pipe serving the customer premises of the subscriber, using at least priority weights respectively associated with the one or more existing ABR streaming sessions via the subscriber bandwidth pipe and the requested ABR streaming session; and
a conflict management node operative, responsive to a conflict detection message from the subscriber policy management node, to provide a redirect message to the new ABR client for receiving a conflict notification that comprises a video-encoded still image of a message that the streaming session request from the new ABR client is being rejected on account of a bandwidth conflict in the customer premises, the message further indicating a total number of ongoing ABR streaming sessions in the customer premises.

10. The system as recited in claim 9 , wherein the still image is video-encoded at a particular bitrate.

11. The system as recited in claim 10 , wherein the particular bitrate for encoding the still image is computed using a Kush Gauge calculation.

12. The system as recited in claim 11 , wherein the redirect message is provided to the new ABR client by way of a HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) redirect message generated by the back office that includes a manifest URL for the video-encoded still image.

13. The system as recited in claim 9 , wherein the determining of the forecast of bandwidth requirements with respect to the ongoing ABR streaming sessions is further based on display device information associated with the one or more existing ABR clients and the new ABR client.

14. A network element configured to facilitate conflict resolution in a customer premises with respect to a subscriber bandwidth pipe serving a plurality of client devices of the customer premises of a subscriber, the network element comprising:
one or more processors;
a bitrate forecasting module coupled to the one or more processors, wherein the bitrate forecasting module includes instructions executable by one or more processors and configured to:
determine a forecast of bandwidth requirements, responsive to a request from a subscriber policy management node, for one or more existing ABR clients of the customer premises with respect to corresponding ongoing ABR streaming sessions via the subscriber bandwidth pipe after accounting for a bandwidth requirement of a new ABR client's request for initiatin

Assignees

• Ericsson Ab

Inventors

• Phillips Chris
• Reynolds Jennifer Ann
• Dasher Charles Hammett
• Huber Michael

Classifications

• H04L65/60

  Network streaming of media packets · CPC title

• H04L47/748

  Negotiation of resources, e.g. modification of a request · CPC title

• H04L47/823 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L47/74 Primary

  measures in reaction to resource unavailability · CPC title

• H04L65/4092

  Electricity · mapped topic