Aggregated adaptive bit rate streaming

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10270708-B2
Application number	US-201715649165-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 13, 2017
Priority date	Dec 31, 2013
Publication date	Apr 23, 2019
Grant date	Apr 23, 2019

Abstract

Systems, methods and devices provide efficient bandwidth allocation on a satellite, mobile telephone or other data connection by allowing nodes to share bandwidth for commonly-requested data. A transmission center, uplink or other gateway suitably recognizes when content requests from multiple different nodes are simultaneously requesting delivery of the same content. When the same content is recognized, the gateway device allocates shared bandwidth on the data transmission link for the requested content that is accessible to both the first and second nodes.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method executable by a gateway device that communicates with a server via a network and with a plurality of client nodes via a data transmission link that is separate from the network, the method comprising:
receiving, by the gateway device, a first request from a first client node on the data transmission link to obtain content from the server on the network on behalf of the first client node;
receiving, by the gateway device, a second request for content from a second client node on the data transmission link to obtain content from the server on the network on behalf of the second client node, wherein the second client node is different from the first client node;
recognizing, by the gateway device, that the first request from the first client node and the second request from the second client node are requesting the same content from the server on the network; and
when the same content is recognized, the gateway device placing a single request via the network to obtain the content from the server, and allocating shared bandwidth on the data transmission link for the requested same content so that content is simultaneously provided to both the first client node and the second client node via the shared bandwidth of the data transmission link.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising notifying the gateway device identifying the allocated shared bandwidth for the requested same content to the first and second client nodes via the data transmission link.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising processing subsequent requests for the same content from the first and second client nodes by the gateway device using the shared bandwidth.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein an amount of the shared bandwidth is allocated to be greater than an amount of bandwidth allocated to unshared data.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the data transmission link is a satellite link and wherein the shared bandwidth is simultaneously broadcast to both the first client node and the second client node in a shared beam of the satellite link.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the data transmission link is a time multiplexed link having a plurality of timeslots, and wherein the shared bandwidth comprises at least one timeslot on the time multiplexed link having greater bandwidth than the timeslots allocated to unshared data.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the data transmission link is a time multiplexed link, and wherein the shared bandwidth comprises a plurality of timeslots accessible to both the first client node and the second client node.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the data transmission link is a time multiplexed link having a plurality of timeslots, and wherein one of the timeslots represents the shared bandwidth to provide the requested content to both the first client node and the second client node and wherein another of the timeslots provides subsequent content that follows the requested content to both the first and second client nodes.

9. A gateway device that communicates with a server via a network and with a plurality of client nodes via a communication link that is separate from the network, the gateway device comprising a processor, a memory, a first interface to communicate with a network and a second interface to communicate via the communication link, wherein the processor is configured to:
receive, by the gateway device, a first request from a first client node on the communication link to obtain content from the server on the network on behalf of the first client node;
receive, by the gateway device, a second request for content from a second client node on the communication link to obtain content from the server on the network on behalf of the second client node, wherein the second client node is different from the first client node;
recognize that the first request from the first client node and the second request from the second client node are requesting the same content from the server on the network; and
when the same content is recognized, place a single request via the network to obtain the content from the server, and allocate shared bandwidth on the data transmission link for the requested same content so that content is simultaneously provided to both the first client node and the second client node via the shared bandwidth of the communication link.

10. The gateway device of claim 9 wherein the processor is further configured to notify the first and second client nodes of the allocated shared bandwidth for the requested same content.

11. The gateway device of claim 10 wherein the processor is further configured to process subsequent requests for the same content from the first and second client nodes by the gateway device using the shared bandwidth.

12. The gateway device of claim 9 wherein an amount of the shared bandwidth is allocated to be greater than an amount of bandwidth allocated to unshared data.

13. The gateway device of claim 9 wherein the communication link is a satellite link and wherein the shared bandwidth is broadcast to both the first client node and the second client node in a shared beam of the satellite link.

14. The gateway device of claim 9 wherein the communication link is a time multiplexed link having a plurality of timeslots, and wherein the shared bandwidth comprises at least one timeslot on the time multiplexed link having greater bandwidth than the timeslots allocated to unshared data.

15. The gateway device of claim 9 wherein the communication link is a time multiplexed link, and wherein the shared bandwidth comprises a plurality of timeslots accessible to both the first client node and the second client node.

16. The gateway device of claim 9 wherein the communication link is a time multiplexed link having a plurality of timeslots, and wherein one of the timeslots represents the shared bandwidth to provide the requested content to both the first client node and the second client node and wherein another of the timeslots provides subsequent content that follows the requested content to both the first and second client nodes.

17. An automated process executable by a satellite gateway device that controls access to a satellite communications link and that communicates with a server via, a network that is separate from the satellite communications link, the method comprising:
recognizing, by the satellite gateway device, that a first client node communicating on the satellite communications link and a second client node also communicating on the satellite communications link are requesting the same content from the server on the network; and
when requests for the same content are recognized, the satellite gateway device placing a single request for the content to the server via the network and allocating shared bandwidth on the satellite communications link for the content, so that content received by the satellite gateway device in response to the single request is simultaneously provided from the satellite gateway device to both the first client node and the second client node via the shared bandwidth of the communication link.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the allocating comprises allocating a shared timeslot of time multiplexed bandwidth of the satellite communications link to the shared same content.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising transmitting a notification message to the first and second client nodes that identifies the shared timeslot to the first and second nodes.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the notificat

Assignees

• Echostar Tech Llc
• Dish Tech Llc

Inventors

• Gratton Max S

Classifications

• H04L65/80 Primary

  Responding to QoS · CPC title

• H04L47/78 Primary

  Architectures of resource allocation · CPC title

• H04L65/1089

  by adding media; by removing media · CPC title

• H04L12/66

  Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways · CPC title

• H04L65/602

  Electricity · mapped topic