Network-capacity optimized adaptive HTTP streaming

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10320869-B2
Application number	US-201114130982-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 7, 2011
Priority date	Jul 7, 2011
Publication date	Jun 11, 2019
Grant date	Jun 11, 2019

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a technique of adjusting the download of one or more adjustable content streams, the one or more content streams are provided in a network by a server ( 200 ) for streaming the one or more content streams to one or more clients ( 100 a, 100 b ) and each of the one or more content streams comprises a plurality of content segments. A method embodiment comprises the steps of: generating a manifest file comprising one or more media bit rate candidates each of which indicating an encoded media data rate of the content segments of the one or more content streams, wherein the media data rate candidates are generate by considering a perceived quality of the one or more content streams; and manipulating the manifest file by adjusting at least one of the one or more media data rate candidates based on the available data rate between the server ( 200 ) and the one or more clients ( 100 a, 100 b ) for downloading the content segments.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of adjusting a download of a content element, wherein the content element is provided in a network by a server for streaming and the content element comprises a plurality of content segments, the method comprising:
a network node selecting a first set of media data rates for the content element, wherein the selection of the first set of media data rates for the content element is based on one or more of: a category to which the content element is assigned and a perceived quality of the content element, wherein the perceived quality comprises a Quality of Experience (QoE) of the content element;
the network node generating a first manifest file for the content element, wherein the first manifest file comprises a first set of media data rate identifiers, wherein each one of said media data rate identifiers included in the first set of media data rate identifiers identifies a different one of the media data rates included in the first set of media data rates;
the network node transmitting the first manifest file to a client that is remote from the network node;
after transmitting the first manifest file to the client, the network node receiving from the client a first request for a first content segment of the content element;
the network node determining a first available link data rate for a link between the server and the client;
after determining the first available link data rate, the network node determining a second available link data rate for the link between the server and the client; and
after the client sends to the server the first request for the first content segment of the content element and before the client sends to the server a second request for a second content segment of the content element, performing the following three (3) steps:
(1) the network node selecting a second set of media data rates for a modified manifest file for the content element based on the determined second available link data rate for the link between the server and the client;
(2) the network node, after selecting the second set of media data rates, generating the modified manifest file for the content element, wherein the modified manifest file comprises a second set of media data rate identifiers, wherein each one of said media data rate identifiers included in the second set of media data rate identifiers identifies a different one of the media data rates included in the second set of media data rates, and further the modified manifest file does not include one of the media data rate identifiers included in the first manifest file or includes a new media data rate identifier that is not included in the first manifest file; and
(3) the network node transmitting to the client the modified manifest file.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the modified manifest file comprises removing from the first manifest file all media data rate identifiers that identify a media data rate that lies above a selected media data rate threshold.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the step of determining the second available link data rate is based on at least one of real-time statistics indicating a current load between the server and the client and long term statistics indicating a typical load between the server and the client during a predetermined time period.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising the network node, which is remote from the client, selecting the media data rate threshold based on the determined second available link data rate.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the QoE comprises a Mean Opinion Score (MOS) of the content element.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein
the method further comprises: (1) determining an amount of movement in the content element; (2) comparing the determined amount of movement to a movement threshold; and (3) assigning the content element to a first category when the determined amount of movement in the content element exceeds the movement threshold, and
the selection of the first set of media data rates for the content element is based on the category to which the content element is assigned.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the selection of the first set of media data rates for the content element is based on both of the category to which the content element is assigned and the perceived quality of the content element, wherein the perceived quality comprises a Quality of Experience (QoE) of the content element.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the content element is one of a sports content stream, a news content stream, a talk show content stream and a movie content stream.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of generating a modified manifest file for the content element is repeatedly performed.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the streaming between the server and the client comprises Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) streaming.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining whether the second available link data rate is different than the first available link data rate, wherein
the step of the network node selecting the second set of media data rates for the modified manifest file for the content element is performed as a result of the network node determining that the second available link data rate is different than the first available link data rate.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a difference between the second available link data rate and the first available link data rate, wherein
the step of the network node selecting the second set of media data rates for the modified manifest file for the content element comprises the network node selecting the second set of media data rates based on the determined difference between the second available link data rate and the first available link data rate.

13. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium storing program code portions for performing the method of claim 1 .

14. A network node for adjusting a download of a content element, wherein the content element is provided in a network by a server for streaming and the content element comprises a plurality of content segments, the network node comprising:
a memory; and
at least one processor coupled to the memory, wherein the node is configured to:
select a first set of media data rates for the content element, wherein the selection of the first set of media data rates for the content element is based on one or more of: a category to which the content element is assigned and a perceived quality of the content element, wherein the perceived quality comprises a Quality of Experience (QoE) of the content element;
generate a first manifest file for the content element, wherein the first manifest file comprises a first set of media data rate identifiers, wherein each one of said media data rate identifiers included in the first set of media data rate identifiers identifies a different one of the media data rates included in the first set of media data rates;
transmit the first manifest file to a client that is remote from the network node;
after transmitting the first manifest file to the client, receive from the client a first request for a first content segment of the content element
determine a first available link data rate for a link between the server and the client;
after determining the first available link data rate, determining a second available link data rate for the link between the server and the client; and
the node is configured to perform the following three steps after the client sends to the server the first request for the first content

Assignees

• Lohmar Thorsten
• Einarsson Torbjorn
• Ericsson Telefon Ab L M

Inventors

• Lohmar Thorsten
• Einarsson Torbjorn

Classifications

• H04L65/605

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L65/60 Primary

  Network streaming of media packets · CPC title

• H04L65/80 Primary

  Responding to QoS · CPC title

• H04L65/4084

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L65/765

  intermediate · CPC title