System and method for switching between adaptive bit rate and fixed rate streams

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10491645-B2
Application number	US-201715446460-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 1, 2017
Priority date	Mar 1, 2017
Publication date	Nov 26, 2019
Grant date	Nov 26, 2019

Abstract

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a method in which a connection is initiated to an adaptive bit rate (ABR) content delivery network delivering ABR data streams at different bit rates. A manifest associated with the network includes a profile of each data stream and its associated bit rate. The method also includes requesting delivery of content and downloading the content. If the download speed is greater than the delivery bit rate, the manifest is queried for a higher bit rate. If a higher bit rate is not available, a recommendation is received from the content delivery network to obtain additional content via an alternate content stream delivered by a second network. The method further includes selecting the profile for the alternate content stream from the manifest, and receiving the alternate content stream from the second network in accordance with the selecting. Other embodiments are disclosed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
initiating, by a processing system including a processor, a connection to a first content delivery network, wherein the first content delivery network comprises an adaptive bit rate (ABR) content delivery network delivering content as a plurality of ABR data streams at different bit rates, wherein a manifest associated with the ABR content delivery network includes a profile of each of the plurality of ABR data streams including the bit rate associated therewith;
requesting, by the processing system, delivery of content at a first bit rate;
downloading, by the processing system, the content at a download speed;
responsive to determining that the download speed is greater than the first bit rate, querying, by the processing system, the manifest for a second bit rate greater than the first bit rate; and
in accordance with a determination by the ABR content delivery network that the second bit rate is not available:
receiving, by the processing system, a first recommendation from the ABR content delivery network to obtain additional content via an alternate content stream, wherein the manifest is modified to generate a modified manifest including a profile for the alternate content stream, the processing system thereby enabled to obtain the additional content via the alternate content stream, the alternate content stream being delivered by a second content delivery network, wherein the second content delivery network delivers the alternate content stream at a fixed bit rate greater than a maximum bit rate of the plurality of ABR data streams;
selecting, by the processing system, the profile for the alternate content stream from the modified manifest; and
receiving, by the processing system, the alternate content stream from the second content delivery network in accordance with the selecting.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising selecting, by the processing system, an ABR data stream from the plurality of ABR data streams.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ABR data streams have a first encoding and the alternate content stream has a second encoding different from the first encoding.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the selected ABR data stream comprises segments each having a beginning point and an endpoint, and wherein the alternate content stream comprises identification points corresponding to the beginning point and the endpoint respectively of each of the segments.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the processing system comprises a client device communicating with the ABR content delivery network and accessing the manifest.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the first recommendation is included in the manifest.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, by the processing system, a second recommendation from the second content delivery network to obtain further additional content from the ABR content delivery network.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the second recommendation is received in accordance with detection of a degradation in quality of the received alternate content stream.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the degradation in quality comprises a packet loss in the received alternate content stream.

10. A device, comprising:
a processing system including a processor; and
a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations comprising:
initiating a connection to a first content delivery network, wherein the first content delivery network comprises an adaptive bit rate (ABR) content delivery network delivering content as a plurality of ABR data streams at different bit rates, wherein a manifest associated with the ABR content delivery network includes a profile of each of the plurality of ABR data streams including the bit rate associated therewith;
requesting delivery of content at a first bit rate;
downloading the content at a download speed;
responsive to determining that the download speed is greater than the first bit rate, querying the manifest for a second bit rate greater than the first bit rate; and
in accordance with a determination by the ABR content delivery network that the second bit rate is not available:
receiving a first recommendation from the ABR content delivery network to obtain additional content via an alternate content stream, wherein the manifest is modified to generate a modified manifest including a profile for the alternate content stream, the processing system thereby enabled to obtain the additional content via the alternate content stream, the alternate content stream being delivered by a second content delivery network, wherein the second content delivery network delivers the alternate content stream at a fixed bit rate greater than a maximum bit rate of the plurality of ABR data streams, and wherein the ABR data streams have a first encoding and the alternate content stream has a second encoding different from the first encoding;
selecting the profile for the alternate content stream from the modified manifest; and
receiving the alternate content stream from the second content delivery network in accordance with the selecting.

11. The device of claim 10 , wherein the operations further comprise selecting an ABR data stream from the plurality of ABR data streams.

12. The device of claim 10 , wherein the processing system comprises a client device communicating with the ABR content delivery network and accessing the manifest.

13. The device of claim 12 , wherein the first recommendation is included in the manifest.

14. The device of claim 10 , wherein the operations further comprise:
receiving a second recommendation from the second content delivery network to obtain further additional content from the ABR content delivery network.

15. The device of claim 14 , wherein the second recommendation is received in accordance with detection of a degradation in quality of the received alternate content stream.

16. A machine-readable storage medium comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor, facilitate performance of operations comprising:
initiating a connection to a first content delivery network, wherein the first content delivery network comprises an adaptive bit rate (ABR) content delivery network delivering content as a plurality of ABR data streams at different bit rates, wherein a manifest associated with the ABR content delivery network includes a profile of each of the plurality of ABR data streams including the bit rate associated therewith;
requesting delivery of content at a first bit rate;
downloading the content at a download speed;
responsive to determining that the download speed is greater than the first bit rate, querying the manifest for a second bit rate greater than the first bit rate; and
in accordance with a determination by the ABR content delivery network that the second bit rate is not available;
receiving a first recommendation from the ABR content delivery network to obtain additional content via an alternate content stream, wherein the manifest is modified to generate a modified manifest including a profile for the alternate content stream, the processing system thereby enabled to obtain the additional content via the alternate content stream, the alternate content stream being delivered by a second content delivery network, wherein the second content delivery network delivers the alternate content stream at a fixed bit rate greater than a maximum bit rate of the plurality of ABR data streams;
selecting th

Assignees

• At & T Ip I Lp

Inventors

• Kaufman Darren
• Nicas Nicholas
• Coppa Frank

Classifications

• H04L65/602

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L65/4092 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L65/4084

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L65/613 Primary

  for the control of the source by the destination (control signals issued by the client directed to the server or network components specially adapted for selective content distribution H04N21/637) · CPC title

• H04L65/612 Primary

  for unicast · CPC title