Method, system and apparatus for the transmission and adaption of data

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10652297-B2
Application number	US-201916261908-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 30, 2019
Priority date	Apr 25, 2014
Publication date	May 12, 2020
Grant date	May 12, 2020

Abstract

A method for the transmission and adaption of data can include the steps of generating generic requirement documents, identifying a plurality of suitable communication patterns on the basis of the generic requirement documents, determining currently available transport options and their service quality across at least one communication network, and selecting a communication pattern from a plurality of suitable communication patterns based on the network transmission qualities of the at least one communication network. The method can utilize a first functional layer and a second functional layer that are integrated between a software application layer and a network access layer that each receive input documents that are independent of each other. The input documents of the second functional layer can contain transport-related information while the input documents of the first functional layer can contain application-related information. Systems and devices can be configured to facilitate use of embodiments of the method.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A communication apparatus comprising:
a computer device having non-transitory computer readable medium connected to at least one processor, the computer device being configured to distribute data from the computer device to a terminal device;
the computer device having:
a first functional layer of a network tolerant layer that is integrated between a software application layer and a network access layer to determine requirements for data of an application running on the terminal device requesting the data from the computer device; and
a second functional layer of the network tolerant layer to obtain information regarding network connectivity between the terminal device and the computer device, the second functional layer configured to provide network description information for networks about which at least one communication link to the terminal device is formable to transport the data from the computer device to the terminal device;

the computer device being configured to match requirements of the application with network connectivity information of the network description information to select at least one first network about which to transmit the data to the terminal device;
the computer device configured to select at least one access point of the at least one first network selected for the transport of the data from the computer device to the terminal device via the second functional layer so that the data is transmittable in a first communication phase about at least one first communication link to be established between the computer device and the terminal device via the selected at least one first network.

2. The communication apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the computer device is a server, a terminal, a mobile terminal, or a conferencing device.

3. The communication apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the first functional layer is configured to identify and separate different layers and descriptions by examination of an encoded data stream; and
the second functional layer is configured to dynamically adapt a number of transmitted layers based on available network access points and total available bandwidth.

4. The communication apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the computer device is configured to:
assign a generic application program interface (API) to the first functional layer, and
transport capability options and requirements regarding transport capability via a set of adaptive binding artifacts to the first functional layer, and
assign multiple network accesses to the second functional layer; and

wherein the second functional layer is configured to communicate current transport capabilities via existing network access points of the multiple networks to which the second functional layer is assigned when a connection is established or altered.

5. The communication apparatus of claim 4 wherein:
the second functional layer is configured to generate a set of transport network capabilities documents based on available network connectivity and measured quality of service for at least one network.

6. The communication apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the computer device is configured to:
split a data stream via the first and second functional layers such that the split data stream is combinable and synchronizable at the terminal device to which that split data stream is sent.

7. The communication apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the data stream is a video data stream.

8. The communication apparatus of claim 6 , comprising: the terminal device, the terminal device configured to combine and synchronize the split data stream, the data stream comprising at least one of video data and audio data.

9. The communication apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the computer device is configured to:
detect a change in a communication pattern that exceeds a threshold;
reevaluate the selected at least one first network in response to the detected change;
receive results of the reevaluating of the selected at least one first network by the first functional layer and the second functional layer, and
wherein the second functional layer is configured to select access points and configure the selected access points based on the results of the reevaluation for a second communication phase for transmission of data.

10. The communication apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the computer device is configured to:
confirm selection of the access points based on the results of the reevaluation; and
transmit usage information for distribution to the access points the second functional layer selected based on the results of the reevaluation.

11. The communication apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least two communication networks comprise a first network and a second network, the first communication network being an Ethernet network and the second network being a wireless network, a local area network, or a wireless local area network.

12. A communication system comprising:
a server computer device having a non-transitory computer readable medium connected to at least one processor, the server computer device being connectable to at least one terminal device;
the server computer device being configured to distribute data from the server computer device to the terminal device via a content aware layer and transport aware layer of a network transport layer,
the transport aware layer being configured to obtain information regarding network connectivity between the terminal device and the server computer device;
the content aware layer being configured to determine requirements of the terminal device requesting the data from the server computer device;

wherein the transport layer is configured to provide network description information for networks about which at least one communication link to the terminal device is formable to transport the data from the server computer device to the terminal device;
wherein the content aware layer is configured to determine requirements for the data of an application running on the terminal device requesting the data;
the server computer device being configured to match requirements of the application with network connectivity information of the network description information to select at least one first network about which to transmit the data to the terminal device;
wherein the transport aware layer is configured to select at least one access point of the at least one first network selected for the transport of the data from the server computer device to the terminal device about at least one first communication link to be established between the server computer device and the terminal device via the selected at least one first network.

13. The communication system of claim 12 , wherein the transport layer is configured to provide network description information to a decision manager of the server computer device for networks about which at least one communication link to the terminal device is formable to transport the data from the server computer device to the terminal device.

14. The communication system of claim 13 , comprising: the terminal device; and
wherein the content aware layer is configured to determine requirements for the data of an application running on the terminal device requesting the data;
the decision manager being configured to match requirements of the application with network connectivity information of the network description information to select at least one first network about which to transmit the data to the terminal device.

15. The communication system of claim 14 , wherein the transport aware layer is configured to select at l

Assignees

• Unify Gmbh & Co Kg

Inventors

• Totzke Jurgen
• Klug Karl
• Mueller Paul
• Fleuren Tino
• Goetze Joachim
• Steinmetz Ralf
• Papageorgiou Apostolos
• Lampe Ulrich
• Tran-Gia Phuoc
• Zitterbart Martina
• Rathgeb Erwin
• Wolisz Adam

Classifications

• H04L69/329

  in the application layer [OSI layer 7] · CPC title

• H04L65/80

  Responding to QoS · CPC title

• H04L69/326 Primary

  in the transport layer [OSI layer 4] (H04L69/16 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04L65/602 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L65/607

  Electricity · mapped topic