Method and apparatus for streaming video applications in cellular networks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10819760-B2
Application number	US-201816148288-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 1, 2018
Priority date	Oct 1, 2018
Publication date	Oct 27, 2020
Grant date	Oct 27, 2020

Abstract

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, allocating, by a processing system including a processor, a first subset of resources to a first plurality of applications and a second subset of the resources to a second plurality of applications, wherein the allocating is based on respective statuses associated with the first plurality of applications and the second plurality of applications, and assigning, by the processing system, a respective bitrate to each application of the first plurality of applications, wherein the assigning of the respective bitrate to each application of the first plurality of applications is based on: a first threshold associated with a re-buffering of content, and a second threshold associated with the statuses. Other embodiments are disclosed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. 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, the operations comprising:
assigning a first status to a first plurality of applications and assigning a second status to a second plurality of applications, wherein the second status is different from the first status;
allocating, based on the first status, a first plurality of resources to the first plurality of applications;
receiving a request for an application included in the second plurality of applications to be reassigned with a status corresponding to the first status;
responsive to receiving the request, determining whether there is capacity in the first plurality of resources that is above a threshold; and
based on determining that there is capacity in the first plurality of resources that is above the threshold, reassigning the application with the status corresponding to the first status, resulting in an updated first plurality of applications that comprises the first plurality of applications and the application,
wherein the allocating of the first plurality of resources to the first plurality of applications comprises allocating at least one physical resource block to each application of the first plurality of applications based on:
a ratio of an achievable rate by the application of the first plurality of applications when using the at least one physical resource block,
an average data rate associated with the application of the first plurality of applications over a time interval in the past, and
a weight parameter.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
selecting a bitrate for each application included in the updated first plurality of applications.

3. The device of claim 2 , wherein the operations further comprise:
maintaining a throughput of respective flows associated with each application of the updated first plurality of applications based on the bitrate for each application included in the updated first plurality of applications,
wherein the selecting comprises selecting the bitrate for each application included in the updated first plurality of applications in accordance with a non-guaranteed bit rate traffic class.

4. The device of claim 2 , wherein the selecting is based on a re-buffering ratio associated with each application included in the updated first plurality of applications.

5. The device of claim 1 , wherein the first plurality of applications comprises a streaming video application that provides panoramic content.

6. The device of claim 1 , wherein the weight parameter is based on:
a first count of the first plurality of resources and a second count of a second plurality of resources allocated to the second plurality of applications, wherein the second plurality of resources are allocated to the second plurality of applications based on the second status.

7. A non-transitory machine-readable medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:
assigning a first bitrate to an application included in a plurality of applications, wherein the first bitrate is associated with a transmission of data in a network;
detecting a change in a channel condition of the network;
responsive to the detecting of the change in the channel condition, determining whether the first bitrate is greater than or equal to a first threshold, wherein the first threshold is associated with a re-buffering of a playback of the data at a user device;
responsive to determining that the first bitrate is greater than or equal to the first threshold, reassigning the application with a second bitrate that is less than the first bitrate;
determining a number of physical resource blocks to assign to the application to obtain a throughput for the application that is greater than or equal to a second threshold;
determining a weight parameter to obtain the number of physical resource blocks for the application; and
assigning the weight parameter to the application.

8. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the operations further comprise:
responsive to determining that the first bitrate is not greater than or equal to the first threshold, determining whether a third bitrate assigned to a second application included in the plurality of applications is greater than or equal to a second threshold; and
responsive to determining that the third bitrate assigned to the second application is greater than or equal to the second threshold, reassigning the second application with a fourth bitrate that is less than the third bitrate.

9. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the operations further comprise:
responsive to determining that the first bitrate is not greater than or equal to the first threshold, determining whether the first bitrate is greater than or equal to a second threshold, wherein the second threshold is associated with a status of each application included in the plurality of applications; and
responsive to determining that the first bitrate is greater than or equal to the second threshold, reassigning the application with a third bitrate that is less than the second bitrate.

10. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the operations further comprise:
responsive to determining that the first bitrate is not greater than or equal to the second threshold, determining whether a fourth bitrate assigned to a second application included in the plurality of applications is greater than or equal to the second threshold; and
responsive to determining that the fourth bitrate assigned to the second application is greater than or equal to the second threshold, reassigning the second application with a fifth bitrate that is less than the fourth bitrate.

11. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the operations further comprise:
responsive to determining that the first bitrate is not greater than or equal to the second threshold, reassigning the application with a second status that is different from the status,
wherein the reassigning of the application with the second status comprises reassigning the application with a fourth bitrate that is less than the third bitrate.

12. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the detecting of the change in the channel condition comprises detecting an increase in data traffic of a communication channel of the network.

13. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the determining of the number of physical resource blocks to assign to the application is based on a ratio of the second threshold and a modulation and coding scheme index, wherein the modulation and coding scheme index is based on a historical allocation of physical resource blocks to the application.

14. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the determining of the weight parameter is based on:
a total number of physical resource blocks supported by the network for the plurality of applications,
a total number of applications that are included in the plurality of applications, and
an identification of at least one application included in the plurality of applications that is non-backlogged such that the at least one application utilizes less than its respective fair share of the total number of physical resource blocks based on a status that is assigned to the at least one ap

Assignees

• At & T Ip I Lp
• Univ Southern California
• Univ South Carolina

Inventors

• Wang Jia
• Shankaranarayanan Nemmara
• Mahimkar Ajay
• Xu Xing
• Govindan Ramesh

Classifications

• G06Q10/40 Primary

  Business processes related to social networking or social networking services · CPC title

• H04L65/752

  adapting media to network capabilities · CPC title

• H04L65/61 Primary

  for supporting one-way streaming services, e.g. Internet radio · CPC title

• H04L65/613

  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

• H04L65/764

  at the destination  (reformatting of additional data in video clients H04N21/4355) · CPC title