Real-time video delivery for connected home applications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10999345-B2
Application number	US-201514886410-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 19, 2015
Priority date	Oct 19, 2015
Publication date	May 4, 2021
Grant date	May 4, 2021

Abstract

Concepts and technologies disclosed herein are directed to real-time video delivery for connected home (“CH”) applications. According to one aspect of the concepts and technologies, a CH controller (“CHC”) can receive a request for delivery of a video stream captured by a CH video camera to a user device. The CHC can determine availability of a wireline communications link to a wireline network and availability of a wireless communications link to a wireless network over which to deliver the video stream to the user device. In response to determining that the wireline communications link and the wireless communications link are available, the CHC can obtain a wireline performance measurement for the wireline communications link, obtain a wireless performance measurement for the wireline communications link, compare the wireline performance measurement and the wireless performance measurement, and select either the wireline communications link or the wireless communications link based upon the comparison.

First claim

We claim:

1. A connected home controller comprising:
a wireless network interface that connects the connected home controller to a wireless network;
a wired network interface that connects the connected home controller to a wireline network;
a connected home device connection interface that connects the connected home controller to a connected home video camera;
a processor; and
a memory having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising
receiving a request for delivery, to a user device, of a video stream captured by the connected home video camera,
determining availability of a wireline communications link to the wireline network over which to deliver the video stream to the user device,
determining availability of a wireless communications link to the wireless network over which to deliver the video stream to the user device, and
in response to determining that the wireline communications link and the wireless communications link are available,
obtaining a wireline performance measurement for the wireline communications link,
obtaining a wireless performance measurement for the wireline communications link,
comparing the wireline performance measurement and the wireless performance measurement, and
selecting one of the wireline communications link to the wireline network or the wireless communications link to the wireless network for delivery of the video stream based upon the comparing,
wherein a network element of the wireline network and a network element of the wireless network are controlled by a software-defined networking controller,
wherein the software-defined networking controller controls operation of the network element of the wireline network based upon a first quality of service policy to determine handling of delivery of the video stream using Transfer Control Protocol (“TCP”) by the network element of the wireline network if the video stream is received, via the wireline communications link, by the network element of the wireline network and controls operation of the network element of the wireless network based upon a second quality of service policy to determine handling of delivery of the video stream using TCP by the network element of the wireless network if the video stream is received, via the wireless communications link, by the network element of the wireless network,

wherein the first quality of service policy dictates a first retransmission treatment of the video stream utilizing TCP retransmission in association with the video stream based on the video stream being delivered by the wireline network, and
wherein the second quality of service policy dictates a second retransmission treatment of the video stream dropping TCP retransmission in association with the video stream based on the video stream being delivered by the wireless network and in response to determining, based at least in part on a video delivery quality of service tag, that the video stream is associated with a real-time streaming protocol using TCP instead of a buffered streaming protocol.

2. The connected home controller of claim 1 , wherein determining availability of the wireline communications link to the wireline network over which to deliver the video stream to the user device and determining availability of the wireless communications link to the wireless network over which to deliver the video stream to the user device are performed in response to receiving the request for delivery of the video stream to the user device.

3. The connected home controller of claim 1 , wherein receiving the request for delivery of the video stream to the user device is in response to an event detected by a connected home sensor device under control of the connected home controller via the connected home device connection interface.

4. The connected home controller of claim 1 , wherein receiving the request for delivery of the video stream to the user device comprises receiving the request from a connected home application executing on the user device.

5. The connected home controller of claim 1 , wherein determining availability of the wireline communications link to the wireline network over which to deliver the video stream to the user device and determining availability of the wireless communications link to the wireless network over which to deliver the video stream to the user device are performed periodically.

6. The connected home controller of claim 1 , wherein the wireline performance measurement comprises a wireline speed, a wireline bandwidth, a wireline throughput, or a wireline latency; and wherein the wireless performance measurement comprises a wireless speed, a wireless bandwidth, a wireless throughput, or a wireless latency.

7. The connected home controller of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
receiving the video stream from the connected home video camera; and
delivering the video stream to the wireline communications link or the wireless communications link based upon the selecting.

8. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor of a connected home controller, causes the connected home controller to perform operations comprising:
receiving a request for delivery, to a user device, of a video stream captured by a connected home video camera;
determining availability of a wireline communications link to a wireline network over which to deliver the video stream to the user device;
determining availability of a wireless communications link to a wireless network over which to deliver the video stream to the user device; and
in response to determining that the wireline communications link and the wireless communications link are available,
obtaining a wireline performance measurement for the wireline communications link,
obtaining a wireless performance measurement for the wireline communications link,
comparing the wireline performance measurement and the wireless performance measurement, and
selecting one of the wireline communications link to the wireline network or the wireless communications link to the wireless network for delivery of the video stream based upon the comparing,
wherein a network element of the wireline network and a network element of the wireless network are controlled by a software-defined networking controller,
wherein the software-defined networking controller controls operation of the network element of the wireline network based upon a first quality of service policy to determine handling of delivery of the video stream using Transfer Control Protocol (“TCP”) by the network element of the wireline network if the video stream is received, via the wireline communications link, by the network element of the wireline network and controls operation of the network element of the wireless network based upon a second quality of service policy to determine handling of delivery of the video stream using TCP by the network element of the wireless network if the video stream is received, via the wireless communications link, by the network element of the wireless network,
wherein the first quality of service policy dictates a first retransmission treatment of the video stream utilizing TCP retransmission in association with the video stream based on the video stream being delivered by the wireline network, and
wherein the second quality of service policy dictates a second retransmission treatment of the video stream dropping TCP retransmission in association with the video stream based on the video stream being delivered by the wireless network and in response to determining, based at least in part on a video delivery quality

Assignees

• At & T Ip I Lp
• At & T Mobility Ii Llc

Inventors

• Cui Zhi
• Wu Jing
• Lee Bo

Classifications

• H04L41/344

  Out-of-band transfers · CPC title

• H04N21/43632 Primary

  involving a wired protocol, e.g. IEEE 1394 (high-speed IEEE 1394 serial bus H04L12/40052) · CPC title

• H04L65/65 Primary

  Network streaming protocols, e.g. real-time transport protocol [RTP] or real-time control protocol [RTCP] · CPC title

• H04L41/0668

  by dynamic selection of recovery network elements, e.g. replacement by the most appropriate element after failure · CPC title

• H04N21/44227

  Monitoring of local network, e.g. connection or bandwidth variations; Detecting new devices in the local network (configuring of peripheral devices in general G06F9/4411; monitoring connectivity in data switched networks H04L43/0811) · CPC title