ABR video white spot coverage system and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11025694-B2
Application number	US-201715706448-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 15, 2017
Priority date	Mar 7, 2014
Publication date	Jun 1, 2021
Grant date	Jun 1, 2021

Abstract

A scheme for managing ABR streaming of content in a wireless radio network environment that may have radio white spot areas. Upon determining that the wireless UE device executing an ABR client application is in a radio white spot area, the current ABR streaming session may be suspended at a particular segment. Thereafter, playback of other content locally cached at the wireless UE device may be commenced in lieu of the ABR media segments. When the wireless UE device exits the radio white spot area, the ABR streaming session may be resumed from a point adjacent to the particular segment where the ABR streaming session was suspended.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An adaptive bitrate (ABR) stream delivery server for facilitating ABR streaming sessions in a wireless radio network environment, comprising:
one or more processors;
an outage area request module operating under control of the one or more processors and configured to request anticipated video outage areas with respect to a wireless user equipment (UE) device disposed in the wireless radio network environment, the anticipated video outage areas determined responsive to issuing a query to a geo-location database having a plurality of outage locations learned from monitoring minimum bitrate conditions required for streaming adaptive bitrate media content in the wireless radio network environment, the query including the wireless UE device's current location, speed and an estimated direction of travel in the wireless radio network environment;
an advertisement request module operating under control of the one or more processors for obtaining advertisement content from an advertisement server; and
a delivery module operating under control of the one or more processors and configured to:
effectuate delivery of ABR media segments of a media program encoded at different bitrates as multiple bitrate representations to the wireless UE device in an ABR streaming session when the wireless UE device is not in a video outage area, the ABR media segments having particular bitrate representations requested by the wireless UE device based on a manifest file identifying a plurality of bitrates used in encoding the media program into the multiple bitrate representations;
effectuate delivery of the advertisement content to the wireless UE device for storing in a cache of the wireless UE device when the wireless UE device is not in a video outage area;
suspend the ABR streaming session with the wireless UE device in response to determining that the wireless UE device is entering a video outage area;
provide manifest files, to the wireless UE device, containing local storage file path location pointers to the advertisement content stored in the cache of the wireless UE device; and
after suspending the ABR streaming session, instruct the wireless UE device to commence playback of the advertisement content stored in the cache of the wireless UE device.

2. The ABR stream delivery server as recited in claim 1 , further including a notification module operating in conjunction with the delivery module for facilitating delivery of a video-encoded notification message to the wireless UE device, upon determining that the wireless UE device is in the video outage area, that the ABR streaming session to the wireless UE device is being suspended and one or more advertisements will be played back while the wireless UE device is in the video outage area.

3. The ABR stream delivery server as recited in claim 2 , wherein the video-encoded notification message further includes an estimation of outage time associated with the video outage area.

4. The ABR stream delivery server as recited in claim 2 , wherein the notification module is further operative for facilitating delivery of another video-encoded notification message to the wireless UE device, upon determining that the wireless UE device is exiting the video outage area, that the ABR streaming session to the wireless UE device is being resumed.

5. The ABR stream delivery server as recited in claim 1 , further including an interface for communicating with one or more base stations disposed in the wireless radio network environment.

6. The ABR stream delivery server as recited in claim 1 , wherein the advertisement content is relevant with respect to each of the anticipated video outage areas in the estimated direction of travel of the wireless UE device.

7. The ABR stream delivery server as recited in claim 1 , wherein the delivery module is further configured to deliver the advertisement content at a delivery rate based on an amount by which an overall bandwidth of the wireless UE device exceeds a highest bitrate indicated in the manifest file associated with the ABR streaming session.

8. The ABR stream delivery server as recited in claim 2 , wherein the one or more advertisements are based on demographic information of a user of the wireless UE device.

9. A method operating at an adaptive bitrate (ABR) stream delivery server for facilitating ABR streaming sessions in a wireless radio network environment, the method comprising:
determining that a wireless user equipment (UE) device disposed in the wireless radio network environment is traversing a path likely to be encountered by one or more video outage areas;
issuing a query to a geo-location database having a plurality of outage locations learned from monitoring minimum bitrate conditions required for streaming adaptive bitrate media content in the wireless radio network environment, the query including the wireless UE device's current location, speed and an estimated direction of travel in the wireless radio network environment;
determining that the wireless UE device is engaged in an ABR streaming session for requesting ABR media segments of a media program encoded at different bitrates as multiple bitrate representations, wherein a manifest file associated with the ABR streaming session identifies a plurality of bitrates used in encoding the media program into multiple bitrate representations;
obtaining advertisement content from an advertisement server;
effectuating delivery of the advertisement content to the wireless UE device for storing in a cache of the wireless UE device when the wireless UE device is not in a video outage area;
suspending the ABR streaming session with the wireless UE device in response to determining that the wireless UE device is entering a video outage area;
providing manifest files, to the wireless UE device, containing local storage file path location pointers to the advertisement content stored in the cache of the wireless UE device; and
after suspending the ABR streaming session, instructing the wireless UE device to commence playback of the advertisement content stored in the cache of the wireless UE device.

10. The method as recited in claim 9 , further comprising:
determining that the wireless UE device has entered a video outage area; and
responsive to the determining, delivering a video-encoded notification message to the wireless UE device that the ABR streaming session is being suspended and one or more advertisements will be played back while the wireless UE device is in the video outage area.

11. The method as recited in claim 10 , wherein the one or more advertisements are based on demographic information of a user of the wireless UE device.

12. The method as recited in claim 9 , wherein the advertisement content is relevant with respect to each of the anticipated video outrage areas in the estimated direction of travel of the wireless UE device.

13. The method as recited in claim 9 , wherein the advertisement content is delivered at a delivery rate based on an amount by which an overall bandwidth of the wireless UE device exceeds a highest bitrate indicated in the manifest file associated with the ABR streaming session.

14. The method as recited in claim 10 , further comprising:
determining that the wireless UE device is exiting the video outage area; and
responsive to the determining, delivering another video-encoded notification message to the wireless UE device that the ABR streaming session to the wireless UE device is being resumed.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions stored thereon which, when executed by one or more process

Assignees

• Ericsson Ab

Inventors

• Kölhi Johan
• Huber Michael
• Phillips Chris
• Kastanis Diomedes

Classifications

• H04L65/752

  adapting media to network capabilities · CPC title

• H04N21/2662 Primary

  Controlling the complexity of the video stream, e.g. by scaling the resolution or bitrate of the video stream based on the client capabilities · CPC title

• H04L67/5681

  Pre-fetching or pre-delivering data based on network characteristics · CPC title

• H04L65/762 Primary

  at the source  (reformatting of additional data in video distribution servers H04N21/2355) · CPC title

• H04L65/612

  for unicast · CPC title