Demand based selection for cellular broadcast streaming media

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11425465-B2
Application number	US-202117142864-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 6, 2021
Priority date	Jul 26, 2018
Publication date	Aug 23, 2022
Grant date	Aug 23, 2022

Abstract

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, determining available media content items and identifying a first number of wireless broadcast channels of a wireless network having a limited channel capacity and adapted to broadcast media content items within a coverage area. A demand for a group of media content items is identified, and media content items are selected according to the demand, wherein broadcasting of the selected media content items within the coverage area does not exceed the limited channel capacity. The selected media content items are assigned to a group of broadcast channels of the first number of wireless broadcast channels to obtain a broadcast channel assignment for the coverage area. The wireless network is configured to broadcast the selected media content items within the coverage area via wireless broadcast channels according to the broadcast channel assignment. 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:
detecting mobility of a plurality of subscriber equipment devices with respect to a coverage area within which a mobile cellular network is adapted to broadcast streaming media, the detecting resulting in detected mobility;
soliciting, responsive to the detected mobility, a plurality of votes, the plurality of votes comprising a respective vote from each of the plurality of subscriber equipment devices, each vote including a respective rank ordering of a plurality of available streaming media programs, and each respective rank ordering together forming a plurality of rank orderings;
determining a consumer demand for a group of streaming media programs of the plurality of available streaming media programs according to the rank orderings of the plurality of votes;
selecting streaming media programs of the group of streaming media programs to obtain selected streaming media programs according to the consumer demand, wherein a broadcasting of the selected streaming media programs within the coverage area does not exceed a limited channel capacity of a number of wireless broadcast channels of the mobile cellular network; and
assigning the selected streaming media programs to a group of broadcast channels of the number of wireless broadcast channels to obtain a broadcast channel assignment for the coverage area, wherein the mobile cellular network is configured to broadcast the selected streaming media programs within the coverage area via wireless broadcast channels of the number of wireless broadcast channels according to the broadcast channel assignment.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the soliciting the plurality of votes comprises:
implementing a voting event;
obtaining voting results responsive to the implementing the voting event; and
analyzing the voting results, resulting in analyzed results, wherein the determining the consumer demand is based on the analyzed results.

3. The device of claim 2 , wherein the analyzing the voting results comprises:
ranking the group of streaming media programs to obtain a ranked order of the group of streaming media programs based on the voting results, wherein the selecting the streaming media programs of the group of streaming media programs is further based on the ranked order of the group of streaming media programs.

4. The device of claim 3 , wherein the broadcast channel assignment is further based on the ranked order of the group of streaming media programs.

5. The device of claim 1 , wherein broadcasting of the selected streaming media programs according to the broadcast channel assignment distributes the selected streaming media programs to a plurality of mobile consumer devices within the coverage area.

6. The device of claim 5 , wherein the broadcasting of a particular selected streaming media program of the selected streaming media programs according to the broadcast channel assignment comprises an IP multicast of the particular selected streaming media program.

7. The device of claim 1 , wherein the soliciting the plurality of votes comprises a wide cast vote applied to multiple cells of the mobile cellular network or multiple sectors of the mobile cellular network.

8. The device of claim 1 , wherein the detecting the mobility of the plurality of subscriber equipment devices with respect to the coverage area comprises detecting the plurality of subscriber equipment devices entering the coverage area or exiting the coverage area.

9. The device of claim 1 , wherein the determining the consumer demand comprises determining a current demand based on current media content consumption of streaming media programs of the plurality of available streaming media programs.

10. The device of claim 1 , wherein the determining the consumer demand comprises determining a trend according to media content consumption of the plurality of available streaming media programs.

11. A method, comprising:
identifying, by a processing system including a processor, mobility of a plurality of subscriber equipment devices with respect to a coverage area within which a mobile network is adapted to broadcast streaming media items, the identifying resulting in identified mobility;
requesting, by the processing system and responsive to the identified mobility, a plurality of votes, the plurality of votes comprising a respective vote from each of the plurality of subscriber equipment devices, each vote of the plurality of votes including a respective rank ordering of a plurality of available streaming media items, each respective rank ordering together forming a plurality of rank orderings;
determining, by the processing system, a user demand for a group of streaming media items of the plurality of available streaming media items according to the plurality of rank orderings;
selecting, by the processing system, streaming media items of the group of streaming media items to obtain selected streaming media items according to the user demand, wherein a broadcasting of the selected streaming media items within the coverage area does not exceed a limited channel capacity of a number of wireless broadcast channels of the mobile network; and
assigning, by the processing system, the selected streaming media items to a group of broadcast channels of the number of wireless broadcast channels to obtain a broadcast channel assignment for the coverage area, wherein the mobile network is configured to broadcast the selected streaming media items within the coverage area via wireless broadcast channels of the number of wireless broadcast channels according to the broadcast channel assignment.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the requesting the plurality of votes comprises:
initiating, by the processing system, a voting event;
obtaining, by the processing system, voting results responsive to the initiating the voting event; and
analyzing, by the processing system, the voting results, wherein the user demand is based on the voting results.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the analyzing the voting results comprises:
ranking the group of streaming media items to obtain a ranked order of the group of streaming media items based on the voting results, wherein the selecting the streaming media items of the group of streaming media items is further based on the ranked order of the group of streaming media items.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the broadcast channel assignment is based on the ranked order of the group of streaming media items.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the broadcast of the selected streaming media items within the coverage area via the wireless broadcast channels of the number of wireless broadcast channels according to the broadcast channel assignment distributes the selected streaming media items to a plurality of mobile consumer devices within the coverage area.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein the identifying the mobility of the plurality of subscriber equipment devices with respect to the coverage area comprises detecting the plurality of subscriber equipment devices entering the coverage area or exiting the coverage area.

17. 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:
detecting mobility of a plurality of subscribe

Assignees

• At & T Ip I Lp

Inventors

• Kaufman Darren
• Coppa Frank
• Heck Christopher

Classifications

• H04N21/4758 Primary

  for providing answers, e.g. voting · CPC title

• H04N21/252 Primary

  Processing of multiple end-users' preferences to derive collaborative data · CPC title

• H04L65/80

  Responding to QoS · CPC title

• H04N21/6405

  Multicasting {(data broadcast and multicast in packet switching networks H04L12/18)} · CPC title

• H04N21/6131

  involving transmission via a mobile phone network (wireless downlink channel access H04W74/006) · CPC title