Communication entity and a method for transmitting a video data stream

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11627358-B2
Application number	US-202117492264-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 1, 2021
Priority date	Apr 12, 2019
Publication date	Apr 11, 2023
Grant date	Apr 11, 2023

Abstract

A communication entity for transmitting a video data stream at a target transmission bit rate and corresponding method are provided. The communication entity comprises: a first scheduling instance configured to determine a preliminary transmission bit rate for forwarding the video data stream towards the user equipment; and a second scheduling instance configured to determine the target transmission bit rate based on the preliminary transmission bit rate and a set of video bit rates, the set of video bit rates comprising a first video bit rate associated with a first video quality and a second video bit rate associated with a second video quality, the first video bit rate being smaller than the second video bit rate, wherein the second scheduling instance is configured to select the preliminary transmission bit rate as the target transmission bit rate if the preliminary transmission bit rate does not exceed the first video bit rate.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A communication entity for transmitting a video data stream towards a user equipment over a communication network at a target transmission bit rate, the communication entity comprising:
a memory storing instructions; and
a processor coupled to the memory to execute the instructions to:
determine a preliminary transmission bit rate for forwarding the video data stream towards the user equipment;
determine the target transmission bit rate based on the preliminary transmission bit rate and a set of video bit rates, wherein the set of video bit rates comprises a first video bit rate and a second video bit rate, the first video bit rate is associated with a first video quality, the second video bit rate is associated with a second video quality, the first video bit rate is smaller than the second video bit rate, and
select the preliminary transmission bit rate as the target transmission bit rate in response to the preliminary transmission bit rate not exceeding the first video bit rate;
determine a further preliminary transmission bit rate for forwarding a further video data stream towards a further user equipment; and
determine a further target transmission bit rate based on the further preliminary transmission bit rate and the set of video bit rates; select the further preliminary transmission bit rate as the further target transmission bit rate in response to the further preliminary transmission bit rate not exceeding the first video bit rate; or
determine the further target transmission bit rate based on the further preliminary transmission bit rate and a further set of video bit rates, wherein the further set of video bit rates comprises a third video bit rate and a fourth video bit rate, the third video bit rate is associated with a third video quality, the fourth video bit rate is associated with a fourth video quality, the third video bit rate is smaller than the fourth video bit rate; and select the further preliminary transmission bit rate as the further target transmission bit rate in response to the further preliminary transmission bit rate not exceeding the third video bit rate.

2. The communication entity according to claim 1 , wherein the processor further executes the instructions to:
compare the preliminary transmission bit rate to the second video bit rate in response to the preliminary transmission bit rate exceeding the first video bit rate, and
select the second video bit rate as the target transmission bit rate in response to the second video bit rate not exceed the preliminary transmission bit rate; or select the first video bit rate as the target transmission bit rate in response to the second video bit rate exceeding the preliminary transmission bit rate.

3. The communication entity according to claim 1 , wherein the set of video bit rates comprises a plurality of video bit rates associated with a plurality of video qualities, and wherein the processor further executes the instructions to:
determine a maximum video bit rate among those video bit rates from the plurality of video bit rates that are smaller than the preliminary transmission bit rate, or determine a lowest video bit rate from the plurality of video bit rates that is smaller than the preliminary transmission bit rate, and
select the respectively determined video bit rate as the target transmission bit rate.

4. The communication entity according to claim 1 , wherein the processor further executes the instructions to:
schedule first radio resources of the communication entity for transmission of the video data stream towards the user equipment, and schedule second radio resources of the communication entity for other data communications.

5. The communication entity according to claim 1 , wherein the processor further executes the instructions to:
receive the preliminary transmission bit rate from the first scheduling instance and schedule radio resources of the communication entity for communication of the video data stream towards the user equipment at the target transmission bit rate; and
provide information indicating the scheduled radio resources for communication of the video data stream towards the user equipment at the target transmission bit rate.

6. The communication entity according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a reception interface configured to cooperate with the processor to receive, over Internet, the video data stream according to the HTTP adaptive streaming technology.

7. The communication entity according to claim 1 , wherein the communication entity comprises:
a data base configured to store the set of video bit rates, or
wherein the processor executes the instructions to: retrieve the set of video data rates from a remote data base over the communication network or over another communication link.

8. The communication entity according to claim 1 , wherein the processor executes the instructions to:
determine an average transmission bit rate averaging a plurality of transmission bit rates for different video data streams within a time slot, and determine the preliminary transmission bit rate as the average transmission bit rate.

9. The communication entity according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a transmission interface configured to cooperate with the processor to transmit the video data stream towards the user equipment at the target transmission bit rate.

10. The communication entity according to claim 9 , wherein the transmission interface is configured to transmit the video data stream towards the user equipment over a radio communication network.

11. The communication entity according to claim 1 , wherein the communication entity is a base station or an evolved Node B (eNodeB).

12. The communication entity according to claim 1 , wherein the processor executes the instructions to:
determine a best user equipment i c *(t) from a plurality of user equipments for allocation of radio resource c of the communication entity at a time slot t by the following:

for
⁢

c

∈

K
⁢

i
c
*

(
t
)

=

{

arg
⁢

max
i

(

r
i

¯

(
t
)

-

γ
i

(
t

Assignees

• Huawei Tech Co Ltd
• Univ D'Avignon Et Des Pays De Vaucluse
• Institut National De Rech En Informatique Et En Automatique

Inventors

• Tsilimantos Dimitrios
• El-Azouzi Rachid
• Sunny Albert

Classifications

• H04L65/612

  for unicast · CPC title

• 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

• H04L65/80 Primary

  Responding to QoS · CPC title

• H04N21/2385

  Channel allocation (H04N21/266 takes precedence); Bandwidth allocation (H04N21/24 takes precedence {; allocation of channels according to the instantaneous demands of the users in time-division multiplex systems H04J3/1682; admission control, resource allocation in open networks H04L12/5692; arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896; negotiating bandwidth in wireless networks H04W28/16}) · CPC title