Excess bitrate distribution based on quality gain in SABR server

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11729109-B2
Application number	US-202217882385-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 5, 2022
Priority date	Mar 8, 2017
Publication date	Aug 15, 2023
Grant date	Aug 15, 2023

Abstract

A method provides for delivering video content from a server to a plurality of media devices is disclosed that distributes accurately excess bandwidth. The method includes: determining, by the server, the bandwidth to allocate to each of the plurality of media devices using a hypertext transfer protocol-based live streaming client model or a need parameter vector and/or measured bandwidth limitations associated with each of the plurality of media devices and providing the allocated bandwidth to each of the plurality of media devices, wherein the video content is transmitted in a plurality of segments from the server, and wherein each segment is transmitted at a bitrate that may vary from segment to segment.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A method comprising:
measuring a bandwidth constraint associated with users' home network devices;
determining, by a server, bandwidth to allocate to each of a plurality of media devices configured to provide video content using a HyperText Transfer Protocol-based live streaming client model (“HCM”) and a bitrate based on said measured bandwidth constraint associated with said users' home network devices, and based at least in part on a corresponding need parameter vector (“NPV”), the allocated bandwidth determined based on measured rates at which video luma Peak Signal to noise Ratio (PSNR) changes as a function of video bitrate for content delivered to each respective active media device, and the NPV varied by a scalar quality value for each of the plurality of media devices; and
providing the determined bandwidth to allocate to each of the plurality of media devices; wherein the video content is transmitted in a plurality of segments from the server; and
wherein each segment is transmitted using a variable bitrate from segment to segment.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the server constructs a state-based HCM for each of the plurality of media devices.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the HCM provides if a media device is in a buffering state or playback state.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the HCM provides an estimate of a fullness of a media-device buffer.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein the determined bandwidth to allocate to each of the plurality of media devices prevents a media device from buffering content already received from the server.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the server or a proxy constructs a NPV for each of the plurality of media devices.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the NPV is based on one or more of the following: video complexity, device profile, service priority level, and codec profile.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the video complexity is derived from video content as an estimation of complexity of the video content.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein the NPV is computed based on a complexity of video content for each segment.

10. The method of claim 6 wherein the NPV has a linear relationship with the bitrate for a given segment.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
transmitting the video content from the server to one or more media devices at a bit rate that is within the confines of the determined bandwidth to allocate for each media device.

12. A method for providing video content using a HyperText Transfer Protocol-based live streaming client model (“HCM”), the method comprising:
determining a bandwidth to allocate to a plurality of media devices using the HCM;
determining bandwidth constraints associated with each of said plurality of media devices;
determining a number of active media devices associated with the plurality of media devices to allocate the determined bandwidth;
determining a need parameter vector (“NPV”) for each of the active media devices, the NPV bandwidth determined based on measured rates at which video luma Peak Signal to noise Ratio (PSNR) changes as a function of video bitrate for content delivered to each respective active media device; and
assigning a fraction of the bandwidth to each of the active media devices based, at least in part, on said bandwidth constraints associated with each of said plurality of media devices and on the NPV varied by a scalar quality value for each of the active media devices.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the NPV is based or one or more of the following: video complexity, device profile, service priority level, and codec profile.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein video complexity is derived from video content as an estimation of a complexity of the video content.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein the NPV is computed based on a complexity of video content for each segment.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein the NPV is based on device profile.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the device profile indicates that an active device is undergoing a transition period requiring a modification to the bandwidth assigned to the active device.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the transition period is one or more of the following: a channel change, a pause or resume, a seek, a complete, and a join.

19. The method of claim 12 further comprising:
determining an adjustment factor for assigning the fraction of the total bandwidth to each active media device.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the adjustment factor is based on or more of the following:
the NPV for an active media device is over budget, the NPV for an active media device is under budget, an active media device completes playback, and a bottleneck occurs at the active media device.

Assignees

• Arris Entpr Llc

Inventors

• Moorthy Praveen N
• Schmidt Mark S
• Li baozhou
• Luthra Ajay

Classifications

• H04L47/70 Primary

  Admission control; Resource allocation · CPC title

• H04L65/752 Primary

  adapting media to network capabilities · CPC title

• H04L65/61

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

• H04L65/80

  Responding to QoS · CPC title

• H04L67/02

  based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP] · CPC title