System and method for optimized delivery of live abr media

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016269801-A1
Application number	US-201514657702-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 13, 2015
Priority date	Mar 13, 2015
Publication date	Sep 15, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method and device for providing live adaptive bitrate (ABR) video to a client device using a multicast-to-unicast-ABR proxy is disclosed. The method includes responsive to the client device tuning to a channel or requesting a change in profile for the channel, requesting from a distribution server a burst of video fragments for the channel using a selected profile, the burst of video fragments to be delivered via unicast; responsive to the burst being completed, requesting to join a multicast for the channel, the multicast using the selected profile; and providing video for the channel to the client device via unicast using the selected profile.

First claim

1 . A method for providing live adaptive bitrate (ABR) video to a client device using a multicast-to-unicast-ABR proxy, comprising:
responsive to the client device tuning to a channel or requesting a change in profile for the channel, requesting from a distribution server a burst of video fragments for the channel using a selected profile, the burst of video fragments to be delivered via unicast; responsive to the burst being completed, requesting to join a multicast for the channel, the multicast using the selected profile; and
providing video for the channel to the client device via unicast using the selected profile.

2 . The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising receiving the burst of video fragments from a buffer at a first rate that is higher than a rate for receiving real-time multicast.

3 . The method as recited in claim 2 wherein the first rate is greater than or equal to a value determined by a join latency to the multicast divided by a fragment duration.

4 . The method as recited in claim 3 further comprising after completion of the burst, receiving additional unicast video fragments from the distribution server buffer at a second rate that is lower than the rate for multicast.

5 . The method as recited in claim 4 further comprising responsive to the multicast join being effectuated, instructing the distribution server to stop sending video fragments.

6 . The method as recited in claim 5 wherein responsive to the client device requesting a change in profile, starting the burst of video fragments at a starting point indicated in the request for the profile change.

7 . A method of enforcing bandwidth policy on a client device that is consuming ABR video provided via a multicast-to-ABR proxy (M2AP), the method comprising:
responsive to detecting network congestion, leaving an existing multicast stream for a first profile of a channel, joining a selected multicast stream for a second profile of the channel that is selected with regard to the detected network congestion, and requesting from a distribution server a burst of video fragments for the channel using the second profile; restricting a channel profile that is delivered to the client device, the channel profile listing the first profile for received fragments that use the first profile and listing the second profile for new fragments; and after delivering received video that uses the first profile, delivering video to the client using the second profile.

8 . The method as recited in claim 7 , further comprising, responsive to the received fragments that use the first profile having expired, updating the channel manifest to remove the first profile.

9 . A multicast-to-unicast adaptive bitrate (ABR) proxy (M2AP), comprising:
an ABR manager that is configured, responsive to a client device tuning to a channel or requesting a change in profile for the channel, to request from a distribution server a first burst of video fragments for the requested channel using a first profile, the first burst of video fragments to be delivered via unicast; a multicast receiver that is configured, responsive to the first burst being completed, to request to join a first multicast for the channel, the first multicast using the first profile; and an output interface that is configured to provide video for the requested channel to the client device via unicast using the first profile.

10 . The M2AP as recited in claim 9 wherein the first burst of video fragments is received from a buffer at a first rate that is higher than a rate for receiving real-time multicast.

11 . The M2AP as recited in claim 10 wherein the first rate is greater than or equal to a value determined by a join latency to multicast divided by the fragment duration.

12 . The M2AP as recited in claim 11 wherein the ABR manager is configured, after completion of the first burst, to receive additional unicast video fragments at a second rate that is lower than the rate for real-time multicast.

13 . The M2AP as recited in claim 12 wherein the ABR manager is configured, responsive to the first multicast join being effectuated, to instruct the distribution server to stop sending video fragments.

14 . The M2AP as recited in claim 13 wherein the ABR manager is configured, responsive to the client device requesting a change in profile, to indicate a starting point for the first burst in the request for the first burst of video fragments.

15 . The M2AP as recited in claim 13 wherein responsive to detecting network congestion, the ABR manager is configured
to request from the distribution server a second burst of video fragments for the channel using a second profile that is selected with regard to the detected network congestion;
to restrict a channel profile to list the first profile only for received fragments that use the first profile and to list the second profile for new fragments;
to deliver the restricted channel profile to the client device; and
to deliver video to the client via the output interface using the second profile after received video that uses the first profile has been delivered.

16 . The M2AP as recited in claim 7 wherein the multicast receiver is further configured, responsive to delivering the received fragments that use the first profile, to restrict the channel manifest to the second profile.

Assignees

• Ericsson Telefon Ab L M

Inventors

• Harden Benjamin
• Pintaux Nicolas

Classifications

• H04L65/80

  Responding to QoS · CPC title

• H04N21/2187

  Live feed · CPC title

• H04N21/6405

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

• H04N21/64769

  for rate control (flow control in packet networks H04L47/10) · CPC title

• H04N21/6373 Primary

  for rate control {, e.g. request to the server to modify its transmission rate (flow control in packet networks H04L47/10)} · CPC title