System and method for providing guaranteed channel content in a switched digital video network using multicast abr streaming

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016286247-A1
Application number	US-201514670888-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 27, 2015
Priority date	Mar 27, 2015
Publication date	Sep 29, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A system and method for providing guaranteed channels in a switched digital video network using multicast adaptive bitrate (ABR) streaming. In one implementation, when a request for a guaranteed channel is received from a subscriber station (e.g., a set-top box or STB), a determination may be made as to which edge QAM device the requested channel is assigned to. A bandwidth pipe modeling may be performed for the assigned edge QAM to determine an optimal bitrate of a particular MABR stream that may be packed into the edge QAM's bandwidth pipe. Thereafter, the particular MABR stream may be joined to facilitate streaming of the requested channel via the QAM serving the subscriber station.

First claim

1 . A method for providing guaranteed channels in a switched digital video (SDV) network to a subscriber station, the method comprising:
receiving a request from the subscriber station for a guaranteed channel; determining which edge quadrature amplitude modulator (QAM) device the requested guaranteed channel is assigned to; modeling a bandwidth pipe associated with the edge QAM device for allocating appropriate bandwidth to a multicast adaptive bitrate (MABR) stream of the requested guaranteed channel; and responsive to the bandwidth pipe modeling of the edge QAM device and determining that a particular MABR stream having an appropriate bitrate can be packed into the bandwidth pipe of the edge QAM device, joining the particular MABR stream of the requested channel to facilitate its streaming via the edge QAM device.

2 . The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
determining coder-decoder (codec) capabilities of the subscriber station; and performing bandwidth pipe modeling with respect to selecting the particular MABR stream of the requested guaranteed channel responsive to the determination of codec capabilities of the subscriber station.

3 . The method as recited in claim 2 , wherein the particular MABR stream of the requested guaranteed channel is compliant with at least one of a Moving Pictures Expert Group (MPEG) codec, an MPEG-2 codec, an MEPG-4 codec, an H.264 codec and an H.265 codec.

4 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the edge QAM device is one of a dedicated guaranteed channel QAM and a shared QAM supporting guaranteed channels, non-guaranteed channels, broadcast channels as well as Video-on-Demand (VOD) channels.

5 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the bandwidth pipe modeling of the edge QAM device further comprises:
initializing a list of channels associated with the edge QAM, wherein each channel is provided with a minimum bitrate stream based on subscriber stations' codec capabilities; for each channel in the list, computing an inadequacy metric based on a policy management rule involving a weight factor associated with the channel and the channel's bitrate; and sorting the list of channels in a descending order and, for each channel, iteratively determining whether a channel can upgrade to a next highest bitrate under an existing bandwidth allocation of the bandwidth pipe, and if the channel can upgrade to the next highest bitrate, changing the bitrate for the channel to the next highest bitrate and returning to the computing step.

6 . The method as recited in claim 5 , wherein the joining of the particular MABR stream of the requested channel further comprises:
once all bitrates are determined in the bandwidth pipe modeling of the edge QAM device, for each channel in the list, if the channel is not already connected to a correct Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) group, performing an IGMP Join operation to join the MABR stream having the determined bitrate; otherwise, skipping the channel from joining operation.

7 . The method as recited in claim 6 , wherein each MABR stream comprises a gapped stream having predetermined gaps at stream access points (SAPs) and further wherein the gapped streams are de-gapped to form unsegmented streams for transmission to the edge QAM device.

8 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the particular MABR stream of the requested guaranteed channel is one of a Standard Definition (SD), High Definition (HD) and Ultra High Definition (UHD) stream.

9 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the request for a guaranteed channel is received pursuant to a channel change request from the subscriber station.

10 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the request for a guaranteed channel is received pursuant to the subscriber station being turned on.

11 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the request for a guaranteed channel is received via one of an HFC return channel signaling path and a two-way communications network controller associated with the subscriber station.

12 . An apparatus for providing guaranteed channels in a switched digital video (SDV) network to a subscriber station, the apparatus comprising:
a resource manager node, responsive to a request received from the subscriber station for a guaranteed channel, configured to determine an edge quadrature amplitude modulator (QAM) device to which the requested guaranteed channel is assigned, and model a bandwidth pipe associated with the edge QAM device for allocating appropriate bandwidth to a multicast adaptive bitrate (MABR) stream of the requested guaranteed channel; and a stream processor node configured, responsive to the bandwidth pipe modeling by the resource manager node and determining that a particular MABR stream having an appropriate bitrate can be packed into the bandwidth pipe of the edge QAM device, to join the particular MABR stream of the requested channel so as to facilitate its streaming via the edge QAM device.

13 . The apparatus as recited in claim 12 , wherein the resource manager node is further operative to determine coder-decoder (codec) capabilities of the subscriber station relative to the requested guaranteed channel.

14 . The apparatus as recited in claim 13 , wherein the particular MABR stream of the requested guaranteed channel is compliant with at least one of a Moving Pictures Expert Group (MPEG) codec, an MPEG-2 codec, an MEPG-4 codec, an H.264 codec and an H.265 codec.

15 . The apparatus as recited in claim 12 , wherein the stream processor node is operative to join the particular MABR stream to an edge QAM device comprising one of a dedicated guaranteed channel QAM and a shared QAM supporting guaranteed channels, non-guaranteed channels, broadcast channels as well as Video-on-Demand (VOD) channels.

16 . The apparatus as recited in claim 12 , wherein the resource manager node includes a QAM bandwidth pipe modeling block configured to:
initialize a list of channels associated with the edge QAM, wherein each channel is provided with a minimum bitrate stream based on subscriber stations' codec capabilities; for each channel in the list, compute an inadequacy metric based on a policy management rule involving a weight factor associated with the channel and the channel's bitrate; and sort the list of channels in a descending order and, for each channel, iteratively determine whether a channel can upgrade to a next highest bitrate under an existing bandwidth allocation of the bandwidth pipe, and if the channel can upgrade to the next highest bitrate, change the bitrate for the channel to the next highest bitrate and return to the computing step.

17 . The apparatus as recited in claim 16 , wherein each MABR stream comprises a gapped stream having predetermined gaps at stream access points (SAPs) and further wherein the streaming processor node includes a de-gapper block configured to remove the gaps and from unsegmented streams for transmission to the edge QAM device.

18 . The apparatus as recited in claim 12 , wherein the particular MABR stream of the requested guaranteed channel is one of a Standard Definition (SD), High Definition (HD) and Ultra High Definition (UHD) stream.

19 . The apparatus as recited in claim 12 , wherein the resource manager node comprises a session resource manager (SRM) node, an edge resource manager (ERM) node, or a combination of the SRM and ERM nodes.

20 . The apparatus as recited in claim 12 , wherein the request for a guaranteed channel is received via one of an HF

Assignees

• Ericsson Ab

Inventors

• Phillips Chris
• Reynolds Jennifer Ann
• Forsman Robert Hammond

Classifications

• H04N21/2381

  Adapting the multiplex stream to a specific network, e.g. an Internet Protocol [IP] network {(transmission of MPEG streams over ATM H04L12/5601)} · CPC title

• H04N21/8456

  by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments · CPC title

• H04N21/2385 Primary

  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

• H04N21/2393

  involving handling client requests (scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60) · CPC title

• H04N21/6405

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