System and method for managing abr bitrate delivery responsive to video buffer characteristics of a client

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016366202-A1
Application number	US-201514737550-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 12, 2015
Priority date	Jun 12, 2015
Publication date	Dec 15, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A scheme for managing delivery of segmented media content in an ABR network, wherein bitrates of a manifest file may be selectively modified or removed based on a client device's video buffer characteristics. An ABR stream delivery server is operative to simulate the client device's video buffer in a streaming session and accordingly modify the manifest files to include metadata for media segments encoded at a particular single bitrate responsive to the buffer performance and other network conditions. Responsive to monitoring the video buffer characteristics of the media player during the streaming session, a selected single bitrate may be moved up or down to other bitrates of the manifest files.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of managing delivery of segmented media content in an adaptive bitrate (ABR) network, the method comprising:
obtaining video buffer characteristics of a media player associated with a client device configured to receive segmented media content from an ABR delivery server in a streaming session; modifying manifest files of the segmented media content to include metadata information of media segments encoded at a particular single bitrate and removing metadata information pertaining to media segments encoded at other bitrates, wherein the particular single bitrate is selected based at least in part upon the video buffer characteristics of the client device's media player; and providing the modified manifest files to the client device responsive to monitoring the video buffer characteristics of the media player during the streaming session.

2 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the video buffer characteristics are obtained based on learning by the ABR delivery server of the media player's playout behavior and comprise at least one of an estimated number of segments operative to be stored in the video buffer of the media player, an estimate of segment duration, a total number of bytes of data that the video buffer is estimated to contain when full and a simulated video buffer playout performance based on a duty cycle pattern associated with downloading of segmented media content by the client device.

3 . The method as recited in claim 2 , wherein the estimated number of segments and the total number of bytes are calculated upon reaching a maximum delivery bitrate during a ramp up phase of the streaming session.

4 . The method as recited in claim 2 , wherein the estimate of segment duration is determined upon learning the duty cycle pattern associated with downloading of segmented media content.

5 . The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
monitoring a duration of time taken for transmitting all bytes of a segment to the client device; obtaining a delivery bit rate based on the duration of time; comparing the delivery bit rate with one or more bitrates identified in a full manifest file; determining whether a bitrate of subsequent segments is to be adjusted based upon comparison; and modifying the manifest files of the subsequent segments to include a single bitrate responsive to at least one of the determining and network bandwidth conditions monitored relative to other client devices disposed in the ABR network.

6 . The method as recited in claim 5 , wherein the modifying of the manifest files of the subsequent segments further comprises:
determining whether the client device's media player is playing segmented media content at a top bitrate identified in an original manifest file; and if not, performing a bitrate move up process to select a highest bitrate from a list of potential target bitrates.

7 . The method as recited in claim 5 , wherein the modifying of the manifest files of the subsequent segments further comprises:
determining whether the client device's media player is playing segmented media content at a lowest bitrate identified in an original manifest file; and if not, performing a bitrate move down process to select a lower bitrate from a list of potential target bitrates.

8 . The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
responsive to receiving a request from the client device for media content, determining whether the client device's IP network address is known in an operator network configured to deliver the media content; and if not, providing a full original manifest file containing metadata information of media segments encoded at multiple bitrates to the client device instead of modifying the manifest files and providing the modified manifest files to the client device.

9 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein media content requested by the client device is virtually segmented by a dynamic virtual segmenter and further wherein the ABR delivery server is operative to intercept manifest files, generated for the virtually segmented media content, prior to modifying the manifest files based on the video buffer characteristics of the client device's media player.

10 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the ABR delivery server is configured as at least a part of an edge network node associated with one of a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) network architecture, a Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS)-compliant Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS) network architecture, a mobile telecommunications network architecture, and a content delivery network (CDN) architecture.

11 . An apparatus configured to operate as an adaptive bitrate (ABR) delivery server for managing delivery of segmented media content in an ABR network, the apparatus comprising:
at least one processor; a client buffer database for storing video buffer characteristics of one or more client devices operative to receive segmented media content in respective streaming sessions; and a persistent memory module coupled to the at least one processor, wherein the persistent memory module includes program instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, are configured to perform:
learning video buffer characteristics of a client device's media player in a streaming session pursuant to a media request therefor;
storing the learned video buffer characteristics in the client buffer database;
modifying manifest files of the segmented media content requested by the client device to include metadata information of media segments encoded at a particular single bitrate and removing metadata information pertaining to media segments encoded at other bitrates, wherein the particular single bitrate is selected based at least in part upon the video buffer characteristics of the client device's media player; and
providing the modified manifest files to the client device responsive to monitoring the video buffer characteristics of the media player during the streaming session.

12 . The apparatus as recited in claim 11 , wherein the client buffer database is configured to store the video buffer characteristics comprising at least one of an estimated number of segments that can be stored in the video buffer of the media player, an estimate of segment duration, a total number of bytes of data that the video buffer is estimated to contain when full and a simulated video buffer playout performance based on a duty cycle pattern associated with downloading of segmented media content by the client device.

13 . The apparatus as recited in claim 12 , wherein the program instructions further comprise instructions for calculating the number of segments and the total number of bytes upon reaching a maximum delivery bitrate during a ramp up phase of the streaming session.

14 . The apparatus as recited in claim 12 , wherein the program instructions further comprise instructions for determining the segment duration estimate upon learning the duty cycle pattern associated with downloading of segmented media content.

15 . The apparatus as recited in claim 11 , wherein the program instructions further comprise instructions configured to:
monitor a duration of time taken for transmitting all bytes of a segment to the client device; obtain a delivery bit rate based on the duration of time; compare the delivery bit rate with one or more bitrates identified in a full manifest file; determine whether a bitrate of subsequent segments is to be adjusted based upon comparison; and modify the manifest files of the subsequent se

Assignees

• Ericsson Ab

Inventors

• Phillips Chris
• Forsman Robert Hammond
• Reynolds Jennifer Ann

Classifications

• H04N21/2407

  Monitoring of transmitted content, e.g. distribution time, number of downloads (arrangements for monitoring programmes for broadcast or for distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/14) · CPC title

• H04N21/26258

  for generating a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlist, or scheduling item distribution according to such list (retrieval of multimedia data based on playlists G06F16/40) · CPC title

• H04N21/6373

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

• H04N21/2402

  Monitoring of the downstream path of the transmission network, e.g. bandwidth available (traffic monitoring in data switching networks H04L43/00; monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876) · CPC title

• H04N21/8456

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