Video conference network management for a mobile device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9264659-B2
Application number	US-79477410-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 6, 2010
Priority date	Apr 7, 2010
Publication date	Feb 16, 2016
Grant date	Feb 16, 2016

Abstract

Some embodiments provide a method for managing a video conference between a first device and a second device. The method identifies a first ceiling bit rate for transmitting video conference data to the second device through the communication channel. The method identifies a current bit rate that is less than the first ceiling bit rate. The method receives networking data regarding the communication channel from the second device. The method determines, from the received network data, that the communication channel will sustain an increase in the current bit rate. The method increments the current bit rate. The method iteratively performs the receiving, determining, and incrementing operations until a determination is made that the communication channel will not sustain the increase in the current bit rate.

First claim

We claim:

1. A first mobile device comprising:
a set of processing units; and
a non-transitory machine readable medium for storing a program for managing a video conference between the first mobile device and a second device, the program comprising sets of instructions for:
identifying a current bit rate that is less than a ceiling bit rate for transmitting video conference data to the second device through a communication channel;
receiving networking data regarding the communication channel from the second device, the received networking data comprising a plurality of one way signal delays that are computed by the second device;
from the received networking data, determining that the communication channel will sustain an increase in the current bit rate based on a rate of change of a set of one way signal delays of the plurality of one way signal delays;
if the rate of change is below a particular threshold, incrementing the current bit rate; and
iteratively performing said receiving, determining, and incrementing operations until a determination is made that the communication channel will not sustain an increase in the current bit rate.

2. The mobile device of claim 1 , wherein the second device is a mobile device communicating with the first mobile device through a wireless communication network with limited bandwidth.

3. The mobile device of claim 1 , wherein the sets of instructions for iteratively performing the receiving, determining and incrementing operations are repeatedly executed at a particular temporal rate to allow for accurate networking data to be relayed from the second device based on a prior incremental increase of the current bit rate.

4. The mobile device of claim 1 , wherein the program further comprises sets of instructions for:
receiving networking data regarding the communication channel from the second device after the iterative performance of the receiving, determining, and incrementing operations has terminated;
from the received networking data, identifying a change in the available resources of the communication channel; and
incrementing or decrementing the current bit rate based on the identified change in the available resources of the communication channel.

5. The mobile device of claim 1 , wherein the set of instructions for determining comprises a set of instructions for determining whether the current bit rate has reached the ceiling bit rate.

6. The mobile device of claim 1 , wherein the ceiling bit rate is a first ceiling bit rate, wherein the set of instructions for determining comprises a set of instructions for determining that the current bit rate has reached a second ceiling bit rate that is lower than the first ceiling bit rate and that is derived from the available bandwidth measurement data provided by the second device.

7. A non-transitory machine readable medium of a first mobile device, the machine readable medium storing a program for managing a video conference between the first mobile device and a second device, the program comprising sets of instructions for:
identifying a current bit rate that is less than a ceiling bit rate for transmitting video conference data to the second device through a communication channel;
receiving networking data regarding the communication channel from the second device, the received networking data comprising a plurality of one way signal delays that are computed by the second device;
from the received networking data, determining that the communication channel will sustain an increase in the current bit rate based on a rate of change of a set of one way signal delays of the plurality of one way signal delays;
if the rate of change is below a particular threshold, incrementing the current bit rate; and
iteratively performing said receiving, determining, and incrementing operations until a determination is made that the communication channel will not sustain an increase in the current bit rate.

8. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 7 , wherein each one way signal delay is computed by the second device by examining delays of audio packets sent from the first mobile device to the second device.

9. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the audio packet delays are examined by examining the difference in time codes in the audio packets with the difference in the reception of the audio packets by the second device.

10. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the received networking data further comprises an available bandwidth measurement data that is computed by the second device by examining sizes of video packets transmitted to the second device with the difference in time that the second device receives the packets.

11. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the received networking data further comprises packet loss data.

12. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the received networking data further comprises roundtrip delay time data.

13. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the set of instructions for receiving networking data comprises a set of instructions for receiving networking data in packets that are sent along a real-time transport protocol (RTP) stream and that are identified in the RTP stream by RTP Header Extensions.

14. A method performed by a first mobile device to manage a video conference between the first mobile device and a second device, the method comprising:
identifying a current bit rate that is less than a ceiling bit rate for transmitting video conference data to the second device through a communication channel;
receiving networking data regarding the communication channel from the second device, the received networking data comprising a plurality of one way signal delays that are computed by the second device;
from the received networking data, determining that the communication channel will sustain an increase in the current bit rate based on a rate of change of a set of one way signal delays of the plurality of one way signal delays;
if the rate of change is below a particular threshold, incrementing the current bit rate; and
iteratively performing said receiving, determining, and incrementing operations until a determination is made that the communication channel will not sustain an increase in the current bit rate.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the second device is a mobile device communicating with the first mobile device through a wireless communication network with limited bandwidth.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the iterative performance of the receiving, determining and incrementing operations is repeatedly executed at a particular temporal rate to allow for accurate networking data to be relayed from the second device based on a prior incremental increase of the current bit rate.

17. The method of claim 14 further comprising:
receiving networking data regarding the communication channel from the second device after the iterative performance of the receiving, determining, and incrementing operations as terminated;
from the received networking data, identifying a change in the available resources of the communication channel; and
incrementing or decrementing the current bit rate based on the identified change in the available resources of the communication channel.

18. The method of claim 14 , wherein determining comprises determining whether the current bit rate has reached the ceiling bit rate.

19. The method of claim 14 , wherein the rece

Assignees

• Abuan Joe S
• Normile James O
• Wu Hsi-Jung
• Yang Yan
• Jeong Hyeonkuk
• Zhou Xiaosong
• Garcia Jr Roberto
• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Abuan Joe S
• Normile James O
• Wu Hsi-Jung
• Yang Yan
• Jeong Hyeonkuk
• Zhou Xiaosong
• Garcia Jr Roberto

Classifications

• H04N23/661

  Transmitting camera control signals through networks, e.g. control via the Internet · CPC title

• H04N23/63

  by using electronic viewfinders · CPC title

• H04N23/45

  for generating image signals from two or more image sensors being of different type or operating in different modes, e.g. with a CMOS sensor for moving images in combination with a charge-coupled device [CCD] for still images · CPC title

• H04N23/617

  Upgrading or updating of programs or applications for camera control · CPC title

• H04N7/147

  Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals (selecting H04Q) · CPC title