Media playout for VOIP applications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9294413-B2
Application number	US-201314061375-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 23, 2013
Priority date	Oct 23, 2013
Publication date	Mar 22, 2016
Grant date	Mar 22, 2016

Abstract

To address limitations of conventional packet buffer management strategies, the various embodiments provide methods implemented by a processor operating on a VoIP receiver device for managing media packet rejection logic on the receiving device to improve audio playout. The embodiment methods enhance the likelihood that a receiver device will buffer (rather than reject) an incoming media packet by maintaining a history of previously rejected media packets (i.e., a packet rejection history) and referencing the packet rejection history when determining whether to reject or to accept an incoming packet the receiver device has just received. Thus, the various embodiments may reduce gaps in playback by avoiding unnecessary packet rejections and may promote an overall increase in playout quality.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of managing media packet playback on a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) receiver device comprising a buffer, comprising:
calculating a number of free buffer slots required to store an incoming packet in the buffer;
determining a number of previously rejected packets based on a packet rejection history;
calculating an adjusted number of required free buffer slots as a difference between the number of required free buffer slots and the number of previously rejected packets;
determining a number of free slots in the buffer;
determining whether the adjusted number of required free buffer slots exceeds the number of free slots in the buffer;
rejecting the incoming packet and updating the packet rejection history to include an entry for the rejected incoming packet in response to determining that the adjusted number of required free buffer slots exceeds the number of free slots in the buffer; and
storing the incoming packet in the buffer in sequential order in response to determining that the adjusted number of required free buffer slots does not exceed the number of free slots in the buffer.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein calculating a number of free buffer slots required to store the incoming packet in the buffer comprises:
determining a sequence number of the incoming packet;
determining a sequence number of a last-buffered packet; and
calculating the number of required free buffer slots as a difference between the sequence number of the incoming packet and the sequence number of the last-buffered packet.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining a number of previously rejected packets based on the packet rejection history comprises:
determining a sequence number of the incoming packet;
determining a sequence number of a last-buffered packet; and
determining the number of previously rejected packets in the packet rejection history having a sequence number greater than the sequence number of the last-buffered packet and less than the sequence number of the incoming packet.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein storing the incoming packet in the buffer in sequential order comprises:
determining a slot index value of a last-buffered packet;
determining whether the adjusted number of required free buffer slots is a negative number;
storing the incoming packet in a slot of the buffer based on the slot index value of the last-buffered packet and the adjusted number of required free buffer slots in response to determining that the adjusted number of required free buffer slots is not a negative number; and
in response to determining that the adjusted number of required free buffer slots is a negative number:
determining a number of rejected packets in the packet rejection history between the sequence number of the incoming packet and a sequence number of the last-buffered packet;
calculating a slot index offset based on the adjusted number of required free buffer slots and the determined number of rejected packets in the packet rejection history between the sequence number of the incoming packet and a sequence number of the last-buffered packet; and
storing the incoming packet in a slot of the buffer based on the slot index value of the last-buffered packet and the slot index offset.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a sequence number of a packet in the buffer that is playing;
determining whether there is an entry in the packet rejection history for a packet having a sequence number less than the sequence number of the packet in the buffer that is playing; and
removing the entry from the packet rejection history in response to determining that there is an entry in the packet rejection history for a packet having a sequence number less than the sequence number of the packet in the buffer that is playing.

6. A receiver device, comprising:
a transceiver configured to receive voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) media packets;
a memory configured to function as a buffer for received VoIP media packets; and
a processor coupled to the transceiver and the memory, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations comprising:
calculating a number of free buffer slots required to store an incoming packet in the buffer;
determining a number of previously rejected packets based on a packet rejection history;
calculating an adjusted number of required free buffer slots as a difference between the number of required free buffer slots and the number of previously rejected packets;
determining a number of free slots in the buffer;
determining whether the adjusted number of required free buffer slots exceeds the number of free slots in the buffer;
rejecting the incoming packet and updating the packet rejection history to include an entry for the rejected incoming packet in response to determining that the adjusted number of required free buffer slots exceeds the number of free slots in the buffer; and
storing the incoming packet in the buffer in sequential order in response to determining that the adjusted number of required free buffer slots does not exceed the number of free slots in the buffer.

7. The receiver device of claim 6 , wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations such that calculating a number of free buffer slots required to store the incoming packet in the buffer comprises:
determining a sequence number of the incoming packet;
determining a sequence number of a last-buffered packet; and
calculating the number of required free buffer slots as a difference between the sequence number of the incoming packet and the sequence number of the last-buffered packet.

8. The receiver device of claim 6 , wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations such that determining a number of previously rejected packets based on the packet rejection history comprises:
determining a sequence number of the incoming packet;
determining a sequence number of a last-buffered packet; and
determining the number of previously rejected packets in the packet rejection history having a sequence number greater than the sequence number of the last-buffered packet and less than the sequence number of the incoming packet.

9. The receiver device of claim 8 , wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations such that storing the incoming packet in the buffer in sequential order comprises:
determining a slot index value of a last-buffered packet;
determining whether the adjusted number of required free buffer slots is a negative number;
storing the incoming packet in a slot of the buffer based on the slot index value of the last-buffered packet and the adjusted number of required free buffer slots in response to determining that the adjusted number of required free buffer slots is not a negative number; and
in response to determining that the adjusted number of required free buffer slots is a negative number:
determining a number of rejected packets in the packet rejection history between the sequence number of the incoming packet and a sequence number of the last-buffered packet;
calculating a slot index offset based on the adjusted number of required free buffer slots and the determined number of rejected packets in the packet rejection history between the sequence number of the incoming packet and a sequence number of the last-buffered packet; and
storing the incoming packet in a slot of the buffer based on the slot index value of the last-buffered packet and the slot index offset.

10. The receiver device of claim 6 , wherein the processor

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Kullangal Sridhara Dinesh
• Franco Siddharth Ryan

Classifications

• H04L65/604

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L65/80 Primary

  Responding to QoS · CPC title

• H04L47/74

  measures in reaction to resource unavailability · CPC title

• H04L47/30

  in combination with information about buffer occupancy at either end or at transit nodes · CPC title

• H04L47/32 Primary

  by discarding or delaying data units, e.g. packets or frames · CPC title