Apparatus and methods for controlled bandwidth reclamation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9602414-B2
Application number	US-201113024246-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 9, 2011
Priority date	Feb 9, 2011
Publication date	Mar 21, 2017
Grant date	Mar 21, 2017

Abstract

Apparatus and methods for control of bandwidth reclamation in a content distribution network. In one embodiment, the invention provides a network operator or subscriber with the ability to disable or otherwise control reclamation in a switched digital video (SDV) network. A controller uses rules in determining whether to reclaim bandwidth. These rules designate certain carriers, content, devices and/or subscribers as high priority (or protected from reclamation). In one variant, the rules determine which subscribers are queried (“pinged”) in order to evaluate whether delivered content is actually being utilized by these subscribers. Alternatively, selected ones of the devices are configured so as to generate an automatic response to any ping messages. In another variant, the rules for disabling bandwidth reclamation are entered via user interaction with an application running on a client device and in communication with the controller via a network proxy, or with the SDV server directly.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of providing content in a bandwidth-constrained network, said network comprising a plurality of devices arranged in service groups, said method comprising:
delivering a plurality of streams comprising a respective plurality of content to a first service group;
receiving a request for content from a first device within said first service group, said requested content not being within said plurality of content delivered to said first service group;
determining that delivery of said requested content would exceed available bandwidth limits;
identifying one or more of said plurality of devices in said first service group which are exempt from reclamation based on one or more rules;
providing a trigger to said one or more exempt devices;
sending a message requiring a response to each of said plurality of devices in said first service group, said plurality of devices comprising one or more non-exempted ones of said plurality of client devices and said one or more of said plurality of devices in said first service group which are exempt, said trigger causing said one or more exempt devices to automatically respond to said message without respect to whether a user is present thereat;
based at least in part on receiving a plurality of responses to said message, determining one or more of said plurality of delivered content to be removed from delivery;
reclaiming bandwidth from at least one of said identified one or more of said plurality of delivered content from only individual ones of said one or more non-exempted ones of said plurality of client devices which did not respond to said message; and
providing delivery of said requested content;
wherein said one or more rules comprise at least a rule configured to indicate that content received at said one or more of said plurality of devices comprises priority content exempted from said removal; and
wherein a user's manual entry of said response to said message is required from only said one or more non-exempted ones of said plurality of client devices.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said one or more rules further comprise a rule configured to identify content which is not exempted.

3. A control apparatus configured to control delivery of content to a plurality of client devices over a network, said control apparatus comprising:
at least one interface for communication within said network;
a storage apparatus; and
a digital processor, said digital processor configured to run at least one computer application thereon, said computer application comprising a plurality of instructions which are configured to, when executed:
receive a request for content not currently being delivered;
determine that sufficient bandwidth to fill said request is not available;
send a signal to individual ones of said plurality of client devices for which interaction with content delivered thereto has not been detected in a predetermined amount of time, said individual ones of said plurality of client devices comprising one or more non-exempted ones of said plurality of client devices and one or more exempted ones of said plurality of client devices, said exempted ones of said plurality of client devices being determined based at least in part on one or more exemption rules;
cause said one or more exempted ones of said plurality of client devices to respond to said signal without requiring a user's presence;
require a user's manual entry of a response to said signal from only said one or more non-exempted ones of said plurality of client devices; and
reclaim bandwidth from said one or more non-exempted ones of said plurality of client devices which did not respond to said signal, said one or more non-exempted, non-responsive ones of said plurality of client devices associated with one or more content streams that are not exempt for delivery of said requested content not currently being delivered;
wherein said one or more exemption rules comprise a rule configured to indicate that content received at said individual ones of said plurality of client devices comprises priority content.

4. The control apparatus of claim 3 , wherein said delivery of content to said plurality of client devices over said network utilizes a switched digital video server configured to deliver said content to said plurality of client devices in a service group.

5. The control apparatus of claim 3 , wherein said one or more exemption rules are obtained via said interface from one of said plurality of client devices.

6. The control apparatus of claim 3 , wherein said one or more exemption rules further comprise a rule configured to indicate that users of said individual ones of said client devices comprise priority users.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein said priority content is prioritized based at least on profitability of said priority content that is higher than that of other content.

8. A method of providing content in a bandwidth-constrained network, said network comprising a plurality of client devices arranged in service groups, said method comprising:
delivering a plurality of streams comprising a respective plurality of content to a first plurality of client devices of one of said service groups;
receiving a request for content from a first device of said first plurality of client devices;
determining that delivery of said requested content would exceed available bandwidth limits;
when said delivery of said requested content would exceed available bandwidth limits, determining whether said request may be serviced via a reclamation of bandwidth, identifying one or more of said first plurality of client devices which are exempt from reclamation based at least in part on one or more rules, said one or more rules comprising at least a rule configured to indicate content received at said one or more of said first plurality of client devices comprises priority content exempted from said removal;
sending a message from an entity of said network to each of said first plurality of client devices of said one of said service groups, said first plurality of client devices of said one of said service groups comprising one or more non-exempted ones of said first plurality of client devices and said one or more of said first plurality of client devices identified as exempted, said message requiring a response from each of said first plurality of client devices of said one of said service groups;
reclaiming bandwidth from at least one of said plurality of content from at least one of said one or more non-exempted ones of said first plurality of client devices which did not respond to said message; and
providing delivery of said requested content in place of said reclaimed at least one of said plurality of content;
wherein said one or more of said first plurality of client devices identified as exempted are configured to respond to said message without requiring a user's presence; and
wherein a user's manual entry of said response to said message is required from said one or more non-exempted ones of said first plurality of client devices.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising identifying one or more of said first plurality of client devices which are exempt from reclamation comprises using a media access control (MAC) address to determine exemption status.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein said identifying one or more of said first plurality of client devices which are exempt from reclamation comprises determining whether a subscriber is viewing content using one or more of a physical detection of said subscriber's presence, and/or a periodic evaluation of tuning activity.

11. A control apparatus configured to control delivery of content to

Assignees

• Floyd Brian
• Smith Matt
• Trotter Stephanie
• Time Warner Cable Entpr Llc

Inventors

• Floyd Brian
• Smith Matt
• Trotter Stephanie

Classifications

• H04L41/0896

  Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities (flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76) · CPC title

• H04L47/22 Primary

  Traffic shaping · CPC title