System and method for streaming data

• US 10,057,014 B2
• Filed: 05/22/2014
• Issued: 08/21/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Chang, Chuo-Ling
• Primary Examiner(s): Decady, Albert
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dorman, Christian
• Application Number:
  US14/285,489
• Publication Number:
  US 20140351638A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,552 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1402 Saving, restoring, recovering or retrying
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0002 by adapting the transmission rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0015 characterised by the adaptation strategy
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/08 by repeating transmission, e.g. Verdan system H04L1/1858 and H04L1/189 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/083 for increasing network speed
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 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 Class Codes: H04L 47/25 with rate being modified by the source upon detecting a change of network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/263 Rate modification at the source after receiving feedback
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/38 by adapting coding or compression rate

Abstract

In a system and method for streaming data, the system includes: instructions that: encode a data stream at a first bitrate; transmit a plurality of first data blocks to a receiver, each of the first data blocks including: a first source packet corresponding to the encoded data stream; and a first repair packet; and transmit a plurality of second data blocks to the receiver for a first predetermined period of time, each of the second data blocks including: a second source packet corresponding to the encoded data stream; a second repair packet; and a probing packet.

Claims

1. A system for streaming data, the system comprising:

a processor;

a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory has stored thereon instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

encode a data stream at a first bitrate;

transmit a plurality of first data blocks to a receiver, each of the first data blocks comprising;

a first source packet corresponding to the encoded data stream; and

a first repair packet for reconstructing the encoded data stream in response to the first source packet being lost during transmission of a corresponding one of the first data blocks;

receive a bitrate upgrade request from the receiver; and

in response to the bitrate upgrade request, transmit a plurality of second data blocks to the receiver for a first predetermined period of time, each of the second data blocks comprising;

a second source packet corresponding to the encoded data stream;

a second repair packet for reconstructing the encoded data stream in response to the second source packet being lost during transmission of a corresponding one of the second data blocks; and

a probing packet for reconstructing the encoded data stream in response to the second source packet being lost during transmission of the corresponding one of the second data blocks, wherein the probing packet comprises a third repair packet comprising repair data, different from repair data of the second repair packet, for reconstructing the encoded data stream in response to the second source packet being lost during transmission of the corresponding one of the second data blocks.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to resume transmission of the first data blocks to the receiver in response to receiving a bitrate downgrade request from the receiver during the first predetermined period of time.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to encode the data stream at a second bitrate in response to not receiving a bitrate downgrade request from the receiver during the first predetermined period of time.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to transmit a plurality of third data blocks to the receiver, each of the third data blocks comprising a third source packet corresponding to the data stream encoded at the second bitrate.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the probing packet comprises a repetition of repair data of the second repair packet.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the third repair packet further comprises filler data appended to the repair data.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the bitrate upgrade request is received when none of the source packets were lost during a second predetermined period of time.

8. The system of claim 2, wherein the bitrate downgrade request is received when one or more of the packets of the second data blocks was lost during a probation period.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the bitrate upgrade request includes a second bitrate greater than the first bitrate, and wherein the instructions further cause the processor to select an amount of probing data for a second data block according to the second bitrate.

9. A method for streaming data, the method comprising:

encoding, by a processor, a data stream at a first bitrate;

transmitting, by the processor, a plurality of first data blocks to a receiver, each of the first data blocks comprising;

a first source packet corresponding to the encoded data stream; and

a first repair packet for reconstructing the encoded data stream in response to the first source packet being lost during transmission of a corresponding one of the first data blocks;

receiving, by the processor, a bitrate upgrade request from the receiver; and

in response to receiving the bitrate upgrade request, transmitting, by the processor, a plurality of second data blocks to the receiver for a first predetermined period of time, each of the second data blocks comprising;

a second source packet corresponding to the encoded data stream;

a second repair packet for reconstructing the encoded data stream in response to the second source packet being lost during transmission of a corresponding one of the second data blocks; and

a probing packet for reconstructing the encoded data stream in response to the second source packet being lost during transmission of the corresponding one of the second data blocks, wherein the probing packet comprises a third repair packet comprising repair data, different from repair data of the second repair packet, for reconstructing the encoded data stream in response to the second source packet being lost during transmission of the corresponding one of the second data blocks.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising resuming transmission, by the processor, of the first data blocks to the receiver in response to receiving a bitrate downgrade request from the receiver during the first predetermined period of time.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising encoding, by the processor, the data stream at a second bitrate greater than the first bitrate in response to not receiving a bitrate downgrade request from the receiver during the first predetermined period of time.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising transmitting, by the processor, a plurality of third data blocks to the receiver, each of the third data blocks comprising a third source packet corresponding to the data stream encoded at the second bitrate.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the probing packet comprises a repetition of repair data of the second repair packet.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the third repair packet further comprises filler data appended to the repair data.

15. The method of claim 9, the bitrate upgrade request is received when none of the source packets were lost during a second predetermined period of time.

16. The method of claim 10 wherein the bitrate downgrade request is received when at least one of the packets of the second data blocks was lost during a probation period.

17. The method of claim 9, wherein the bitrate upgrade request includes a second bitrate greater than the first bitrate, and further comprising selecting an amount of probing data for a second data block according to the second bitrate.