Merging multicast ABR and unicast ABR with progressive download ABR in a customer premises device within the same video delivery pipe

• US 10,652,165 B2
• Filed: 04/17/2017
• Issued: 05/12/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ericsson AB (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson)
• Original Assignee: Ericsson AB (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson)
• Inventors: Dasher, Charles Hammett, Phillips, Chris, Forsman, Robert Hammond, Reynolds, Jennifer Ann
• Primary Examiner(s): Lai, Michael C
• Application Number:
  US15/488,978
• Publication Number:
  US 20170324676A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,121 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/12 Avoiding congestion; Recovering from congestion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/801 Real time traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/61 for supporting one-way streaming services, e.g. Internet radio
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23439 for generating different versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2402 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 Class Codes: H04N 21/2662 Controlling the complexity of the video stream, e.g. by scaling the resolution or bitrate of the video stream based on the client capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44209 Monitoring of downstream path of the transmission network originating from a server, e.g. bandwidth variations of a wireless network arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments

Abstract

A method of managing bandwidth allocation across a video pipe that delivers both streaming adaptive bitrate (ABR) content and progressive download ABR content includes receiving a designation of a congestion boundary within a video pipe, the congestion boundary designating a first percentage of the video pipe that is to be used for streaming ABR content when congestion exists on both sides of the congestion boundary, wherein a remaining percentage of the video pipe is to be used for progressive download ABR; allocating bandwidth for streaming ABR content, wherein the gateway device can allocate for streaming content only that portion of the remaining percentage of bandwidth that is not requested for progressive download content; and allocating bandwidth for progressive download content, wherein the gateway device can allocate for progressive download content only that portion of the first percentage of bandwidth that is not requested for streaming content.

Claims

1. A method of synchronizing multicast adaptive bitrate (MABR) delivery of a requested channel and progressive download adaptive bitrate (ABR) delivery of the requested channel from a premises gateway to user devices, the method comprising:

responsive to determining that a requested video session is for MABR content on a requested channel, the premises gateway requesting a location of a content delivery network (CDN) from a back office and requesting a video session manifest for the requested channel from the CDN;

if a client requesting the requested video session is a progressive download ABR client, delivering a copy of the video session manifest to the progressive download ABR client whereby the progressive download ABR client can begin pulling video segments;

if the client is not a progressive download ABR client and if the requested channel is not already being watched at a premises served by the premises gateway, the premises gateway receiving the video session manifest for the requested channel and joining an MABR multicast for the requested channel, wherein the video session manifest and the MABR multicast both access content from a single multicast segmenter; and

if the client is not a progressive download ABR client, delivering a combined segmented stream from the MABR multicast for the requested channel to the client.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising;

retaining a copy of the video session manifest for the requested channel;

the premises gateway receiving a request from the progressive download ABR client to pull a requested segment and determining the requested segment using the retained copy of the video session manifest;

if the requested segment exists in a cache in the premises gateway, hijacking the request and delivering the requested segment from the cache; and

if the requested segment does not exist in the cache in the premises gateway, forwarding the request to the CDN and delivering the requested segment from the requested location.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

altering the video session manifest prior to sending a copy of the video session manifest to the client;

the premises gateway receiving a request from the progressive download ABR client to pull segments and delivering the segments from a requested location.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the premises gateway joins the MABR multicast at a bitrate calculated to fit into a percentage of a premises video pipe dedicated to streaming.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the premises gateway adjusts the flow of delivery of packets to the progressive download ABR client to cause the progressive download ABR client to change bitrates in order to fit the bandwidth delivered within a percentage of a premises video pipe dedicated to progressive download ABR clients.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising, responsive to receiving a request for the requested video session from a client device, retrieving a device and content policy from a policy manager.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising, if no ABR session with the gateway currently exists, retrieving ABR pipe policies from the policy manager.