Home network system with transmission error recovery

• US 20060026295A1
• Filed: 09/27/2004
• Published: 02/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/27/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Iwamura, Ryuichi
• Granted Patent: US 8,543,723 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/233
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2827 Reporting to a device within the home network; wherein the reception of the information reported automatically triggers the execution of a home appliance functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2843 Mains power line
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/18 End to end
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/263 Rate modification at the source after receiving feedback
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/30 in combination with information about buffer occupancy at either end or at transit nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/70 Media network packetisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2401 Monitoring of the client buffer
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/50 in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate

Abstract

A client TV in a home entertainment network receives and buffers an audio/video stream from a server, before playing the stream. In the case of buffer underflow, the client TV requests the server to raise the transmission rate. If this causes an ensuing buffer overflow, the client TV requests the server to reset the transmission rate or stop transmitting altogether for a short time.

Claims

1. A home entertainment system, comprising:

at least one server; and

at least one client component communicating with the server on a network path,

wherein the client component buffers data received from the server and monitors the amount of buffered data, wherein if it is determined that the amount of buffered data falls below an underflow threshold, the client component sends a request to the server to raise the rate at which data is transmitted.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein if it is determined that the amount of buffered data exceeds an overflow threshold subsequent to raising the rate at which data is transmitted, the client component undertakes at least one of:

requesting the server to reset the transmission rate back to an original rate, and requesting the server to stop transmission altogether

3. The system of claim 1, wherein an MPEG transcoder in the server is used for automatic bit rate control of data transmitted to the client component.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein under unfavorable network conditions the transcoder transcodes a data stream to a lower bit rate stream and sends the lower bit rate stream faster than a normal operating data transfer rate.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the server receives the data from a source of live audio/video data and buffers the data before sending the data to the client component.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein a live stream is recorded by the client component in a buffer, the amount of buffered data being controlled between two thresholds during playing of the data to avoid over/underflow.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the client component is selected from the group of components consisting of:

televisions, and portable computers.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the client component is a TV.

9. A method for playing at least one audio/video stream on a client TV communicating with a server in a home entertainment network, comprising:

transmitting the stream from the server to the client TV;

during the transmitting act, buffering the stream at the client TV;

playing the stream at the client TV;

monitoring an amount of buffered data during the playing act; and

in the event that the amount of buffered data falls below a threshold, increasing the rate at which the stream is transmitted from the server to the client TV.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the threshold is a first threshold, and the method comprises, in the event that the increasing act causes an amount of buffered data to exceed a second threshold, undertaking at least one of:

reducing the rate at which the stream is transmitted from the server to the client TV, and stopping transmission of the stream from the server to the client TV.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein an MPEG transcoder in the server is used for automatic bit rate control of data transmitted to the client TV.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein under unfavorable network conditions the transcoder transcodes a data stream to a lower bit rate stream and sends the lower bit rate stream faster than a normal operating data transfer rate.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the server receives the data from a source of live audio/video data and buffers the data before sending the data to the client TV.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein a live stream is recorded by the client TV in a buffer, the amount of buffered data being controlled between two thresholds during playing of the data to avoid over/underflow.

15. A TV configured for use in a home entertainment network including a server and a network communication path, comprising:

means for monitoring a data buffer;

means for comparing an amount of data in the buffer to an underflow threshold;

means for causing the server to increase the rate at which data is transmitted to the TV over the network path if the amount of data in the buffer falls below the underflow threshold; and

means for causing the server to undertake at least one of;

decreasing the rate at which data is transmitted to the TV over the network, and temporarily stopping transmission to the TV, if the amount of data in the buffer rises above an overflow threshold.

16. The TV of claim 15, wherein an MPEG transcoder in the server is used for automatic bit rate control of data transmitted to the TV.

17. The TV of claim 16, wherein under unfavorable network conditions the transcoder transcodes a data stream to a lower bit rate stream and sends the lower bit rate stream faster than a normal operating data transfer rate.

18. The TV of claim 15, wherein the server receives the data from a source of live audio/video data and buffers the data before sending the data to the TV.

19. The TV of claim 15, wherein a live stream is recorded by the TV in a buffer, the amount of buffered data being controlled between two thresholds during playing of the data to avoid over/underflow.