Method and apparatus for managing bandwidth requirements for video on demand services
First Claim
1. A method for managing bandwidth for transmitting the content of a video to one or more users requesting receipt of the content of the video, each user belonging to a user service class, said method comprising:
- dividing the total time duration T of the video into N consecutive sessions S1, S2, . . . , SN, wherein N is at least 2, and wherein a unicast or multicast connection in normal play mode is permitted to be created for each session only at one of discrete times T0, T1, . . . , TN−
1 subject to Ti=iΔ
T and Δ
T=T/N for i=0, 1, . . . , N−
1;
establishing an overall bandwidth B for transmitting the content of the video to the one or more users; and
dividing the overall bandwidth B into a first bandwidth part B1 and a second bandwidth part B2 such that B=B1+B2, wherein the first bandwidth part B1 is allocated to a normal play mode of the video during the N sessions such that B1=N*R, wherein R is a bit transmission rate of the video, and wherein the second bandwidth part B2 is allocated to unicast sessions dedicated to implementation of at least one non-normal streaming mode of the video.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method for managing bandwidth for transmitting the content of a video to users requesting the content. The total time duration T of the video is divided into N consecutive sessions. A unicast or multicast connection in normal play mode may be created for each session only at discrete times separated by a time increment ΔT equal to T/N. An overall bandwidth B is established for transmitting the content of the video to the users. The overall bandwidth B is divided into a first part B1 and a second part B2. The first part B1 is allocated to a normal play mode of the video during the N sessions such that B1=N*R, where R is the bit transmission rate of the video. The second part B2 is allocated to unicast sessions dedicated to implementation of at least one non-normal streaming mode of the video.
52 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for managing bandwidth for transmitting the content of a video to one or more users requesting receipt of the content of the video, each user belonging to a user service class, said method comprising:
-
dividing the total time duration T of the video into N consecutive sessions S1, S2, . . . , SN, wherein N is at least 2, and wherein a unicast or multicast connection in normal play mode is permitted to be created for each session only at one of discrete times T0, T1, . . . , TN−
1 subject to Ti=iΔ
T and Δ
T=T/N for i=0, 1, . . . , N−
1;
establishing an overall bandwidth B for transmitting the content of the video to the one or more users; and
dividing the overall bandwidth B into a first bandwidth part B1 and a second bandwidth part B2 such that B=B1+B2, wherein the first bandwidth part B1 is allocated to a normal play mode of the video during the N sessions such that B1=N*R, wherein R is a bit transmission rate of the video, and wherein the second bandwidth part B2 is allocated to unicast sessions dedicated to implementation of at least one non-normal streaming mode of the video. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method for managing unicast and multicast connections to one or more users requesting receipt of the content of a video, each user belonging to a user service class, said method comprising:
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receiving a first request from a first user of the one or more users to receive the content of the video;
after receiving the first request, ascertaining whether an entry for the video is included in a video table;
if said ascertaining ascertains that said entry for the video is not included in the video table, then adding the video to the video table, creating a request queue for storing requests to receive the content of the video, creating a user table to identify all users who have requested receiving the content of the video, and creating a multicast group table to identify all multicast groups receiving the content of the video, wherein the video table includes a request count that is created and initialized to zero in conjunction with said adding the video to the video table, and wherein the request count denotes the number of requests in the request queue for receiving the content of the video;
wherein if said ascertaining ascertains that said entry for the video is included in the video table, then the request queue, the user table, the multicast group table, and the request count had been created prior to said receiving the first request as a result of receiving a prior request from another user of the one or more users to receive the content of the video such that said entry for the video was not determined to be included in the video table when said prior request was received;
after said ascertaining, adding the first request to the request queue and incrementing the request count by 1. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification