Purchasable Token Bandwidth Portioning

• US 20070203714A1
• Filed: 02/28/2006
• Published: 08/30/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Wagner, Mark, McEnroe, Elizabeth, Taylor, Thomas, Potrebic, Peter
• Application Number:
  US11/276,445
• Publication Number:
  US 20070203714A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2385 Channel allocation H04N21/266 takes precedence; Bandwidth allocation H04N21/24 takes precedence ; allocation of channels according to the instantaneous demands of the users in time-division multiplex systems H04J3/1682; admission control, resource allocation in open networks H04L12/5692; arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896; negotiating bandwidth in wireless networks H04W28/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2543 Billing , e.g. for subscription services payment schemes, architectures or protocols G06Q20/00; e-commerce G06Q30/00; arrangements for billing for the use of broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/21
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26216 involving the channel capacity, e.g. network bandwidth admission control, resource allocation in open networks H04L12/5692; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10; establishing a schedule or organising the servicing of application requests taking into account QoS H04L67/61
• 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 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

Embodiments of purchasable token bandwidth portioning techniques are described herein. Tokens are designated to portion bandwidth, allocated by a content provider to stream contents, to a plurality of client devices as a group. When one of the client devices attempts to consume content that would cause the group to exceed the allocated amount of bandwidth, an additional token is purchased.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

designating tokens to portion bandwidth allocated to a group of client devices by a content provider to stream content; and

when at least one said client device attempts content consumption that would cause the group to exceed the allocated amount of bandwidth, purchasing an additional token.

2. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the additional token purchased corresponds to an amount of bandwidth that is caused by content consumption of the at least one said client device which exceeds the amount of bandwidth allocated to the viewing system by the content provider.

3. A method as described in claim 1, wherein:

each said token corresponds to a particular stream of content from the content provider; and

the additional token permits consumption of another stream of content from the content provider.

4. A method as described in claim 1, wherein:

the additional token is purchased by the at least one said client device from the content provider over a network; and

the purchasing is performed automatically and without user intervention when the at least one said client device attempts content consumption that would cause the group to exceed the allocated amount of bandwidth.

5. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the purchasing includes:

outputting a user interface which indicates to a user that content consumption by the at least one said client device would cause bandwidth allocated to the group to be exceeded; and

receiving an input from the user authorizing purchase of the additional token.

6. A method as described in claim 1, further comprising consuming the content by the at least one said client device using the purchased token.

7. A method as described in claim 6, wherein the consuming includes rendering the content or storing the content in a computer-readable medium.

8. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the designating includes designating different types of tokens, in which, a first said type of token permits use of a first amount of bandwidth and a second said type of token permits use of a second amount of bandwidth that is less than the first amount of bandwidth.

9. A method as described in claim 8, wherein the first said type permits consumption of high-definition (HD) content.

10. A method comprising:

receiving a request to purchase bandwidth in addition to bandwidth already allocated to a group of client devices by a content provider to consume content streamed to the group by the content provider; and

forming a response to the request for communication to at least one said client device that indicates whether the additional bandwidth has been purchased.

11. A method as described in claim 10, wherein the response includes a stream of content from the content provider that uses bandwidth in addition to the bandwidth which was already allocated to the group.

12. A method as described in claim 10, wherein the request includes billing information and further comprising processing the billing information by the content provider.

13. A method as described in claim 10, wherein:

the content includes television programs; and

the content provider includes a head end that performs the receiving and the forming.

14. A method as described in claim 10, wherein:

the group is situated at one of a plurality of locations serviced by the content provider;

each said location includes a respective said group; and

at least two said groups have matching allocated amounts of bandwidth from the content provider.

15. One or more computer-readable media comprising computer executable instructions that are executable by a client device included in a group having a plurality of said client devices that are configured to consume content streamed from a content provider over a network, wherein the computer-executable instructions are executable to output a user interface which indicates that additional bandwidth is available for purchase when it is determined that bandwidth allocated by the content provider to the group of client devices will be exceeded.

16. One or more computer-readable media as described in claim 15, wherein the bandwidth is allocated for use in the system through use of tokens.

17. One or more computer-readable media as described in claim 15, wherein a first type of token permits use of a first amount of bandwidth and a second said type of token permits use of a second amount of bandwidth.

18. One or more computer-readable media as described in claim 15, wherein the user interface further includes an indication of current consumption of content by one or more said client devices.

19. One or more computer-readable media as described in claim 18, wherein the user interface further includes:

an indication of current consumption of content by one or more said client devices; and

a portion that is selectable to purchase the additional bandwidth.

20. One or more computer-readable media as described in claim 19, wherein the portion, when selected, causes a request to be formed that includes billing information to purchase the additional bandwidth.