Adaptive video-server reconfiguration for self-optimizing multi-tier IPTV networks

• US 20080046912A1
• Filed: 07/25/2006
• Published: 02/21/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Sbc Knowledge Ventures, L.P.
• Inventors: Li, Zhi, Ou, Canhui, Gemelos, Steven
• Granted Patent: US 9,247,208 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/14
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/06 among broadcast stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/12 Arrangements for observation, testing or troubleshooting
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/31 Arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/66 for using the result on distributors' side
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2221 being a cable television head-end CATV in broadcast systems H04H20/78
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2225 Local VOD servers
• 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 21/2405 Monitoring of the internal components or processes of the server, e.g. server load allocation of resources in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/50; performance measurement of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44222 Analytics of user selections, e.g. selection of programs or purchase activity monitoring of user selections in data processing systems G06F11/34; arrangements for monitoring the user's behaviour or opinions in broadcast systems H04H60/33
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4622 Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64761 directed to the server
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

Various embodiments of the disclosed subject matter provide apparatus, methods, and systems including an input to receive data associated with a channel viewership of a network; a distribution unit coupled to the input, the distribution unit to determine one or more relative viewership distributions based on the data; and a configuration unit coupled to the distribution unit, the configuration unit to provide one or more reconfiguration settings for one or more reconfigurable servers coupled to the network.

Claims

1. An apparatus including:

an input to receive data associated with a channel viewership of a network;

a distribution unit coupled to the input, the distribution unit to determine one or more relative viewership distributions based on the data; and

a configuration unit coupled to the distribution unit, the configuration unit to provide one or more reconfiguration settings for one or more reconfigurable servers coupled to the network.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the data associated with the channel viewership of the network includes a count of the number of times a request for a broadcast video stream was made during a given time window.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more relative viewership distributions includes an indication of which of a plurality of channels providing a broadcast video stream to the network are likely to be most demanded during a given time window by one or more subscribers coupled to the network.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the input is coupled to the network including one or more subscriber devices, and the data associated with the channel viewership on the network includes the number of times one or more subscribers makes a request for a particular broadcast video stream being provided on the network during a given time window, and wherein the data associated with the channel viewership is obtained by monitoring the requests during the given time window.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the input is coupled to a data input device, the data input device providing the data associated with the channel viewership of the network.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the data provided by the data input device includes one or more channel selections of one or more subscribers over a period of time.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the distribution unit includes one or more counters for one or more channels included in the data associated with the channel viewership of the network.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more relative viewership distributions includes an ordering of one or more channels available on the network.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the ordering of the one or more channels includes a determination of a subset of the one or more channels representative of a target hit rate.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the one or more reconfiguration settings are determined so as to reconfigure one or more of the reconfigurable servers on the network to provide the target hit rate for a particular time period.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the configuration unit is coupled to the one or more reconfigurable servers through the network.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the data associated with the channel viewership of the network is received at the input by monitoring over the network each of one or more channel selections being made by one or more subscriber devices coupled to the network.

13. A system comprising:

a network;

one or more reconfigurable servers coupled to the network, the one or more reconfigurable servers to provide a plurality of broadcast video streams to the network; and

a reconfiguration unit coupled to the one or more reconfigurable servers, the reconfiguration unit to provide one or more reconfiguration settings to at least one of the one or more reconfigurable servers.

14. The system of claim 13, further including one or more subscriber devices coupled to the network, the one or more subscriber devices to receive one or more of the plurality of broadcast video streams.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the one or more reconfiguration settings provided to at least one of the one or more of the reconfigurable servers are determined so as to provide at least a target hit rate of a plurality of channels requested by one or more subscribers coupled to the network during a time window.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein at least one of the one or more reconfigurable servers is located in a first tier of the network, the first tier being the tier of the network closest to one or more subscriber devices coupled to the network.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the reconfiguration settings for at least one of the one or more reconfigurable servers in the first tier is determined based on a relative viewership distribution.

18. The system of claim 17, further including a second tier of the network, the second tier of the network including one or more second tier servers coupled to the first tier of the network.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein at least one of the one or more reconfigurable servers is a video-distribution server.

20. The system of claim 13, wherein the network is a internet protocol television network.

21. A method comprising:

determining the number of times a channel is requested by one or more subscribers within a time window for one or more of a plurality of channels;

generating one or more relative viewership distributions for one or more of the plurality of channels for the time window; and

performing adaptive channel assignments for one or more reconfigurable servers coupled to a network based on the one or more relative viewership distributions.

22. The method of claim 21, further including:

requesting over the network a broadcast video stream related to a particular channel,

providing the requested broadcast video stream from at least one of the one or more reconfigurable servers if the one or more reconfigurable servers are configured to provide the particular channel.

23. The method of claim 21, further including:

determining that a requested broadcast video stream in not available from any one of the one or more reconfigurable servers, and

providing the requested broadcast video stream for one or more additional servers.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein performing adaptive channel assignments includes reconfiguring the one or more reconfigurable servers so as to provide one or more channels with a highest relative viewership based on at least one of the relative viewership distributions for the time window.

25. The method of claim 21, further including varying a length of time for the time window based on a time of day.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein a first length of time for the time window is used during a first time of day, and a second length of time for the time window is used during a second time of day.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the second length of time is longer than the first length of time.

28. The method of claim 21, further including varying a length of time for the time window using a day of the week.

29. The method of claim 21, wherein performing adaptive channel assignments includes modifying the adaptive channel assignments based on a special event.

30. The method of claim 21, wherein generating the one or more relative viewership distributions includes counting a number of times any one of one or more subscribers switches to a particular channel of the one or more plurality of channels during the time window.

31. The method of claim 21, wherein performing adaptive channel assignments for the one or more reconfigurable servers includes determining a number of servers required to provide at least a target hit rate of at least one of the relative viewership distributions.

32. A machine-readable medium storing a set of instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:

determine the number of times a channel is requested by one or more subscribers within a time window for one or more of a plurality of channels;

generate one or more relative viewership distributions for one or more of the plurality of channels for the time window; and

perform adaptive channel assignments for one or more reconfigurable servers coupled to a network based on the one or more relative viewership distributions.