SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONFIGURING MEDIA NETWORK RESOURCES

• US 20080279112A1
• Filed: 05/10/2007
• Published: 11/13/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: SCHRYER, NORMAN L., KILLIAN, THOMAS
• Granted Patent: US 8,660,019 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2809 indicating that an appliance service is present in a home automation network monitoring functionality H04L43/0817; discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services, H04L67/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5051 Service on demand, e.g. definition and deployment of services in real time
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5061 characterised by the interaction between service providers and their network customers, e.g. customer relationship management

Abstract

A system and method for configuring media resources is disclosed. A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a network element having a controller element to present a graphical user interface (GUI) to identify available configuration settings for one or more self-describing services offered to one or more media devices in the network, and manage a network connectivity of the media devices in the network to receive the one or more self-describing services in accordance with a selection of the available configuration settings. Additional embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A computer-readable storage medium, comprising computer instructions for:

querying a network component for connectivity requests presented by one or more self-describing services;

presenting a graphical user interface (GUI) to identify configuration settings available to the one or more media devices requesting the self-describing services;

receiving a selection for an applied configuration setting from the configuration settings available; and

managing a network connectivity of the media devices to receive the one or more self-describing services from the network component in accordance with the applied configuration setting.

2. The storage medium of claim 1, wherein the managing of the network connectivity comprises increasing available bandwidth to a first media device and decreasing the available bandwidth to a second media device.

3. The storage medium of claim 1, comprising computer instructions for receiving self-describing information from the one or more self-describing services, wherein the self-describing information comprises at least one among requirements for bandwidth, port and security.

4. The storage medium of claim 1, wherein the configuration settings comprise at least one among port settings, bandwidth settings, physical addresses, logical addresses, download settings, and security settings.

5. The storage medium of claim 4, wherein the GUI presents a list of selectable bandwidths available to the media devices responsive to the one or more self-describing services requesting a bandwidth for delivering the service.

6. The storage medium of claim 4, wherein the GUI presents a list of selectable media devices responsive to the one or more self-describing service requesting an address for delivery of the service.

7. The storage medium of claim 1, wherein the network component is at least one among a set-top box, router, server, firewall, residential gateway, and a switch.

8. The storage medium of claim 1, wherein the media device is at least one among a television, cell phone, portable music player, printer, fax machine, and remote controller for controlling media presented at the one or more media devices.

9. The storage medium of claim 1, wherein the self-describing service is at least one among MP3 audio streaming service, an MPEG video streaming service, a text messaging service, a broadcast service, a video-on-demand service, a pay-per-view service, and a file sharing service.

10. The storage medium of claim 1, wherein the GUI presents a status window of icons representing the one or more media devices, wherein the icons identify the configuration settings of the one or more media devices.

11. The storage medium of claim 1, comprising computer instructions for:

assessing a network loading associated with receiving at least one self-describing service;

evaluating a network capacity provisioned by an Internet Service Provider (ISP); and

reporting a Quality of Service (QoS) based at least in part on the network loading and the network capacity.

12. The storage medium of claim 11, comprising computer instructions for:

determining an effective bandwidth used by the one or more media devices;

determining an average bandwidth supplied by an Internet Service Provider (ISP); and

presenting a status window that reports the effective bandwidth, the average bandwidth, and a difference in the effective bandwidth and the average bandwidth.

13. The storage medium of claim 12, wherein the status window orders the one or more self-describing services based at least in part on bandwidth usage and presents a warning that identifies the one or more self-describing services or media devices that exceed a provisioned bandwidth usage.

14. The storage medium of claim 12, comprising computer instructions for accepting, rejecting, or modifying a service request for a network resource.

15. A network element, comprising a controller element to:

present a graphical user interface (GUI) to identify configuration settings available to one or more media devices in a network for receiving a media service; and

manage a network connectivity of the one or more media devices in the network to receive one or more self-describing services in accordance with a selection of the available configuration settings.

16. The network element of claim 15, wherein the controller identifies connectivity requests of the one or more self-describing services offered to the one or more media devices in the network, and wherein the available configuration settings are associated with the connectivity requests.

17. The network element of claim 15, wherein the one or more self-describing services provide self-describing information comprising at least one among requirements for bandwidth, port and security.

18. The network element of claim 15, wherein the managing of the network connectivity comprises increasing available bandwidth to a first media device and decreasing the available bandwidth to a second media device.

19. The network element of claim 15, wherein the controller:

presents the GUI to the one or more media devices; and

receives a selection for an applied configuration setting from the configuration settings presented in the GUI.

20. The network element of claim 15, wherein the configuration settings comprise at least one among port settings, bandwidth settings, physical addresses, logical addresses, download settings, and security settings.

21. The network element of claim 15, wherein the self-describing service is at least one among MP3 audio streaming service, an MPEG video streaming service, a text messaging service, a broadcast service, a video-on-demand service, a pay-per-view service, and a file sharing service.

22. A media device comprising a controller element to present a graphical user interface (GUI) to identify configuration settings associated with a connectivity of a self-describing service available to the media device.

23. The media device of claim 22, wherein the controller element receives a selection of the configuration settings and manages the connectivity of the media device to receive the self-describing service in accordance with the selected configuration setting.

24. The media device of claim 23, wherein the managing of the connectivity comprises increasing available bandwidth to the media device.

25. The media device of claim 22, wherein the self-describing service provides self-describing information comprising at least one among requirements for bandwidth, port and security.

26. The media device of claim 22, wherein the configuration settings comprise at least one among port settings, bandwidth settings, physical addresses, logical addresses, download settings, and security settings.

27. The media device of claim 22, wherein the media device is at least one among a television, cell phone, portable music player, printer, fax machine, and a remote controller for controlling media presented at the media device.

28. A method for configuring media network resources, the method comprising:

identifying connectivity requirements of a self-describing service;

determining configuration settings of the media network resources that at least in part satisfy a portion of the connectivity requirements; and

presenting a graphical user interface (GUI) to identify the configuration settings available to the media network resources for receiving the self-describing service.

29. The method of claim 28, comprising:

receiving a selection for an applied configuration setting from the configuration settings available in the GUI; and

applying the selection to the media network resources to connect with the self-describing service in accordance with the applied configuration setting.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the selection for the applied configuration setting comprises increasing available bandwidth to a first media device and decreasing the available bandwidth to a second media device.

31. The method of claim 28, comprising receiving self-describing information from the self-describing service, wherein the self-describing information comprises at least one among requirements for bandwidth, port and security.

32. The method of claim 28, wherein the configuration settings comprise at least one among port settings, bandwidth settings, physical addresses, logical addresses, download settings, and security settings.