TELECOMMUNICATION AND MULTIMEDIA MANAGEMENT METHOD AND APPARATUS

• US 20090103528A1
• Filed: 08/22/2008
• Published: 04/23/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Voxer IP LLC (Voxer, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rebelvox LLC (Voxer, Inc.)
• Inventors: Katis, Thomas E., Panttaja, Mary G., Ranney, Matthew J., Panttaja, James T.
• Granted Patent: US 8,001,261 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/356
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/23 Reliability checks, e.g. acknowledgments or fault reporting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1083 In-session procedures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4015 where at least one of the additional parallel sessions is real time or time sensitive, e.g. white board sharing, collaboration or spawning of a subconference
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4053 without floor control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/752 adapting media to network capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/764 at the destination reformatting of additional data in video clients H04N21/4355

Abstract

An apparatus for improving the ability of a recipient to review time-sensitive media upon receipt when network conditions are poor. The apparatus includes a media ascertaining element configured to ascertain if media to be sent from a sending node to a receiving node is time-sensitive. A bandwidth-ascertaining element ascertains if there is sufficient bandwidth for transmitting a full bit rate representation of the media at a first bit rate and at a first packetization interval. If the bandwidth is sufficient, a transmitter transmits the full bit rate representation of the media. If the bandwidth is insufficient, then the transmitter generates and transmits a reduced bit rate representation of the media. The reduced bit rate representation is generated by performing one or more of the following (i) using fewer bits per unit time of media when packetizing the media relative to the full bit rate representation; (ii) increasing the packetization interval for the packets used to transmit the reduced bit rate representation; and (iii) adjusting the rate of transmission of the packets used to packetized the reduced bit rate representation of the media.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a sending node, the sending node including;

a media ascertaining element configured to ascertain if media to be sent from the sending node to a receiving node is time-sensitive, the time-sensitivity of the media being ascertained by an intent of a recipient to review the media upon receipt;

a transmitter configured to transmit the media ascertained as time-sensitive from the sending node to the receiving node, the media initially transmitted at a first bit rate and at a first packetization interval, the first bit rate and the first packetization interval sufficient for a full bit rate representation of the media to be reviewed upon receipt, the full bit rate representation of the media being derived from when the media was originally encoded;

a bandwidth-ascertaining element configured to ascertain at the sending node available bandwidth on the network between the sending node and the receiving node based on receipt reports received from the receiving node, the receipt reports containing parameters indicative of media loss on the network between the sending node and the receiving node;

the transmitter further configured to ascertain if the available bandwidth on the network as ascertained by the bandwidth ascertaining element is sufficient to support the continued transmission of the full bit rate representation of the media ascertained as time-sensitive at the first bit rate and the first packetization interval,

the transmitter further configured to either;

continue the transmission of the full bit rate representation of the media ascertained as time-sensitive at the first bit rate and the first packetization interval when the available bandwidth on the network is sufficient;

or

transmit a reduced bit rate representation of the media ascertained as time-sensitive when the available bandwidth on the network is not sufficient, the reduced bit rate representation of the media generated by performing one or more of the following;

(i) using fewer bits per unit of time of media when packetizing the reduced bit rate representation of the media relative to the full bit rate representation of the media;

(ii) adjusting the packetization interval for packets used to packetized the reduced bit rate representation of the media; and

(iii) adjusting the rate of transmission of the packets used to packetized the reduced bit rate representation of the media,

whereby the transmission of the reduced bit rate representation of the media ascertained as time-sensitive enhances the timeliness of the delivery of the media so as to increase the ability of the recipient to review the media upon receipt when the available bandwidth on the network is not sufficient to transmit the full bit rate representation of the media at the first bit rate and the first packetization interval.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the bandwidth ascertaining element is further configured ascertain a data transfer rate sufficient for transmitting the full bit rate representation of the time-sensitive media at the first bit rate and the first packetization interval and the transmitter is further configured to transmit the full bit rate representation of the media at the first bit rate and the first packetization interval when the available bandwidth on the network exceeds the ascertained data transfer rate.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the transmitter, when using fewer bits per unit of time of media when packetizing the reduced bit rate representation of the media, is further configured to progressively lower the number of bits used to represent the media per unit of time when packetizing the reduced bit rate representation of the media.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the transmitter is further configured to, when packetizing the reduced bit rate representation of the media, perform one of the following:

(a) adjusting codec settings, (b) using different codecs, (c) use a compression algorithm, or (d) any combination of (a) through (c).

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the transmitter, when adjusting the packetization interval, is further configured to adjust the packetization interval by progressively adjusting the time interval of the packets to progressively meet the ascertained bandwidth on the network.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the transmitter is further configured to progressively adjust the time interval of the packets by:

progressively increasing the packetization interval of the packets as the available bandwidth on the network decreases;

or

progressively decreasing the packetization interval of the packets as the available bandwidth on the network increases.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the transmitter is further configured to generate the reduced bit rate representation of the media by successively performing (i), (ii) and (iii) as needed to meet the ascertained bandwidth on the network.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the transmitter is further configured to adjust the rate of transmission of the packets used to packetize the reduced bit rate representation of the media by adjusting the rate of transmission of the packets to meet the available bandwidth on the network.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the parameters indicative of the media loss on the network and contained in the receipt reports received by the sending node further comprise one or more of the following network parameters:

throughput, loss and jitter.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the bandwidth-ascertaining element is further configured to ascertain if the amount of media loss on the network exceeds a predetermined media loss threshold.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the receiving node includes a receipt report generator configured to generate the receipt reports sent to the sending node, the receipt reports including parameters indicative of media loss on the network between the sending node and the receiving node.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the receipt report generator at the receiving node further comprises a data quality store configured to note missing, corrupted or the reduced bit rate representations of the media as the media is received at the receiving node.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the receipt report generator at the receiving node is further configured to remove the notation of the media noted in the data quality store as the noted media is received at the receiving node following retransmission.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the media-ascertaining element is further configured ascertain media as time-sensitive when the recipient has indicated an intention to review the media as it is received over the network in a near real-time mode.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the media-ascertaining element is further configured ascertain media as time-sensitive when the recipient retrieves the media from a remote storage location on the network and the recipient has indicated the intent to immediately review the media upon receipt.

16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the intent of the recipient to review the media either immediately upon receipt or at the later time is explicitly declared by the recipient.

17. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the intent of the recipient to review the media either immediately upon receipt or at the later time is inferred from the behavior of the recipient.

18. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sending node comprises a communication device, the communication device consisting of one of the following:

land-line phone, wireless phone, cellular phone, satellite phone, computer, radio, server, satellite radio, tactical radio or tactical phone.

19. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the receiving node comprises a communication device, the communication device consisting of one of the following:

land-line phone, wireless phone, cellular phone, satellite phone, computer, radio, server, satellite radio, tactical radio or tactical phone.

20. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the media is locally generated at the sending node.

21. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sending node is a hop on the network between a remote device transmitting the media and the receiving node.

22. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the receiving node is a hop on the network between the sending node and the recipient.

23. The apparatus claim 1, wherein the media further comprises one or more of the following types of media:

voice, video, text, sensor data, position or GPS information, radio signals, or a combination thereof.

24. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the recipient of the transmitted media is a person.

25. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the recipient of the transmitted media is a service running on a device connected to the network.