SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTENT COMMUNICATION

• US 20100058406A1
• Filed: 01/11/2007
• Published: 03/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thomson Licensing (Vantiva SA)
• Original Assignee: Thomson Licensing SA (Vantiva SA)
• Inventors: Xu, Yan, Li, Jun, Ma, Xiaojun
• Granted Patent: US 8,732,777 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/97
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1881 with schedule organisation, e.g. priority, sequence management
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2393 involving handling client requests scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2402 Monitoring of the downstream path of the transmission network, e.g. bandwidth available traffic monitoring in data switching networks H04L43/00; monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/262 Content or additional data distribution scheduling, e.g. sending additional data at off-peak times, updating software modules, calculating the carousel transmission frequency, delaying a video stream transmission, generating play-lists scheduling strategies for dispatcher in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/4881; arrangements for scheduling broadcast services or broadcast-related services H04H60/06; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10; establishing a time schedule or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/62
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26208 the scheduling operation being performed under constraints
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47208 for requesting near-video-on-demand content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6405 Multicasting data broadcast and multicast in packet switching networks H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments

Abstract

A system such as a multicast VOD system communicates content, e.g., delivers content or receives content, responsive to a user request for content and according to a schedule adapted to a user-specified acceptable latency for content delivery. The schedule may be modified to minimize initiation of delivery of content in response to the user'"'"'s request. The schedule may also be modified to delay delivery of subsequent portions of the content as late as possible to allow subsequent requests to share a content stream while not exceeding the acceptable latency parameter specified by the user.

Claims

1. A method of communicating content comprising:

receiving a request for a content;

generating a schedule for delivering the content;

determining whether the schedule will satisfy a delay parameter of the request;

modifying the schedule to delay delivery of a portion of the content responsive to determining that the delay parameter is satisfied.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein modifying the schedule comprises:

detecting a first time interval of the schedule for delivering the content during which bandwidth is available; and

adjusting the schedule for delaying delivery of the portion of the content to occur during the time interval.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the request is received from a client device and the delay parameter comprises a delay limit established by a user of the client device.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the schedule comprises a plurality of time intervals including a first time interval during which delivery of the portion of the content is scheduled for delivery, the content comprises a plurality of blocks of information, and the portion comprises a first one of the plurality of blocks of information;

and wherein modifying the schedule comprises;

determining that additional bandwidth is needed to deliver the portion of the content during the first interval,

delaying transmission of the first block to occur during a second time interval during which additional bandwidth is available, the second time interval occurring subsequent to the first time interval; and

determining whether a delay in transmission resulting from a delay from the first interval to the second interval exceeds a delay limit associated with the delay parameter.

5. A method of delivering content comprising:

receiving a request for a content; and

generating a schedule for delivering the content with a first delay for an initial portion of the content and with a second delay for a subsequent portion of the content, wherein generating the schedule comprises selecting the first delay to minimize the time from receiving the request to delivery of the initial portion of the content, and selecting the second delay to satisfy a delay parameter associated with the request and increase a delay of delivery of the subsequent portion.

6. A method of receiving content comprising:

requesting a content from a content provider;

providing a delivery delay limit to the content provider;

receiving the content according to a schedule including a first time for starting delivery of an initial portion of the content and a second time for starting delivery of a subsequent portion of the content, wherein the first time minimizes a delay from receiving the request to starting delivery of the initial portion of the content, and the second time satisfies the delivery delay limit while also increasing a delay for starting delivery of the subsequent portion of the content.

7. A system for delivering content comprising:

an interface for receiving a request from a requesting device for a content and receiving a delay parameter from the requesting device;

a scheduler coupled to the interface and responsive to the request for delivering the content to the requesting device according to a schedule, wherein the scheduler modifies the schedule responsive to a delay parameter of the requesting device for delaying delivery of a portion of the content and determines that the delay parameter is satisfied.

8. A method of delivering content comprising steps of:

receiving a request for a content;

generating a schedule for delivering the content in responsive to the request; and

transmitting a message indicating a delay time for transmitting the content.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising a step of determining whether the schedule will satisfy a delay parameter of the request, wherein if the schedule will not satisfy the delay parameter, the message indicates that the request is denied.