METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR STREAMING MULTIPLE SCALABLE CODED VIDEO CONTENT TO CLIENT DEVICES AT DIFFERENT ENCODING RATES

• US 20100161716A1
• Filed: 12/22/2008
• Published: 06/24/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: General Instrument Corporation (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: General Instrument Corporation (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kajos, George W., Hughes, Gary
• Application Number:
  US12/341,222
• Publication Number:
  US 20100161716A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2221 being a cable television head-end CATV in broadcast systems H04H20/78
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234327 by decomposing into layers, e.g. base layer and one or more enhancement layers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2358 for generating different versions, e.g. for different recipient devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25808 Management of client data terminal profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/303
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25833 involving client hardware characteristics, e.g. manufacturer, processing or storage capabilities allocation of resources considering hardware capabilities in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/5044; allocation of resources considering software capabilities in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/5055
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26208 the scheduling operation being performed under constraints
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2662 Controlling the complexity of the video stream, e.g. by scaling the resolution or bitrate of the video stream based on the client capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38

Abstract

A method of delivering content to a client device over a network includes establishing communication with a first client device over a network. A first message is received over the network that indicates the content rendering capabilities of the first client device. Based on the first message, content is transmitted to the first client device over the network in a format that is fully decodable by the first client device in accordance with its content rendering capabilities.

Claims

1. A method of delivering content to a client device over a network, comprising:

establishing communication with a first client device over a network;

receiving over the network a first message that indicates content rendering capabilities of the first client device; and

based on the first message, transmitting content to the first client device over the network in a format that is fully decodable by the first client device in accordance with its content rendering capabilities.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the content is scalable coded into a plurality of layers and further comprising transmitting a selected number of the layers to the first client device based on the content rendering capabilities of the first client device.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the content comprises video content and the content rendering capabilities include a display resolution capability of the first client device.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the content is streamed to the first client device.

5. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

receiving the content in a scalable coded format; and

transcoding the content to select the layers to be transmitted to the first client device.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising transforming the content from a video transport stream to an IP transport stream.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the video transport stream is an MPEG Transport Stream and the IP transport stream includes at least one RTP transport stream.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the first message is received in accordance with a session-establishing signaling protocol.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

establishing communication with a second client device over the network;

receiving over the network a second message that indicates content rendering capabilities of the second client device; and

based on the second message, transmitting the content to the second client device over the network in a second format that is fully decodable by the second client device in accordance with its content rendering capabilities.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the second format is different from the first format and the content is scalable coded into a plurality of layers and the first format includes a first number of layers of the scalable coded content and the second format includes a second number of layers of the scalable coded content, wherein the first and second number of layers are different from one another.

11. A headend for delivering content over one or more networks, comprising:

a scalable transcoder for receiving programming content and generating a scalably encoded programming stream therefrom, the scalably encoded programming stream including a plurality of layers; and

a streaming server for receiving the scalably encoded programming stream, wherein the streaming server, responsive to a user request for the programming content, is configured to output for transmission over a network a transport stream in which the content is encoded at a bit rate corresponding to a resolution capability of a client device from which the user request is received.

12. The headend of claim 11 further comprising a gateway for transforming the transport stream that is transmitted over the network from a video transport format to an IP transport format.

13. The headend of claim 12 wherein the video transport format is an MPEG format and the IP transport format is RTP.

14. The headend of claim 11 wherein the streaming server is configured to receive the user request in accordance with a SIP or RTSP signaling protocol.

15. At least one computer-readable medium encoded with instructions which, when executed by a processor, performs a method including:

based on a characteristic of a first client device, selecting a first number of layers of a scalable coded content file;

delivering the first number of layers to the first client device over a network;

based on a characteristic of a second first client device, selecting a second number of layers of the scalable coded content file; and

delivering the second number of layers to the second client device over the network.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 wherein the first number of layers is streamed to the first client device in an MPEG transport stream and the second number of layers is streamed to the second client device in an RTP transport stream.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 wherein the characteristic of the first and second client devices includes a display resolution capability.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 16 further comprising transforming the second number of layers from an MPEG transport stream to the RTP transport stream.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 further comprising transcoding the scalable coded file content to select the first and second number of layers.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 17 wherein the first number of layers consumes less bandwidth than the second number of layers and the display resolution capability of the first client device is less than the display resolution capability of the second client device.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 wherein the first and second number of layers may be varied dynamically to adjust to changing network bandwidth availability.