System and Method for Monitoring Whole Home Digital Video Recorder Usage for Internet Protocol Television

• US 20110093907A1
• Filed: 10/16/2009
• Published: 04/21/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Malee, Daniel P., Mathew, John, Earnshaw, Marisa, Ospalik, Kenneth, Tektumanidze, Giya
• Granted Patent: US 8,434,121 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/95
• 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 21/26216 involving the channel capacity, e.g. network bandwidth admission control, resource allocation in open networks H04L12/5692; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10; establishing a schedule or organising the servicing of application requests taking into account QoS H04L67/61
• 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 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17336 Handling of requests in head-ends

Abstract

A method for monitoring a bandwidth configuration for a plurality of customer premises connected to a video head-end office in an Internet Protocol television network is disclosed. The bandwidth configuration is received for each of the plurality of customer premises. The bandwidth configuration is stored for each of the plurality of customer premises in a memory of a first server. A data file is received from the video head-end office. The data file indicates that a set-top box device located at one of the customer premises has requested a video stream that would exceed a first number of video streams available to the one of the customer premises and that would exceed a first bandwidth currently available between the video head-end office and the one of the customer premises. The data file is stored in the memory of the first server.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a bandwidth configuration for each of a plurality of customer premises connected to a video head-end office in an Internet Protocol television network;

storing the bandwidth configuration for each of the plurality of customer premises in a memory of a first server in the Internet Protocol television network;

receiving a data file from the video head-end office of the Internet Protocol television network, wherein the data file indicates that a set-top box device located at one of the customer premises has requested a video stream that would exceed a first number of video streams available to the one of the customer premises and that would exceed a first bandwidth currently available between the video head-end office and the one of the customer premises; and

storing the data file in the memory of the first server.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

formatting the data file for use in a second server; and

transmitting the formatted data file to the second server.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

determining a second bandwidth to provide to the one of the customer premises based on the formatted data file.

4. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

determining a second number of video streams to provide to the one of the customer premises based on the formatted data file.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the data file includes identification for the set-top box device that requested video stream that would exceed the first bandwidth currently available.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the data file includes a total bandwidth utilized by a total number of video streams transmitted from the video head-end office to the one of the customer premises.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the data file includes a number of high definition video streams and a number of standard definition video streams being transmitted to the one of the customer premises when the video stream was requested.

8. A method comprising:

receiving a bandwidth configuration for a customer premises connected to a video head-end office in an Internet Protocol television network;

storing the bandwidth configuration in a memory of a server;

receiving a data file associated with the customer premises connected to the video head-end office in the Internet Protocol television network, wherein the data file indicates that a set-top box device located at the customer premises has requested a video stream that would exceed a first number of video streams available to the customer premises and that would exceed a first bandwidth currently available between the video head-end office and the customer premises; and

storing the data file in the memory of the server;

determining a second number of video streams requested by the customer premises when the data file was generated; and

providing a third number of video streams to the customer premises from the video head-end office in the Internet Protocol television network based on a difference between the first number of video streams and the second number of video streams.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

formatting the bandwidth configuration and the data file for use in the server;

transmitting the formatted bandwidth configuration to the server; and

transmitting the formatted data file to the server.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

determining a second bandwidth to provide to the customer premises based on the formatted data file.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein the data file includes identification for the set-top box device that requested the video stream that would exceed the first number of video streams available to the customer premises and that would exceed the first bandwidth currently available between the video head-end office and the customer premises.

12. The method of claim 8 wherein the data file includes a total bandwidth utilized by a total number of video streams transmitted from the video head-end office to the customer premises.

13. The method of claim 8 wherein the data file includes a number of high definition video streams and a number of standard definition video streams being transmitted to the customer premises when the video stream was requested.

14. The method of claim 8 wherein the data file includes an indication that the requested video stream would exceed the first number of video streams allowed over a communication link between the customer premises and the video head-end office.

15. An Internet Protocol television system comprising:

a video head-end office configured to generate a bandwidth configuration for a communication link between the video head-end office and a customer premises, and further configured to generate a data file, wherein the data file indicates that a set-top box device located at the customer premises has requested a video stream that would exceed a first number of video streams available to the customer premises and that would exceed a first bandwidth currently available between the video head-end office and the customer premises;

a first server in communication with the video head-end office, the first server configured to receive the bandwidth configuration and the data file from the video head-end office, and further configured to format the bandwidth configuration and the data file; and

a second server in communication with the first server, the second server configured to receive the formatted bandwidth configuration and the formatted data file, and to update the bandwidth configuration for the communication link based on the formatted data file.

16. The Internet Protocol television system of claim 15 wherein the second server is further configured to determining a second bandwidth to provide to the customer premises based on the formatted data file.

17. The Internet Protocol television system of claim 15 wherein the bandwidth configuration includes a total bandwidth allocated to the customer premises, and a total number of high definition video streams and a total number of standard definition video streams available for ingress and egress from the customer premises.

18. The Internet Protocol television system of claim 15 wherein the data file includes a total bandwidth utilized by a total number of video streams transmitted from the video head-end office to the one of the plurality of customer premises.

19. The Internet Protocol television system of claim 15 wherein the data file includes a number of high definition video streams and a number of standard definition video streams being transmitted to the one of the plurality of customer premises when the video stream was requested.

20. The Internet Protocol television system of claim 15 wherein the data file includes identification for the set-top box device that requested the video stream that would exceed the first number of video streams available to the customer premises and that would exceed the first bandwidth currently available between the video head-end office and the customer premises.