FLOW CONTROL

• US 20110181686A1
• Filed: 11/19/2010
• Published: 07/28/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/03/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Apple Computer Incorporated (Apple Inc.), Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Computer Incorporated (Apple Inc.), Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Normile, James Oliver, Abuan, Joe S., Jeong, Hyeonkuk, Salsbury, Ryan R.
• Application Number:
  US12/950,648
• Publication Number:
  US 20110181686A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/14.08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/24 Negotiation of communication capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/147 Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals selecting H04Q

Abstract

A method, apparatus, system, and signal-bearing medium that in an embodiment determine at least one capability of a transfer of data, set at least one parameter that affects performance of the transfer to an initial state based on the capability, detect performance of the transfer, and modify the parameter based on the performance. In this way, the data transfer can adapt to changing capabilities of the network and the devices that send and receive the data.

Claims

1. A method of controlling a transfer of video conferencing data over a network between at least two electronic devices, the method comprising the steps of:

setting at least one parameter to an initial state based on a set of capabilities for the transfer of video conferencing data between the at least two electronic devices, wherein the parameter affects the transfer;

detecting performance of the transfer by evaluating a first performance measure indicative of whether a delay between receipt of a packet of the data and subsequent rendering of the packet exceeds a threshold; and

modifying the at least one parameter based on the detected performance,

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

subsequently repeating the detecting of the performance and modifying the at least one parameter based on the subsequently detected performance.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of determining the set of capabilities for the transfer of video conferencing data between the at least two electronic devices, said determining comprising at least one of:

receiving a user preference, determining a processor speed, determining a camera capability, wherein the camera supplies at least a portion of the data, and determining a bandwidth of a network over which the transfer occurs.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of setting comprises at least one of:

setting an initial frame rate of the transfer, setting an initial video size, and setting an initial bandwidth of the transfer,

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of capabilities for the transfer of video conferencing data. between the at least two electronic devices comprises:

a first set of one or more capabilities for the transfer of video conferencing data determined at a first electronic video conferencing device that is a party to the transfer;

a second set of one or more capabilities for the transfer of video conferencing data that is received at the first video conferencing electronic device from a second electronic device; and

wherein the second electronic device is a party to the transfer,

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of modifying comprises incrementally reducing the at least one parameter.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting only keyframes of the data at the frame rate.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

requesting a sending device to change a volume of the data. sent.

5. The method of claim I, wherein the step of modifying comprises at least one of:

changing an encoded video frame rate to a value that eliminates a congestion, changing a size of video to be encoded to a value that eliminates a congestion, and changing a bandwidth of video encoding to a value that eliminates a congestion.

10. A method of controlling a transfer of video conferencing data over a network, comprising the steps of:

testing a data transfer path to initially determine at least one capability of the transfer of video conferencing data across said path;

setting at least one parameter to an initial state based on the determined transfer capability, wherein the at least one parameter affects the transfer;

beginning transfer of the video conferencing data over said path;

detecting performance of the transfer of the video conferencing by evaluating a first performance measure that indicates whether a delay between receipt of a packet of the data and subsequent rendering of the packet exceeds a threshold;

modifying at least one parameter of the video conferencing data transfer based on the evaluated first performance measure; and

subsequently reevaluating the first performance measure of the video conferencing data transfer and modifying the at least one parameter based on the subsequently reevaluated first performance measure.

11. An apparatus configured to control a transfer of video conferencing data over a network between at least two electronic devices, the apparatus comprising:

means for setting at least one parameter to an initial state based on a set of capabilities for the transfer of video conferencing data between the at least two electronic devices, wherein the at least one parameter affects the transfer;

means for transferring at least a portion of the video conferencing data to a destination device over the network;

means for detecting performance of the transfer by evaluating a first performance measure that includes whether a delay between receipt of a packet of the data and subsequent rendering of the packet exceeds a threshold; and

means for modifying at least one parameter of the video conferencing data transfer based on the detected performance.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the means for detecting subsequently repeats the detecting of the performance and the means for modifying subsequently modifies the at least one parameter based on the subsequently detected performance.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the set of capabilities for the transfer of video conferencing data between the at least two electronic devices comprises a first set of one or more capabilities for the transfer of video conferencing data and a second set of one or more capabilities for the transfer of video conferencing data, the apparatus further comprising:

means for determining the first set of one or more capabilities for the transfer of video conferencing data at a first electronic video conferencing device,

means for receiving the second set of one or more capabilities for the transfer of video conferencing data at the first electronic video conferencing device.

14. A storage medium bearing instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations to control a transfer of video conferencing data over a network between at least two electronic devices, the operations comprising:

setting at least one parameter to an initial state based on a set of capabilities for the transfer of video conferencing data between the at least two electronic devices, wherein the at least one parameter affects the transfer;

beginning the transfer of video conferencing data over the network;

detecting performance of the transfer by evaluating a first performance measure that includes whether a delay between receipt of a packet of the data and subsequent rendering of the packet exceeds a threshold;

modifying the at least one parameter of the video conferencing data transfer based on the detected performance.

15. The storage medium of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise:

subsequently reevaluating the first performance measure of the video conferencing data transfer; and

modifying the at least one parameter based on the subsequently evaluated first performance measure.

16. The storage medium of claim 14, wherein the set of capabilities for the transfer of video conferencing data between the at least two electronic devices comprises a first set of one or more capabilities for the transfer of video conferencing data and a second set of one or more capabilities for the transfer of video conferencing data;

the operations further comprising;

determining the first set of one or more capabilities for the transfer of video conferencing data at a first electronic video conferencing device; and

receiving the second set of one or more capabilities for the transfer of video conferencing data at the first electronic video conferencing device;

17. A first electronic video conferencing device comprising:

a processor; and

a storage device encoding instructions, which when executed on the processor causes the processor to perform operations to control a transfer of video conferencing data over a network between the first electronic video conferencing device and at least a second electronic video conferencing device, the operations comprising,

setting at least one parameter to an initial state based on a set of capabilities for the transfer of video conferencing data between the first electronic video conferencing device and at least the second electronic video conferencing device, wherein the at least one parameter affects the transfer,

beginning the transfer of video conferencing data over the network;

detecting performance of the transfer by evaluating a first performance measure that includes whether a delay between receipt of a packet of the data and subsequent rendering of the packet exceeds a threshold;

modifying the at least one parameter of the video conferencing data transfer based on the detected performance.

18. The first electronic video conferencing device of claim 17, the operations further comprising:

subsequently reevaluating the first performance measure of the video conferencing data transfer; and

modifying the at least one parameter based on the subsequently evaluated first performance measure.

19. The first electronic video conferencing device of claim 17, wherein the set of capabilities for the transfer of video conferencing data between the first electronic video conferencing device and at least the second electronic video conferencing device comprise a first set of one or more capabilities for the transfer of video conferencing data and a second set of one or more capabilities for the transfer of video conferencing data;

the operations further comprising;

determining the first set of one or more capabilities for the transfer of video conferencing data at the first electronic video conferencing device,

receiving the second set of one or more capabilities for the transfer of video conferencing data at the first electronic video conferencing device.