METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING A GEO-PREDICTIVE STREAMING SERVICE

• US 20120009890A1
• Filed: 07/09/2010
• Published: 01/12/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/09/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Curcio, Igor Danilo Diego, Singh, Varun, Vinod, Kumar Malamal Vadakital
• Granted Patent: US 8,391,896 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/230
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/34 Route searching; Route guidance
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0002 by adapting the transmission rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0014 by adapting the source coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0015 characterised by the adaptation strategy
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/04 Arrangements for maintaining operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

A method for providing geo-predictive streaming services may include receiving, at a mobile terminal, an indication of network performance parameters associated with a corresponding time and location of a projected route of the mobile terminal, determining, at the mobile terminal, whether a portion of the projected route corresponds to an outage event with respect to data being streamed to the mobile terminal, and, in response to a determination that the outage event corresponds to the portion of the projected route, causing communication of at least one of a geo-predictive next application data unit and an estimated capacity vector to a streaming server to a streaming server providing the data being streamed to cause a modification to a data transmission rate at which data is to be streamed to the mobile terminal. A corresponding computer program product, system and apparatus are also provided.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a mobile terminal, an indication of network performance parameters associated with a corresponding time and location of a projected route of the mobile terminal;

determining, at the mobile terminal, whether a portion of the projected route corresponds to an outage event with respect to data being streamed to the mobile terminal; and

in response to a determination that the outage event corresponds to the portion of the projected route, causing communication of at least one of a geo-predictive next application data unit and an estimated capacity vector to a streaming server, providing the data being streamed, to cause a modification to a data transmission rate at which data is to be streamed to the mobile terminal,

wherein the geo-predictive next application data unit comprises a total buffer space, an amount of data deficit associated with the outage event, and a buffering compensation time, and wherein the estimated capacity vector comprises at least one expected channel capacity and at least one time offset corresponding to said at least one expected channel capacity.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising at least one of:

providing a report on local network performance parameters to a congestion map server that uses the report along with reports from a plurality of other mobile terminals to define a congestion map associating network performance parameters with corresponding geographic locations,

providing a location-specific update from the mobile terminal to the congestion map server, the location-specific update comprising information indicative of operator name, current position, radio signal strength, throughput, trajectory, direction, speed of the user or age of the information, and

causing provision of a look-ahead request to the congestion map server and receiving a look-ahead response from the congestion map server, the look-ahead request defining operator name, current position, trajectory, direction, speed of the user or look-ahead distance, the look-ahead response defining a future location and corresponding expected channel capacity.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting updated speed information of the mobile terminal to the streaming server, said updated speed information being used by the streaming server to adjust one or more of said buffering compensation time period and said at least one time offset corresponding to said at least one expected channel capacity.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising at least one of:

determining a starting time of the outage event,

determining a duration of the outage event, and

determining an amount of data deficit associated with the outage event.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein causing communication of the information includes requesting an increase in the data transmission rate such that data at least equivalent to the amount of data deficit is to be received prior to the starting time of the outage event.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein requesting the increase in the data transmission rate further comprises determining a time for initiation of the increase in the rate such that a period during which the increase in the rate is applicable occurs proximate to the start of the outage event.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein requesting the increase in the data transmission rate further comprises defining the request based on expected channel capacity values corresponding to areas along the projected route that are encountered prior to a time of onset of the outage event.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising at least one of:

determining the projected route based on a current location of the mobile terminal and a current speed and direction of motion of the mobile terminal, and

determining the projected route based on route guidance being provided to the mobile terminal to guide a user of the mobile terminal to a selected destination.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the geo-predictive next application data unit further comprises at least one of an expected time duration of the outage event and estimated capacity vector.

10. An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least:

receive, at a mobile terminal, an indication of network performance parameters associated with a corresponding time and location of a projected route of the mobile terminal;

determine, at the mobile terminal, whether a portion of the projected route corresponds to an outage event with respect to data being streamed to the mobile terminal; and

in response to a determination that the outage event corresponds to the portion of the projected route, cause communication of at least one of a geo-predictive next application data unit and an estimated capacity vector to a streaming server providing the data being streamed to cause a modification to a data transmission rate at which data is to be streamed to the mobile terminal,

wherein the geo-predictive next application data unit comprises a total buffer space, an amount of data deficit associated with the outage event, and a buffering compensation time, and wherein the estimated capacity vector comprises at least one expected channel capacity and at least one time offset corresponding to said at least one expected channel capacity.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least one of providing a report on local network performance parameters to a congestion map server that uses the report along with reports from a plurality of other mobile terminals to define a congestion map associating network performance parameters with corresponding geographic locations

providing a location-specific update from the mobile terminal to the congestion map server, the location-specific update comprising information indicative of operator name, current position, radio signal strength, throughput, trajectory, direction, speed of the user or age of the information, and

causing provision of a look-ahead request to the congestion map server and receiving a look-ahead response from the congestion map server, the look-ahead request defining operator name, current position, trajectory, direction, speed of the user or look-ahead distance, the look-ahead response defining a future location and corresponding expected channel capacity.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to transmit updated speed information of the mobile terminal to the streaming server, said updated speed information being used by the streaming server to adjust one or more of said buffering compensation time period and said at least one time offset corresponding to said at least one expected channel capacity.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:

determine a start time of the outage event;

determine a duration of the outage event; and

determine an amount of data deficit associated with the outage event.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to cause communication of the information by requesting an increase in the data transmission rate such that data at least equivalent to the amount of data deficit is to be received prior to the starting time of the outage event.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to request the increase in the data transmission rate based on determining a time for initiation of the increase in the rate such that a period during which the increase in the rate is applicable occurs proximate to the start of the outage event.

16. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to request the increase in the data transmission rate based on defining the request based on expected channel capacity values corresponding to areas along the projected route that are encountered prior to a time of onset of the outage event.

17. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least one of determining the projected route based on a current location of the mobile terminal and a current speed and direction of motion of the mobile terminal;

and determining the projected route based on route guidance being provided to the mobile terminal to guide a user of the mobile terminal to a selected destination.

18. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the apparatus is a mobile terminal and further comprises user interface circuitry configured to facilitate user control of at least some functions of the mobile terminal.

19. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the geo-predictive next application data unit further comprises at least one of an expected time duration of the outage event and estimated capacity vector.

20. A computer program product comprising at least one computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable program code instructions stored therein, the computer-executable program code instructions comprising program code instructions for:

receiving, at a mobile terminal, an indication of network performance parameters associated with a corresponding time and location of a projected route of the mobile terminal;

determining, at the mobile terminal, whether a portion of the projected route corresponds to an outage event with respect to data being streamed to the mobile terminal; and

in response to a determination that the outage event corresponds to the portion of the projected route, causing communication of at least one of a geo-predictive next application data unit and an estimated capacity vector to a streaming server, providing the data being streamed, to cause a modification to a data transmission rate at which data is to be streamed to the mobile terminal,

wherein the geo-predictive next application data unit comprises a total buffer space, an amount of data deficit associated with the outage event, and a buffering compensation time, and wherein the estimated capacity vector comprises at least one expected channel capacity and at least one time offset corresponding to said at least one expected channel capacity.

21. A system comprising:

a mobile terminal receiving streamed data;

a streaming server providing the streamed data to the mobile terminal; and

a congestion map server,

wherein the mobile terminal is configured to receive an indication of network performance parameters associated with a corresponding time and location of a projected route of the mobile terminal from the congestion map server, determine whether a portion of the projected route corresponds to an outage event with respect to data being streamed to the mobile terminal, and, in response to a determination that the outage event corresponds to the portion of the projected route, causing communication of at least one of a geo-predictive next application data unit and an estimated capacity vector to the streaming server to cause the streaming server to modify a data transmission rate of the data being streamed to the mobile terminal,

wherein the geo-predictive next application data unit comprises a total buffer space, an amount of data deficit associated with the outage event, and a buffering compensation time, and wherein the estimated capacity vector comprises at least one expected channel capacity and at least one time offset corresponding to said at least one expected channel capacity.

22. A method comprising:

providing streaming data to a mobile terminal;

receiving, in response to a determination by the mobile terminal that an outage event corresponds to a portion of a projected route of the mobile terminal, communication of at least one of a geo-predictive next application data unit and an estimated capacity vector; and

causing modification of a data transmission rate at which data is to be streamed to the mobile terminal based on the at least one of the geo-predictive next application data unit and the estimated capacity vector,

wherein the geo-predictive next application data unit comprises a total buffer space, an amount of data deficit associated with the outage event, and a buffering compensation time, and wherein the estimated capacity vector comprises at least one expected channel capacity and at least one time offset corresponding to said at least one expected channel capacity.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising receiving updated speed information of the mobile terminal, said updated speed information being usable to adjust one or more of said buffering compensation time period and said at least one time offset corresponding to said at least one expected channel capacity.

24. An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least:

provide streaming data to a mobile terminal;

receive, in response to a determination by the mobile terminal that an outage event corresponds to a portion of a projected route of the mobile terminal, communication of at least one of a geo-predictive next application data unit and an estimated capacity vector; and

causing modification of a data transmission rate at which data is to be streamed to the mobile terminal based on the at least one of the geo-predictive next application data unit and the estimated capacity vector,

wherein the geo-predictive next application data unit comprises a total buffer space, an amount of data deficit associated with the outage event, and a buffering compensation time, and wherein the estimated capacity vector comprises at least one expected channel capacity and at least one time offset corresponding to said at least one expected channel capacity.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to receive updated speed information of the mobile terminal, said updated speed information being usable to adjust one or more of said buffering compensation time period and said at least one time offset corresponding to said at least one expected channel capacity.