QUALITY OF EXPERIENCE REPORTING FOR COMBINED UNICAST-MULTICAST/BROADCAST STREAMING OF MEDIA CONTENT

• US 20130268577A1
• Filed: 09/27/2012
• Published: 10/10/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/09/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Oyman, Ozgur
• Granted Patent: US 9,438,883 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1863 comprising mechanisms for improved reliability, e.g. status reports arrangements for detecting or preventing errors by carrying supervisory signal the return channel H04L1/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/189 in combination with wireless systems selective distribution or broadcast in wireless communication networks H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0051 of dedicated pilots, i.e. pilots destined for a single user or terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/611 for multicast or broadcast systems for broadcast or conference H04L12/18; arrangements for broadcast or distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/00; arrangements for broadcast applications with a direct linkage to broadcast information or to broadcast space-time H04H60/00; selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS], H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/613 for the control of the source by the destination control signals issued by the client directed to the server or network components specially adapted for selective content distribution H04N21/637
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/65 Network streaming protocols, e.g. real-time transport protocol [RTP] or real-time control protocol [RTCP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/70 Media network packetisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/756 adapting media to device capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/762 at the source reformatting of additional data in video distribution servers H04N21/2355
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/00 Stereoscopic video systems; Multi-view video systems; Details thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/194 Transmission of image signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/105 Selection of the reference unit for prediction within a chosen coding or prediction mode, e.g. adaptive choice of position and number of pixels used for prediction
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/147 according to rate distortion criteria rate-distortion as a criterion for motion estimation H04N19/567
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/196 being specially adapted for the computation of encoding parameters, e.g. by averaging previously computed encoding parameters processing of motion vectors H04N19/513
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/44 : Decoders specially adapted therefor, e.g. video decoders which are asymmetric with respect to the encoder
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/46 : Embedding additional information in the video signal during the compression process H04N19/517, H04N19/68, H04N19/70 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/463 : by compressing encoding parameters before transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/597 : specially adapted for multi-view video sequence encoding
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/70 : characterised by syntax aspects related to video coding, e.g. related to compression standards
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/80 : Details of filtering operations specially adapted for video compression, e.g. for pixel interpolation H04N19/635, H04N19/86 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234309 : by transcoding between formats or standards, e.g. from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 or from Quicktime to Realvideo conversion of standards in analog television systems H04N7/01
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2353 : specifically adapted to content descriptors, e.g. coding, compressing or processing of metadata
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2404 : Monitoring of server processing errors or hardware failure error or fault detection G06F11/07; monitoring in general G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25825 : involving client display capabilities, e.g. screen resolution of a mobile phone optimising the visualisation of content during browsing in the Internet G06F16/9577; processing of terminal status or physical abilities in wireless networks H04W8/22; authentication in wireless network security H04W12/06
• 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 21/26258 : for generating a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlist, or scheduling item distribution according to such list retrieval of multimedia data based on playlists G06F16/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44209 : Monitoring of downstream path of the transmission network originating from a server, e.g. bandwidth variations of a wireless network arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4424 : Monitoring of the internal components or processes of the client device, e.g. CPU or memory load, processing speed, timer, counter or percentage of the hard disk space used error monitoring in general G06F11/30; arrangements for monitoring conditions of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/32; diagnosis, testing or measuring for television receivers H04N17/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 : involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6131 : involving transmission via a mobile phone network wireless downlink channel access H04W74/006
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/643 : Communication protocols network streaming protocols, e.g. real-time transport protocol [RTP] or real-time control protocol [RTCP], H04L65/65
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6437 : Real-time Transport Protocol [RTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/816 : involving special video data, e.g 3D video
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 : by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 : Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 : Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 : Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 60/04 : using triggered events
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/12 : Setup of transport tunnels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/16 : Involving different core network technologies, e.g. a packet-switched [PS] bearer in combination with a circuit-switched [CS] bearer
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/40 : for selective distribution or broadcast
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure describe devices, methods, computer-readable media and systems configurations for monitoring and reporting quality of experience (QoE) metrics that are associated with an access method. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a media player configured to receive, from a media server through one or more radio access network (RAN) components, dynamic adaptive streaming over hypertext transfer protocol (DASH)-formatted content via a unicast access method or a multicast/broadcast access method; and

a quality of experience (QoE) monitoring module coupled to the media player and configured to;

record a plurality of QoE metrics, wherein a first QoE metric of the plurality of QoE metrics includes an indication of an access method, which comprises the unicast access method or the multicast/broadcast access method, or an indication of an access switch event, which comprises an access switch between the unicast access method and the multicast/broadcast access method, with which the first QoE metric is associated; and

transmit the plurality of QoE metrics to a QoE reporting server.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first QoE metric comprises a representation switch event metric based on a representation switch that corresponds to a switch from receiving a first media content representation to receiving a second media content representation.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the representation switch event metric includes an access-method attribute to indicate the access method.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first QoE metric includes the indication of the access switch event, which comprises an access switch from a unicast access method to a multicast/broadcast access method or from a multicast/broadcast access method to a unicast access method.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first QoE metric comprises a playlist metric used to log a list of playlist elements for one or more playback periods in a measurement interval.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the QoE monitoring module is to:

track a plurality of playlist elements;

detect an access switch event, which indicates an access switch from a unicast access method to a multicast/broadcast access method or from a multicast/broadcast access method to a unicast access method;

provide, in a first playlist element of the plurality of playlist elements, the indication of the access switch event to indicate the access switch; and

report the first playlist element of the plurality of playlist elements.

7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the list of playlist elements includes a stop-reason parameter that includes the indication of the access switch event to indicate a switch to the unicast access method or multicast/broadcast access method as a reason why a continuous presentation of an associated media content representation was interrupted.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first QoE metric comprises media presentation description (MPD) information on media content representations of the received DASH-formatted content.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the MPD information includes the indication of the access method to indicate that the unicast access method or the multicast/broadcast access method is available for the media content representations.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the multicast/broadcast access method is a multimedia broadcast/multicast (MBMS) services or file delivery over unidirectional transport (FLUTE)-based access method and the unicast access method is a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP)-based access method.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the QoE monitoring module is further configured to:

receive, from a server, a reporting trigger; and

transmit the plurality of metrics based on receipt of the reporting trigger.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the QoE monitoring module is configured to receive the reporting trigger in a media presentation description (MPD), an open mobile alliance (OMA) device management (DM) QoE management object, or in a session description protocol (SDP) message.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the media player is configured to:

receive a first portion of the DASH-formatted content via the unicast access method; and

receive a second portion of the DASH-formatted content via the multicast access method.

29. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a touchscreen display,

wherein the media player is configured to render the DASH-formatted content on the touchscreen display.

14. One or more computer-readable media having instructions that, when executed, cause a module to:

monitor download and playback of dynamic adaptive streaming over hypertext transfer protocol (DASH)-formatted content via a unicast access method or a multicast/broadcast access method; and

associate an access method, which is the unicast access method or the multicast/broadcast method, or an access switch event with a quality of experience (QoE) metric; and

transmit the QoE metric to a QoE reporting server.

15. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 14, wherein the QoE metric comprises a representation switch event metric based on a representation switch that corresponds to a switch from receiving a first media content representation to receiving a second media content representation, the representation switch event metric having an access-method parameter to indicate the access method associated with the representation switch event.

16. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 14, wherein the QoE metric comprises a playlist metric having a stop-reason parameter to indicate the access switch event as a reason why a continuous presentation of an associated media content representation was stopped.

17. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 14, wherein the QoE metric comprises media presentation description (MPD) information having an indication that the access method is available for media content representations.

18. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 14, wherein the multicast/broadcast access method is in accordance with a multimedia broadcast/multicast (MBMS) service or file delivery over unidirectional transport (FLUTE) protocol and the unicast access method is in accordance with a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP).

19. A method comprising:

monitoring a download and playback of dynamic streaming media content delivered to a user equipment over a radio access network;

record one or more quality of experience (QoE) metrics that correspond to the download or playback of the dynamic streaming media content, wherein a first QoE metric of the one or more QoE metrics includes an indication of an access method by which the dynamic streaming media content is delivered to the user equipment or an indication of an access switch event; and

transmit the one or more QoE metrics to a reporting module.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the first QoE metric includes the indication of the

access switch event to indicate an access switch from the first access method to a second access method.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the first access method is a unicast access method and the second access method is a multicast/broadcast access method.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the first access method is a multicast/broadcast access method and the second access method is a unicast access method.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the first access method is based on reception from a first content delivery network and a second access method is based on reception from a second content delivery network.

24. One or more computer-readable media having instructions that, when executed, cause a quality of experience (QoE) reporting server to:

receive, from a user equipment, a plurality of QoE metrics related to playback of dynamic adaptive streaming over hypertext transfer protocol (DASH)-formatted content on the user equipment, a first QoE metric of the plurality of QoE metrics to indicate an access method utilized to deliver the DASH-formatted content to the user equipment, the access method being a unicast access method or a multicast/broadcast access method, or an access switch event; and

initiate a service provisioning adjustment to delivery of the DASH-formatted content based on the plurality of QoE metrics.

25. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 24, wherein the service provisioning adjustment comprises transcoding the DASH-formatted content.

26. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 24, wherein the service provisioning adjustment comprises changing a fault detection and correction scheme employed in the delivery of the DASH-formatted content.

27. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 24, wherein the service provisioning adjustment comprises changing the access method from the unicast access method to the multicast/broadcast access method or from the multicast/broadcast access method to the unicast access method.

28. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 24, wherein the service provisioning adjustment comprises re-allocation of radio resources for managing delivery of the DASH-formatted content by the unicast access method or the multicast/broadcast access method.

34. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 26, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the DASH client to:

obtain a reporting trigger in a media presentation description (MPD), an open mobile alliance (OMA) device management (DM) QoE management object, or in a session description protocol (SDP) message; and

transmit the QoE metric based on the reporting trigger.

30. One or more computer readable media having instructions that, when executed, cause a dynamic adaptive streaming over hypertext transfer protocol (DASH) client to:

obtain segments of a media stream from a server, the segments provided to the DASH client by a unicast access method or a broadcast access method;

record a quality of experience (QoE) metric related to a rendering of the media stream, wherein the QoE metric includes an indication of a switch to the unicast access method or the broadcast access method; and

transmit the QoE metric to a QoE reporting server.

31. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 30, wherein the QoE metric comprises a playlist metric to log a list of playlist elements for one or more playback periods in a measurement interval.

32. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 31, wherein the list of playlist elements includes a stop-reason parameter that includes the indication of the switch as a reason why a continuous presentation of a representation of the media stream was stopped.

33. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 30, wherein the broadcast access method is a multimedia broadcast/multicast service (MBMS) or file delivery over unidirectional transport (FLUTE)-based access method and the unicast access method is a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP)-based access method.