ADAPTIVE VIDEO SERVER WITH DATA RATE CONTROL AND METHODS FOR USE THEREWITH

• US 20140130115A1
• Filed: 01/02/2013
• Published: 05/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Morega Systems, Inc.
• Inventors: Losev, Eugene, Maxwell, Thomas Walter, Podolsky, Michael, Tahir, Ashraf, Tam, King Chiu
• Granted Patent: US 9,124,672 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/116
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/70 Media network packetisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/765 intermediate
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2347 involving video stream encryption
• 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 21/27 Server based end-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64769 for rate control flow control in packet networks H04L47/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments

Abstract

A streaming video server includes a virtual file system that stores playlist data corresponding to a plurality of video programs available from at least one video source and that stores variant playlist data corresponding to each of the plurality of video programs that indicates a single variant for streaming each of the plurality of video programs. The streaming video server receives a request for a selected one of the plurality of video programs from a client device. The selected one of the plurality of video programs is retrieved from the at least one video source in response to the request. A rate generator generates rate data based on the transmission feedback data. A plurality of encoded segments are generated from the selected one of the plurality of video programs, based on rate data.

Claims

1. A streaming server comprising:

a virtual file system that stores playlist data corresponding to a plurality of video programs available from at least one video source and that further stores variant playlist data corresponding to each of the plurality of video programs that indicates a single variant for streaming each of the plurality of video pro grams;

a network interface, coupled to bidirectionally communicate with a client device and to bidirectionally communicate with the at least one video source via at least one network, wherein the network interface further generates transmission feedback data;

a rate generator, coupled to the network interface, that generates rate data based on the transmission feedback data;

a command handler, coupled to the network interface and the virtual file system, that receives a request for a selected one of the plurality of video programs from the client device via the network interface and retrieves the selected one of the plurality of video programs from the at least one video source via the network interface and segments the selected one of the plurality of video programs into a plurality of video program segments, in response to the request; and

a video encoder, coupled to the rate generator and the command handler, that encodes the plurality of video program segments into a plurality of encoded video program segments at a rate that is controlled based on the rate data.

2. The streaming server of claim 1 wherein the transmission feedback data includes a network transmission speed.

3. The streaming server of claim 2 wherein the transmission feedback data further includes a network utilization.

4. The streaming server of claim 3 wherein the rate generator adjusts the data rate based on the transmission speed, the network utilization and a target utilization.

5. The streaming server of claim 1 wherein the rate generator adjusts the data rate based on a minimum data rate.

6. The streaming server of claim 1 wherein the rate generator adjusts the data rate based on an initial data rate.

7. The streaming server of claim 6 wherein the initial data rate is generated based on context data that indicates properties of the selected one of the plurality of video programs.

8. The streaming server of claim 1 further comprising:

a video encryptor, coupled to the network interface, the video encoder and the command handler, that generates encrypted segments from the plurality of encoded segments in accordance with an encryption key;

wherein the network interface sends a streaming video signal to the client device that includes the plurality of encrypted segments.

17. The streaming server of claim 1 wherein the variant playlist data corresponding to the selected one of the plurality of video programs includes a plurality of indicators for the plurality of video program segments, and wherein at least one of the plurality of indicators are stored prior to the segmenting of the selected one of the plurality of video programs into the plurality of video program segments.

9. A method for use in a streaming server, the method comprising:

storing playlist data corresponding to a plurality of video programs available from at least one video source;

storing variant playlist data corresponding to each of the plurality of video programs that indicates a single variant for streaming each of the plurality of video programs;

bidirectionally communicating with a client device and the at least one video source via a network interface, wherein the network interface further generates transmission feedback data;

generating rate data based on the transmission feedback data;

receiving a request for a selected one of the plurality of video programs from the client device via the network interface;

retrieving the selected one of the plurality of video programs from the at least one video source via the network interface and segmenting the selected one of the plurality of video programs into a plurality of video program segments, in response to the request and after receiving the request; and

encoding the plurality of video program segments into a plurality of encoded video program segments at a rate that is controlled based on the rate data.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the transmission feedback data includes a network transmission speed.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the transmission feedback data further includes a network utilization.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the data rate is adjusted based on the transmission speed, the network utilization and a target utilization.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein the data rate is adjusted based on a minimum data rate.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein the data rate is adjusted based on an initial data rate.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the initial data rate is generated based on context data that indicates properties of the selected one of the plurality of video programs.

16. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

generating encrypted segments from the plurality of encoded segments in accordance with an encryption key; and

sending a streaming video signal to the client device that includes the plurality of encrypted segments via a network interface.

18. The method of claim 9 wherein the variant playlist data corresponding to the selected one of the plurality of video programs includes a plurality of indicators for the plurality of video program segments, and wherein at least one of the plurality of indicators are stored prior to the segmenting of the selected one of the plurality of video programs into the plurality of video program segments.