Method and system for transmission of video in an asynchronous transfer mode network

• US 6,108,382 A
• Filed: 02/06/1998
• Issued: 08/22/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 02/06/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Verizon Laboratories Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: GTE Laboratories Incorporated (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Samalam, Vijay Kumar, Khasnabish, Bhumip, Egorov, Roman V., Gringeri, Steven, Basch, E. Evert
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Vu
• Application Number:
  US09/019,923
• Time in Patent Office: 928 Days
• Field of Search: 348/384, 348/390, 348/6, 348/12-17, 348/400-402, 348/409-410, 348/415-416, 455/4.1-4.2, 455/5.1, 455/6.1, 370/395, 370/905, 375/240
• US Class Current: 375/240.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/115 Selection of the code volume for a coding unit prior to coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/152 by measuring the fullness of the transmission buffer
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/159 Prediction type, e.g. intra-frame, inter-frame or bidirectional frame prediction
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/164 Feedback from the receiver or from the transmission channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/172 the region being a picture, frame or field
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23406 involving management of server-side video buffer
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23655 Statistical multiplexing, e.g. by controlling the encoder to alter its bitrate to optimize the bandwidth utilization
• 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 21/64307 ATM

Abstract

A method and system for transmitting a video stream in an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network comprises steps of encoding the video into an MPEG-2 variable bit rate video stream, shaping the encoded variable bit rate video stream to conform to the traffic contract parameters for a Variable Bit Rate (VBR) connection in the network, and transmitting the shaped variable bit rate video stream on the VBR connection based on the traffic contract parameters. For a given network bandwidth, switch buffer space, and equivalent video quality, the network can statistically multiplex a larger number of variable bit rate video streams by maximizing the utilization of the network bandwidth and switch buffer space that the network allocates to each video stream.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting a video in an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network, said method comprising the steps of:

a) encoding the video into a variable bit rate video;

b) shaping the encoded variable bit rate video for transmission on a Variable Bit Rate (VBR) connection in the network; and

c) transmitting the shaped variable bit rate video on the connection.

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

a) identifying a plurality of averaging intervals in the encoded variable bit rate video; and

b) determining a peak cell rate (PCR) and an average cell rate for each of the averaging intervals.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the shaping step further comprises the steps of:

a) determining a plurality of sustained cell rates (SCR) for each of the averaging intervals;

b) determining maximum burst sizes (MBS) for the sustained cell rates respectively; and

c) selecting one of the maximum burst sizes and the respective sustained cell rate.

4. A system for transmitting a video in an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network, comprising:

a) an encoder for encoding the video into a variable bit rate video; and

b) a video transmitter for shaping the encoded variable bit rate video for transmission on a Variable Bit Rate (VBR) connection in the network and transmitting the shaped variable bit rate video on the connection.

5. A method for transmitting a variable bit rate video stream in an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network, said method comprising the steps of:

a) identifying a plurality of averaging intervals in the variable bit rate video stream;

b) determining a peak cell rate (PCR) and an average cell rate for each of the averaging intervals;

c) determining a plurality of sustained cell rates (SCR) for each of the averaging intervals;

d) determining maximum burst sizes (MBS) for the sustained cell rates respectively;

e) selecting one of the maximum burst sizes and the respective sustained cell rate; and

f) establishing a network connection defined by the peak cell rate, the selected maximum burst size, and the selected sustained cell rate.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the selecting step further comprises the step of determining a ratio of the peak cell rate to each of the sustained cell rates for each of the averaging intervals.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein the selecting step further comprises the step of determining a cell transfer delay for the selected maximum burst size.

8. The method according to claim 5, wherein the selecting step further comprises the step of determining a cell delay variation for the selected maximum burst size.

9. A computer-readable medium capable of configuring a computer to perform a method for transmitting a variable bit rate video stream in an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network, said method comprising the steps of:

a) identifying a plurality of averaging intervals in the variable bit rate video stream;

b) determining a peak cell rate (PCR) and an average cell rate for each of the averaging intervals;

c) determining a plurality of sustained cell rates (SCR) for each of the averaging intervals;

d) determining maximum burst sizes (MBS) for the sustained cell rates respectively;

e) selecting one of the maximum burst sizes and the respective sustained cell rate; and

f) establishing a network connection defined by the peak cell rate, the selected maximum burst size, and the selected sustained cell rate.