Data transmission apparatus and method

• US 6,993,689 B2
• Filed: 10/30/2001
• Issued: 01/31/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Kikuchi, Yoshihiro, Nagai, Takeshi, Masuda, Tadaaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Ton, David
• Application Number:
  US09/984,497
• Publication Number:
  US 20020053053A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,554 Days
• Field of Search: 375/221, 714/751, 714/774, 714/717, 714/716, 348/470, 370/252, 370/465, 370/329
• US Class Current: 714/717
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0002 by adapting the transmission rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0009 by adapting the channel coding H04L1/1812 takes precedence
• 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 1/0019 in which mode-switching is based on a statistical approach
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0026 Transmission of channel quality indication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/205 jitter monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/11 Identifying congestion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/25 with rate being modified by the source upon detecting a change of network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/283 in response to processing delays, e.g. caused by jitter or round trip time [RTT]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6377 directed to server one-way streaming services wherein the source is controlled by the destination H04L65/613
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/658 Transmission by the client directed to the server

Abstract

A data transmission apparatus comprises an estimation device to estimate a transmission condition of the transmission channel in the transmitter based on at least Jitter information or a packet loss rate obtained from the receiver, and a controller to change at least one of a bit rate of transmission data and a error resilience level according to the estimated transmission condition.

Claims

1. A data transmission apparatus including a transmitter that transmits encoded data to a network, comprising:

a network information receiver configured to receive network information regarding a network condition of a network;

a network condition determination device configured to determine the network condition based on the network information received by the network information receiver;

a plurality of storage media in which a plurality of respective encoded data sets encoded at different respective transmission rates have been stored;

an encoded data switching device configured to switch among the storage media according to the network information to select one of the encoded data sets that has a transmission rate corresponding to the switching information; and

an encoded data selector configured to select a transmission rate of encoded data to be transmitted from a transmitter based on the network condition information outputted from the network condition determination device and output the selected transmission rate as the switching information to the encoded data switching device.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the encoded data switching device includes a switching position detector configured to detect a switching position at which one of the storage media is switched to the other, and when an encoded data switching signal is generated by the switching information output from the encoded data selector, the switching position detector detects the switching position, to switch one of the storage media at the switching position.

3. A method of transmitting data using a transmitter to transmit encoded data to a network, comprising:

preparing a plurality of storage media in which a plurality of encoded data sets encoded at different transmission rates, respectively, have been stored, respectively;

receiving network information regarding a network condition of a network;

determining the network condition based on the network information;

switching among the storage media to select one of the encoded data sets that has a transmission rate corresponding to switching information; and

selecting a transmission rate of encoded data to be transmitted from a transmitter based on the network condition information and output the selected transmission rate as the switching information.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the switching includes detecting a switching position at which one of the storage media is switched to the other, and detecting the switching position includes detecting the switching position to switch one of the storage media at the switching position, when an encoded data switching signal is generated by the switching information obtained by the selecting.

5. A data transmission apparatus including a transmitter that transmits encoded data to a network, comprising:

a network information receiver configured to receive network information regarding a network condition of the network;

a network condition determination device configured to determine the network condition based on the network information received by the network information receiver;

an encoded data switching device configured to switch among plural encoded data encoded at different transmission rates, respectively, to select encoded data having a transmission rate corresponding to switching information; and

an encoded data selector configured to select a transmission rate of encoded data to be transmitted from the transmitter based on the network condition information outputted from the network condition determination device and output the selected transmission rate as the switching information to the encoded data switching device, and

wherein the encoded data switching device includes a switching position detector configured to detect a switching position at which one of the encoded data can be switched to the other, and when an encoded data switching signal is generated by the switching information output from the encoded data selector, the switching position detector detects the switching position, to switch the encoded data at the switching position.

6. A method of transmitting data using a transmitter to transmit encoded data to a network, comprising:

receiving network information regarding a network condition of the network;

determining the network condition based on the network information;

switching among plural encoded data encoded at different transmission rates, respectively, to select encoded data having a transmission rate corresponding to switching information; and

selecting a transmission rate of encoded data to be transmitted from the transmitter based on the network condition information and output the selected transmission rate as the switching information,

wherein the switching includes detecting a switching position at which one of the encoded data is switched to the other, and detecting the switching position includes detecting the switching position to switch the encoded data at the switching position, when an encoded data switching signal is generated by the switching information obtained by the selecting.