Adaptive bandwidth footprint matching for multiple compressed video streams in a fixed bandwidth network
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- selecting, at a media server, a first set of one of more multimedia channels of a plurality of multimedia channels of a first data stream responsive to determining a transmission of the first data stream is not expected to meet a predetermined criterion, the predetermined criterion comprising at least one of a real-time transmission or a transmission within a predetermined bandwidth and the plurality of multimedia channels including one or more multimedia channels not selected for the first set;
compressing, at the media server, each multimedia channel of the first set to generate a second set of one or more multimedia channels;
generating, at the media server, a second data stream comprising the second set of multimedia channels and the one or more multimedia channels not selected for the first set; and
determining, at the media server, whether a transmission of the second data stream is expected to meet the predetermined criterion.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and a method for simultaneous transmission of multiple media streams in a fixed bandwidth network are disclosed herein. The system is comprised of a central gateway media server and a plurality of client receiver units. The input media streams arrive from an external source and are then transmitted to the client receiver units in a compressed format. A state machine on the gateway media server detects if the network bandwidth is close to saturation. In one embodiment, the potential bandwidth saturation is measured by matching the time when the start of unit of media for each stream against the estimated transmission time for that unit. When any one actual transmission time exceeds its estimated transmission time by a predetermined threshold value, the network is deemed to be close to saturation, or already saturated, and the state machine executes a process of selecting at least one stream as a target for lowering total bandwidth usage. Once the target stream associated with a client receiver unit is chosen, the amount of data transmitted by the target stream is reduced, which could result in a lower data transmission rate. In one embodiment, the amount of data is reduced by a gradual degradation of the precision of the data, resulting in a greater potential for data compression, and/or by gradually reducing the resolution of the data of the target stream.
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Citations
48 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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selecting, at a media server, a first set of one of more multimedia channels of a plurality of multimedia channels of a first data stream responsive to determining a transmission of the first data stream is not expected to meet a predetermined criterion, the predetermined criterion comprising at least one of a real-time transmission or a transmission within a predetermined bandwidth and the plurality of multimedia channels including one or more multimedia channels not selected for the first set; compressing, at the media server, each multimedia channel of the first set to generate a second set of one or more multimedia channels; generating, at the media server, a second data stream comprising the second set of multimedia channels and the one or more multimedia channels not selected for the first set; and determining, at the media server, whether a transmission of the second data stream is expected to meet the predetermined criterion. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A non-transitory computer readable memory tangibly embodying a set of executable instructions to manipulate one or more processors to:
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select a first set of one of more multimedia channels of a plurality of multimedia channels of a first data stream responsive to determining a transmission of the first data stream is not expected to meet a predetermined criterion, the predetermined criterion comprising at least one of a real-time transmission or a transmission within a predetermined bandwidth and the plurality of multimedia channels including one or more multimedia channels not selected for the first set; compress each multimedia channel of the first set to generate a second set of one or more multimedia channels; generate a second data stream comprising the second set of multimedia channels and the one or more multimedia channels not selected for the first set; and determine whether a transmission of the second data stream is expected to meet the predetermined criterion. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. A system comprising:
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means for selecting a first set of one of more multimedia channels of a plurality of multimedia channels of a first data stream responsive to determining a transmission of the first data stream is not expected to meet a predetermined criterion, the predetermined criterion comprising at least one of a real-time transmission or a transmission within a predetermined bandwidth and the plurality of multimedia channels including one or more multimedia channels not selected for the first set; means for compressing each multimedia channel of the first set to generate a second set of one or more multimedia channels; means for generating a second data stream comprising the second set of multimedia channels and the one or more multimedia channels not selected for the first set; and means for determining whether a transmission of the second data stream is expected to meet the predetermined criterion. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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Specification