Strategies for selecting a format for data transmission based on measured bandwidth

• US 8,139,487 B2
• Filed: 02/28/2007
• Issued: 03/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Kasheff, Zardosht, Stoyanov, Vladimir K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ngo, Ricky
• Assistant Examiner(s): Samuel, Dewanda
• Application Number:
  US11/680,169
• Publication Number:
  US 20080205270A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,847 Days
• Field of Search: 370/229, 370/230, 370/234, 370/235, 370/473, 370/236, 370/252, 370/468, 370/477
• US Class Current: 370/235
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0882 Utilisation of link capacity

Abstract

A strategy is described for transmitting data from a first entity to a second entity. The data is transmitted using a format that is selected to accommodate available bandwidth in a communication coupling that connects the first entity and the second entity. The first entity or the second entity can comprise a terminal service (TS) client device and a terminal service (TS) server device, respectively, or vice versa. The strategy can compute the bandwidth by recording timing information associated with the transmission of a short message followed by a longer message from the first entity to the second entity. The short message is used to remove the effects of latency in the computation of bandwidth.

Claims

1. A computerized method for sending data over a communication coupling from a first entity to a second entity, comprising:

sending a small message of a pair of the small message and a larger message from the first entity to the second entity;

sending the larger message of the pair from the first entity to the second entity;

determining a bandwidth of the communication coupling based on respective times at which the second entity receives the small message and the larger message, the determining including calculating the bandwidth by subtracting a reception time of the small message from a reception time of the large message and dividing a size of the large message by a result of the subtraction;

selecting a compression format for subsequent data based on the determined bandwidth; and

sending the subsequent data from the first entity to the second entity using the selected compression format.

2. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein the first entity is a terminal service (TS) client device and the second entity is terminal service (TS) server device, wherein the TS client device interacts with an application that runs on the TS server device using a remote interaction protocol.

3. The computerized method of claim 2, wherein the subsequent data is sent from the TS client device to the TS server device for recordation by the TS server device.

4. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein the second entity is a terminal service (TS) client device and the first entity is a terminal service (TS) server device, wherein the TS client device interacts with an application that runs on the TS server device using a remote interaction protocol.

5. The computerized method of claim 4, wherein the subsequent data is sent from the TS server device to the TS client device for playback at the TS client device.

6. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein the subsequent data that is sent from the first entity to the second entity is audio data.

7. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein the subsequent data that is sent from the first entity to the second entity is video data.

8. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein the short message is sent to account for latency involved in transmitting messages between the first entity and the second entity.

9. The computerized method of claim 8, wherein the bandwidth is determined based on the amount of time it takes to transmit the larger message having a size S, as corrected for the effects of latency.

10. The computerized method of claim 1, further comprising repeating the sending of the small message, sending of the larger message, determining a bandwidth, and selecting a compression format a plurality of times throughout the transmission of data from the first entity to the second entity.

11. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein one available compression format has a relatively high quality and a relatively low degree of compression.

12. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein one available compression format has a relatively low quality and a relatively high degree of compression.

13. One or more computing devices, comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory to store computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, perform the computerized method of claim 1.

14. A computerized method for sending data over a communication coupling between a terminal service (TS) client device to a terminal service (TS) server device, wherein the TS client device interacts with an application that runs on the TS server device using a remote interaction protocol, comprising:

sending a small message of negligible size belonging to a pair of the small message and a larger message from the TS client device to the TS server device or from the TS server device to the TS client device;

sending the larger message of size S belonging to the pair from the TS client device to the TS server device or from the TS server device to the TS client device;

determining a bandwidth of the communication coupling based on respective times at which the TS client device or the TS server device receives the small message and the larger message, the determining including calculating the bandwidth by subtracting a reception time of the small message from a reception time of the large message and dividing a size of the large message by a result of the subtraction;

selecting a compression format for subsequent data based on the determined bandwidth, wherein a relatively low quality compression format is selected for relatively low available bandwidth, and a relatively high quality compression format is selected for relatively high available bandwidth; and

sending the subsequent data between the TS client device and the TS server device using the selected compression format.

15. The computerized method of claim 14, wherein the subsequent data that is sent between the TS client device and the TS server device is audio data or video data.

16. One or more computing devices, comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory to store computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, perform the computerized method of claim 14.

17. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a format handling module configured to be operated by the processor and to select a compression format for transmission of data from a first entity to a second entity based on a determined bandwidth, the first entity and the second entity being coupled together by a communicative coupling, and the format handling module including;

a bandwidth determination module configured to determine the determined bandwidth based on respective times at which the second entity receives a small message and a larger message belonging to a pair of the small message and the larger message, the determining including calculating the bandwidth by subtracting a reception time of the small message from a reception time of the large message and dividing a size of the large message by a result of the subtraction;

a format store that stores information regarding a plurality of different compression formats; and

a format selection module configured to select a compression format identified in the format store based on the determined bandwidth,

wherein data is sent from the first entity to the second entity via the communicative coupling using the selected compression format.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the first entity is a terminal service (TS) client device and the second entity is a terminal service (TS) server device or wherein the first entity is the TS server device and the second entity is the TS client device, wherein the TS client device interacts with an application that runs on the TS server device using a remote interaction protocol.