System and method of managing multiple video players

• US 8,190,760 B2
• Filed: 01/15/2008
• Issued: 05/29/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dish Technologies LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Echostar Advanced Technologies L.L.C. (Echostar Corporation)
• Inventors: Hurst, Mark B., Anderson, David S., Hurst, Krysta L.
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, MINH CHAU
• Application Number:
  US12/014,677
• Publication Number:
  US 20090182889A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,596 Days
• Field of Search: 725/146, 386/6, 386/7, 386/68, 386/78
• US Class Current: 709/231
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/61 for supporting one-way streaming services, e.g. Internet radio
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4325 by playing back content from the storage medium reproduction of recorded television signals H04N5/76; reproduction of recorded television signals H04N9/79
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44209 Monitoring of downstream path of the transmission network originating from a server, e.g. bandwidth variations of a wireless network arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/443 OS processes, e.g. booting an STB, implementing a Java virtual machine in an STB or power management in an STB
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64753 directed to the client
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64769 for rate control flow control in packet networks H04L47/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8166 involving executable data, e.g. software arrangements for executing specific programs G06F9/44; broadcasting computer programmes in broadcast systems H04H20/91; involving the movement of software or configuration parameters H04L67/34

Abstract

A system and method are provided for managing multiple video players executing on a client software platform. The method includes the operation of displaying a plurality of video players viewable by an end user. Each video player can have at least one video data stream supplied over a data network. A priority value can be applied to selected video players. In addition, an amount of bandwidth available from the data network to supply the plurality of video players can then be determined. Another operation is calculating whether the selected video players can sustain a video playback quality above a pre-defined threshold using the determined amount of bandwidth available. This operation can include appropriately apportioning and managing bandwidth and/or processing power allotments between the video players based on the priority assignments when the bandwidth and/or processing power is less than what the video players want to consume A modify playback message may be sent to at least one video player when the video playback rate is not sustainable or has become sustainable again.

Claims

1. A system for managing multiple video players, comprising:

a single client platform coupled to a set of one or more servers via a network connection, the single client platform comprising;

a plurality of video players configured to stream a plurality of videos from the set of servers over the network connection, wherein each of the video players has a video output frame where a respective one of the plurality of videos is rendered for viewing by an end user on a video display of the single client platform, wherein the plurality of video players are prioritized according to a relative importance using priority values, wherein the priority values are used to apportion bandwidth allotments between the plurality of video players for video playback qualities of the plurality of videos when an amount of available bandwidth on the network connection is less than what the plurality of video players want to consume collectively;

a bandwidth monitoring module configured to determine the amount of available bandwidth;

an arbitration module configured to;

determine a desired amount of bandwidth each of the plurality of video players want to consume individually;

apportion the bandwidth allotments between the plurality of video players based on the priority values, the desired amount of bandwidth each of the plurality of video players want to consume individually, and the amount of available bandwidth; and

calculate whether each of the plurality of video players can sustain a video playback quality above a pre-defined threshold using the respective bandwidth allotment; and

a messaging module in communication with the arbitration module, the messaging module being configured to send a message to at least one of the plurality of video players to reduce the video playback quality or stop playback of each of the respective videos of the at the least one video player when the video playback quality is not sustainable as calculated by the arbitration module.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the arbitration module is further configured to scan through the plurality of video players in a first scan in a lowest to highest priority order, wherein the first scan ignores player states of the plurality of video players and respects a greedy flag if applied to any of the plurality of video players, wherein the greedy flag, when applied, indicates that the video playback quality of the respective video will not be reduced.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the arbitration module is further configured to scan through the plurality of video players in a second scan in the lowest to highest priority order, wherein the second scan reallocates the portions of available bandwidth from any paused or stopped video players of the plurality of video players to the other video players of the plurality of video players that are not paused or stopped.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the arbitration module is further configured to:

calculate whether a highest priority video player of the plurality of video players can sustain a video playback quality above a pre-defined threshold; and

when the highest priority video player cannot sustain the video playback quality, scan the plurality of video players in a third scan in the lowest to highest priority order, wherein the third scan reallocates the portions of available bandwidth from any paused or stopped video players of the plurality of video players to the other video players of the plurality of video players that are not paused or stopped and ignores the greedy flag applied to any of the plurality of video players.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of video players comprises a video player profile, the video player profile being configured to define a plurality of data rate levels at which video transfer can take place for defined video data blocks.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the message is a stop playback message, and wherein the messaging module is configured to send the stop playback message to a lowest priority video player of the plurality of video players, which has a lowest priority value, to stop playback of the respective video of the lowest priority video player, the stop playback message being sent when at least one of the video playback qualities is not sustainable.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the message is a stop playback message, and wherein the messaging module is configured to send the reduce playback quality message to a first one of the plurality of video players having a lower priority than a second one of the plurality of video players when the video playback quality of the first video player is not sustainable, in order to reduce the playback quality being requested by the first video player.

8. The system as in claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of video players is assigned an ordinal priority ranking using the priority values.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of video players comprises a greedy flag, wherein the greedy flag, when set, indicates that the video playback quality of the respective video to be played by the respective video player will not be reduced below a minimum defined level.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the single client platform comprises at least one non-priority video player to be operated on the single platform that does not have an assigned priority value.

11. A method of managing multiple video players, comprising:

streaming a plurality of videos over a network connection from a set of one or more servers by a plurality of video players operating on a single client platform, wherein each of the plurality of video players has a video output frame where a respective one of the plurality of videos is rendered for viewing by an end user on a video display of the single client platform;

receiving input identifying a relative importance of each of the plurality of videos to be played by the respective one of the plurality of video players;

prioritizing the plurality of video players according to the relative importance using priority values, wherein the priority values are used to apportion bandwidth allotments between the plurality of video players for video playback qualities of the plurality of videos when an amount of available bandwidth on the network connection is less than what the plurality of video players want to consume collectively;

wherein said prioritizing comprises assigning a main video player of the plurality of video players the highest priority value;

defining a video player profile for each of the plurality of video players, the video player profile having a plurality of data rate levels that correspond to video streamlet sizes for video transfer and viewing at multiple bit rates;

determining the amount of available bandwidth;

calculating whether the prioritized players can sustain a video playback quality above a pre-defined threshold using the determined amount of available bandwidth; and

sending a message to at least one of the plurality of video players having a lower priority than main video player to reduce the video playback quality of each of the respective videos to be played by the at least one video player when the video playback quality is not sustainable.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

identifying at least two video players of the plurality of video players with an equal priority value; and

combining the video player profiles for each of the at least two video players with the equal priority value to create a list having a plurality of data rate levels for requesting video streamlets by the at least two video players.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising sorting the plurality of data rate levels to form a sorted list from highest data rates to lowest data rates, wherein the at least two video players having the equal priority value have the sorted list treated as if the at least two video players were a single video player in the sorted list.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising reducing a playback quality of the respective video to be played by a first one of the at least two video players associated with a profile entry of the sorted list having the highest data rate level in the sorted list and then removing the profile entry from the sorted list when the message is received.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the sending the message further comprises sending a reduce playback quality message first to a lowest priority video player of the plurality of video players and then to progressively higher priority video players of the plurality of video players until a target bandwidth is reached.

16. A method, comprising:

streaming a plurality of videos from a set of one or more servers over a network connection by a plurality of video players operating on a single client platform, wherein each of the plurality of video players has a video output frame where a respective one of the plurality of videos is rendered for viewing by an end user on a video display of the single client platform;

receiving input identifying a relative importance of each of the plurality of videos to be played by the respective one of the plurality of video players;

prioritizing the plurality of video players according to the relative importance using priority values, wherein the priority values are used to apportion bandwidth allotments between the plurality of video players for video playback qualities of the plurality of videos when an amount of available bandwidth on the network connection is less than what the plurality of video players want to consume collectively;

determining the amount of available bandwidth;

determining a desired amount of bandwidth each of the plurality of video players want to consume individually; and

apportioning the bandwidth allotments between the plurality of video players based on the priority values, the desired amount of bandwidth each of the plurality of video players want to consume individually, and the amount of available bandwidth.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

calculating whether each of the plurality of video players can sustain a video playback quality above a pre-defined threshold using the respective bandwidth allotment; and

sending a message to the respective video player to reduce the video playback quality of the respective video or stop playback of the respective video when the video playback quality is not sustainable.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising sending a second message to the respective video player to increase the video playback quality of the respective video or to restart the playback of the respective video when the video playback quality is again sustainable.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

calculating whether the prioritized video players can sustain a video playback quality above a pre-defined threshold using the determined amount of available bandwidth; and

sending a playback not sustainable message to a first one of the plurality of video players having a lower priority value than a second one of the plurality of video players to reduce a video playback quality of the respective video to be played by first player when the video playback quality is not sustainable.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

calculating whether the prioritized video players can sustain a video playback quality above a pre-defined threshold using the determined amount of available bandwidth; and

sending a reduce playback quality message to a first one of the plurality of video players having a lower priority value than a second one of the plurality of video players when the video playback quality is not sustainable.

21. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

calculating whether the prioritized video players can sustain a video playback quality above a pre-defined threshold using the determined amount of available bandwidth; and

sending a reduce playback quality message first to a lowest priority video player of the plurality of video players until the lowest priority video player is stopped and then to progressively higher priority video players of the plurality of video players until a target bandwidth is reached.

22. The method of claim 16, wherein said prioritizing comprises applying an ordinal priority ranking to each of the selected one or more video players using the priority values.

23. The method of claim 16, wherein said prioritizing comprises applying a greedy flag to one or more of the plurality video players, wherein the greedy flag, when set, indicates that a video playback quality of the respective video player will not be reduced below a minimum defined level.

24. The method of claim 16, further comprising sharing any remaining bandwidth not used by the plurality of video players having the priority values, between one or more non-priority video players operating on the single client platform.

25. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

determining an amount of processing power available on the single client platform to process and display the plurality of videos by the plurality of video players; and

calculating whether the prioritized players can sustain a video playback quality above a pre-defined threshold using the determined amount of available bandwidth and the determined amount of processing power available.

26. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

calculating whether the prioritized video players can sustain a video playback quality above a pre-defined threshold using the determined amount of available bandwidth; and

sending a reduce playback quality message first to a lowest priority video player of the plurality of video players until the lowest priority video player is reduced to a minimum playback level as limited by a greedy flag, or stopped in the absence of a greedy flag, and then to progressively higher priority video players of the plurality of video players which are limited by a greedy flag until a target bandwidth is reached.

27. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

calculating whether the prioritized video players can sustain a video playback quality above a pre-defined threshold using the determined amount of available bandwidth; and

sending a reduce playback quality message first to a lowest priority player which gives up a most desired profile selection and then to higher priority players up the priority chain which give up their most desired profile selection until a target bandwidth is reached.

28. A method of managing multiple video players, comprising:

applying a priority value to a plurality of video players operating on a single client platform, wherein each of the plurality of video players is configured to stream one of a plurality of videos over a network connection from a set of one or more servers, and wherein each of the plurality of videos players has a video output frame where a respective one of the plurality of videos is rendered for viewing by an end user on a video display of the single client platform, and wherein the priority values are used to allocate portions of available bandwidth between the plurality of video players for video playback qualities of the plurality of videos when an amount of the available bandwidth on the network connection is less than what the plurality of video players want to consume collectively;

determining the amount of available bandwidth;

allocating a portion of the available bandwidth to each of the plurality of video players according to the respective priority value; and

streaming each of the plurality of videos over the network connection from the set of servers at a quality level that matches the corresponding allocated portion of the available bandwidth.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein said allocating comprises:

performing a first scan of the plurality of video players in a lowest to highest priority order, wherein the first scan ignores player states of the plurality of video players and respects a greedy flag if applied to any of the plurality of video players, wherein the greedy flag, when applied, indicates that the video playback quality of the respective video will not be reduced; and

performing a second scan of the plurality of video players in the lowest to highest priority order, wherein the second scan reallocates the portions of available bandwidth from any paused or stopped video players of the plurality of video players to the other video players of the plurality of video players that are not paused or stopped.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein said allocating further comprises:

calculating whether a highest priority video player of the plurality of video players can sustain a video playback quality above a pre-defined threshold; and

when the highest priority video player cannot sustain the video playback quality, performing a third scan of the plurality of video players in the lowest to highest priority order, wherein the third scan reallocates the portions of available bandwidth from any paused or stopped video players of the plurality of video players to the other video players of the plurality of video players that are not paused or stopped and ignores the greedy flag applied to any of the plurality of video players.

31. The method of claim 28, further comprising:

calculating whether each of the plurality of video players can sustain a video playback quality above a pre-defined threshold using the respective portion of the available bandwidth; and

sending a message to respective one of the plurality of video players to reduce the video playback quality of the respective video or stop playback of the respective video when the video playback quality is not sustainable.

32. A method of managing multiple video players, comprising:

streaming a plurality of videos over a network connection from a set of one or more networks by a plurality of video players operating on a single client platform, wherein each of the plurality of video players has a video output frame where a respective one of the plurality of videos is rendered for viewing by an end user on a video display of the single client platform;

receiving input identifying a relative importance of each of the plurality of videos to be played by the respective one of the plurality of video players;

applying a priority value to each of the plurality of video players according to the relative importance, wherein the priority values are used to apportion portions of bandwidth between the plurality of video players for video playback qualities of the plurality of videos when an amount of available bandwidth on the network connection is less than what the plurality of video players want to consume collectively;

determining the amount of available bandwidth;

calculating the portions of bandwidth the plurality of video players need in order to sustain a video playback quality above a pre-defined threshold using the determined amount of available bandwidth and the priority values; and

allocating the amount of available bandwidth between the prioritized video players based on the calculated portions that the plurality of video players need to sustain the video playback quality.

33. A method of managing multiple video players, comprising:

streaming a plurality of videos over a network connection from a set of one or more servers by a plurality of video players operating on a single client platform, wherein each of the plurality of video players has a video output frame where a respective one of the plurality of videos is rendered for viewing by an end user on a video display of the single client platform;

receiving input identifying a relative importance of each of the plurality of videos to be played by the respective one of the plurality of video players;

applying a priority value to each of the plurality of video players according to the relative importance, wherein the priority values are used to apportion portions of bandwidth between the plurality of video players for video playback qualities of the plurality of videos when an amount of available bandwidth on the network connection is less than what the plurality of video players want to consume collectively;

determining the amount of available bandwidth;

determining an amount of processing power available on the single client platform to process and display the plurality of videos for the plurality of video players;

calculating whether the prioritized video players can sustain a video playback quality above a pre-defined threshold using the determined amount of available bandwidth and the determined amount of processing power available; and

sending a message to at least one of the plurality of video players to reduce the video playback quality of the respective video when the video playback quality is not sustainable.