Adaptive bitrate management for streaming media over packet networks

• US 8,230,105 B2
• Filed: 07/25/2011
• Issued: 07/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: OptiMorphix, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Bytemobile Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Inventors: Melnyk, Miguel A., Stavrakos, Nicholas J., Breg, Fabian, Penner, Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Chan, Wing
• Assistant Examiner(s): MIAH, RAZU A
• Application Number:
  US13/190,238
• Publication Number:
  US 20110283015A1
• Time in Patent Office: 365 Days
• Field of Search: 709/233, 370/230, 370/352, 375/240, 725/81
• US Class Current: 709/233
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2416 Real-time traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/25 with rate being modified by the source upon detecting a change of network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/263 Rate modification at the source after receiving feedback
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/283 in response to processing delays, e.g. caused by jitter or round trip time [RTT]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/32 by discarding or delaying data units, e.g. packets or frames
• 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 19/197 including determination of the initial value of an encoding parameter H04N19/56 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23406 involving management of server-side video buffer
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2343 involving reformatting operations of video signals for distribution or compliance with end-user requests or end-user device requirements video transcoding H04N19/40; media packet handling at the source H04L65/762
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234381 by altering the temporal resolution, e.g. decreasing the frame rate by frame skipping
• 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 21/2662 Controlling the complexity of the video stream, e.g. by scaling the resolution or bitrate of the video stream based on the client capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44004 involving video buffer management, e.g. video decoder buffer or video display buffer
• 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 21/6437 Real-time Transport Protocol [RTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/658 Transmission by the client directed to the server
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38

Abstract

A method including receiving a receiver report from a terminal; estimating one or more network conditions of a media network based at least in part on the receiver report; determining an optimal session bitrate based on the estimated one or more network conditions; and providing media data to the terminal based on the optimal session bitrate.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a receiver report from a terminal having a media player;

estimating one or more network conditions of a media network using the receiver report;

determining an optimal session bitrate using the estimated one or more network conditions;

allocating the optimal session bitrate between audio media data and video media data to produce an optimal audio bitrate and an optimal video bitrate, wherein allocating the optimal session bitrate between audio and video media data is based on a metric selected from a group including a predetermined allocation, a user preference, an optimal performance data, privileging one type of data over the other, and an amount of audio and video media data to be provided;

encoding audio and video media data according to the optimal audio bitrate and the optimal video bitrate; and

providing media data to the terminal according to the optimal audio bitrate and the optimal video bitrate.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the optimal session bitrate further comprises:

establishing stability criterion based on the estimated one or more network conditions;

determining the stability of the media network; and

providing the optimal session bitrate based on the stability determination.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein establishing stability criterion further comprises comparing a media time in transit and a round trip time estimate for assisting with the stability determination.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein establishing stability criterion further comprises comparing a bitrate received with a current bitrate session.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising maintaining or incrementally increasing a current bitrate when the stability of the media network is considered normal.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising adjusting a current bitrate when the stability of the network is not normal.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein providing media data to the terminal includes providing the encoded audio media data and the encoded video media data based on the optimal audio bitrate and the optimal video bitrate.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein a receiver report is selected from a group including a real-time transport control protocol (RTCP) receiver report, and a real-time transport control protocol extended reports (RTCP XR) receiver report.

9. A method comprising:

receiving a receiver report from a terminal;

estimating one or more network conditions of a media network using the receiver report;

determining the stability of the media network using the estimations;

controlling a bitrate based on the determination;

allocating the bitrate between audio media data and video media data to produce an optimal audio bitrate and an optimal video bitrate, wherein allocating the bitrate between audio and video media data is based on a metric selected from a group including a predetermined allocation, a user preference, an optimal performance data, privileging one type of data over the other, and an amount of audio and video media data to be provided; and

providing the bitrate to an encoder for encoding audio and video media data, and transmitting media data according to the optimal audio bitrate and the optimal video bitrate.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein determining the stability of the media network is based on establishing stability criterion.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein establishing stability criterion further comprises comparing a media time in transit and a round trip time estimate for assisting with the stability determination.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein establishing stability criterion further comprises comparing a bitrate received with a current bitrate session.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein controlling the bitrate includes maintaining or incrementally increasing a current bitrate when the stability of the media network is considered normal.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein controlling the bitrate includes adjusting a current bitrate when the stability of the network is considered not normal.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein a receiver report is selected from a group including a real-time transport control protocol (RTCP) receiver report, and a real-time transport control protocol extended reports (RTCP XR) receiver report.

16. A method comprising:

receiving an optimal session bitrate;

allocating the optimal session bitrate between audio and video media data to produce an optimal audio bitrate and an optimal video bitrate, wherein allocating the optimal session bitrate between audio and video media data is based on a metric selected from a group including a predetermined allocation, a user preference, an optimal performance data, privileging one type of data over the other, and an amount of audio and video media data to be provided;

encoding audio and video media data according to the optimal audio bitrate and the optimal video bitrate; and

providing the encoded audio and video data for transmittal to a terminal.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising dropping frames of the encoded video data.

18. A system comprising:

an adaptive bitrate manager comprising a processor and a memory, the adaptive bitrate manager configured to;

receive a receiver report provided by a terminal having a media player,

estimate one or more network conditions using the receiver report,

determine an optimal session bitrate based on the estimated one or more network conditions, and

provide media data to the terminal according to the optimal session bitrate, and

wherein the adaptive bitrate manager further comprises an encoder configured to;

obtain the optimal session bitrate,

allocate the optimal session bitrate between audio and video media data to produce an optimal audio bitrate and an optimal video bitrate, wherein allocating the optimal session bitrate between audio and video media data is based on a metric selected from a group including a predetermined allocation, a user preference, an optimal performance data, privileging one type of data over the other, and an amount of audio and video media data to be provided, and

encode audio and video media data according to the optimal audio bitrate and the optimal video bitrate, and provide the encoded audio and video media data for transmittal to the terminal.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the adaptive bitrate manager further comprises an adaptive bitrate controller configured to receive the receiver report and calculating an optimal session bitrate.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein a receiver report is selected from a group including a real-time transport control protocol (RTCP) receiver report, and a real-time transport control protocol extended reports (RTCP XR) receiver report.

21. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instruction that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method for processing a receiver report, the method comprising:

receiving the receiver report from a terminal;

estimating one or more network conditions of a media network using the receiver report;

determining the stability of the media network using the estimations;

controlling a bitrate based on the determination;

allocating the bitrate between audio media data and video media data to produce an optimal audio bitrate and an optimal video bitrate, wherein allocating the bitrate between audio and video media data is based on a metric selected from a group including a predetermined allocation, a user preference, an optimal performance data, privileging one type of data over the other, and an amount of audio and video media data to be provided; and

providing the bitrate to an encoder for transmitting media data according to the optimal audio bitrate and the optimal video bitrate.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein a receiver report is selected from a group including a real-time transport control protocol (RTCP) receiver report, and a real-time transport control protocol extended reports (RTCP XR) receiver report.

23. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instruction that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method for processing an optimal session bitrate, the method comprising:

receiving the optimal session bitrate;

allocating the optimal session bitrate between audio and video media data to produce an optimal audio bitrate and an optimal video bitrate, wherein allocating the optimal session bitrate between audio and video media data is based on a metric selected from a group including a predetermined allocation, a user preference, an optimal performance data, privileging one type of data over the other, and an amount of audio and video media data to be provided;

encoding audio and video media data according to the optimal audio bitrate and the optimal video bitrate; and

providing the encoded audio and video media data for transmittal to a terminal.

24. A terminal comprising:

a processor;

a memory;

a buffer configured to receive media data packets transmitted by an adaptive bitrate manager over a media network; and

a media player configured to receive media data packets and provide a receiver report to the adaptive bitrate manager configured to;

receive the receiver report,

estimate one or more network conditions of the media network based at least in part on the receiver report,

determine an optimal session bitrate based on the estimated one or more network conditions, and

provide media data to the buffer according to the optimal session bitrate,

wherein the adaptive bitrate manager further comprises an encoder configured to;

obtain the optimal session bitrate,

allocate the optimal session bitrate between audio and video media data to produce an optimal audio bitrate and an optimal video bitrate, wherein allocating the optimal session bitrate between audio and video media data is based on a metric selected from a group including a predetermined allocation, a user preference, an optimal performance data, privileging one type of data over the other, and an amount of audio and video media data to be provided

encode audio and video media data according to the optimal audio bitrate and the optimal video bitrate, and

provide the encoded audio and video media data for transmittal to the terminal.

25. The terminal of claim 24, wherein a receiver report is selected from a group including a real-time transport control protocol (RTCP) receiver report, and a real-time transport control protocol extended reports (RTCP XR) receiver report.