Video bursting based upon wireless device location

• US 8,239,900 B1
• Filed: 08/27/2008
• Issued: 08/07/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Clearwire Ip Holdings LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Clearwire Ip Holdings LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Sun, Yaojun
• Primary Examiner(s): Goodarzi, Nasser
• Assistant Examiner(s): Peng, Fred
• Application Number:
  US12/199,468
• Time in Patent Office: 1,441 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 725/90
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2385 Channel allocation H04N21/266 takes precedence; Bandwidth allocation H04N21/24 takes precedence ; allocation of channels according to the instantaneous demands of the users in time-division multiplex systems H04J3/1682; admission control, resource allocation in open networks H04L12/5692; arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896; negotiating bandwidth in wireless networks H04W28/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25841 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; arrangements for identifying locations of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/51; location of the user terminal in data switching networks H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/631 Multimode Transmission, e.g. transmitting basic layers and enhancement layers of the content over different transmission paths or transmitting with different error corrections, different keys or with different transmission protocols

Abstract

What is disclosed is a method of operating a video system. The method includes, in a video server, monitoring a geographic location of a wireless communication device, transferring reference frames of a video for delivery to the wireless communication device over a wireless communication system if the geographic location is within a group of predefined geographic areas and stopping the transfer of the reference frames if the geographic location is not within the group of predefined geographic areas. The method also includes, in the video server, transferring update frames of the video for delivery to the wireless communication device over the wireless communication system without regard to whether the geographic location is within the group of predefined geographic areas. The method also includes, in the wireless communication device, receiving the reference frames and the update frames of the video over the wireless communication system and displaying the video.

Claims

1. A method of operating a video system comprising:

in a video server, monitoring a geographic location of a wireless communication device;

in the video server, transferring reference frames of a video for delivery to the wireless communication device over a wireless communication system if the geographic location is within a group of predefined geographic areas and stopping the transfer of the reference frames if the geographic location is not within the group of predefined geographic areas;

in the video server, transferring update frames of the video for delivery to the wireless communication device over the wireless communication system without regard to whether the geographic location is within the group of predefined geographic areas;

in the wireless communication device, receiving the reference frames and the update frames of the video over the wireless communication system; and

in the wireless communication device, displaying the video.

2. The method of operating the video system of claim 1, wherein transferring the reference frames comprises transferring the reference frames over a first logical transport link;

wherein transferring the update frames comprises transferring the update frames over a second logical transport link;

wherein receiving the reference frames and the update frames comprises receiving the reference frames over the first logical transport link and receiving the update frames over the second logical transport link; and

wherein displaying the video comprises determining a playback sequence among the reference frames and the update frames and displaying the video.

3. The method of operating the video system of claim 2, wherein the first logical transport link comprises a first transportation port and the second logical transport link comprises a second transportation port.

4. The method of operating the video system of claim 1, wherein the reference frames of the video comprise MPEG I-frames and the update frames of the video comprise at least one of MPEG P-frames and MPEG B-frames.

5. The method of operating the video system of claim 1, further comprising:

in the video server, querying a terrestrial position determining equipment system for the geographic location of the wireless communication device;

in the terrestrial position determining equipment system, receiving the query, obtaining the geographic location, and transferring the geographic location; and

in the video server, receiving the geographic location.

6. The method of operating the video system of claim 1, further comprising:

in the wireless communication device, determining the geographic location of the wireless communication device and transferring the geographic location;

in the video server, receiving the geographic location.

7. The method of operating the video system of claim 1, wherein the group of predefined geographic areas comprises geographic regions of the wireless communication system and wherein the geographic regions indicate regions of a particular bandwidth of wireless communications between the wireless communication system and the wireless communication device.

8. The method of operating the video system of claim 1, wherein the group of predefined geographic areas comprises geographic regions of the wireless communication system and wherein the geographic regions indicate regions of a particular signal strength of wireless communications between the wireless communication system and the wireless communication device.

9. The method of operating the video system of claim 1, further comprising:

in the video server, querying a database with the geographic location and receiving a response from the database indicating if the geographic location is within the group of predefined geographic areas.

10. The method of operating the video system of claim 1, further comprising:

in the wireless communication device, monitoring a playback quality of the video and transferring an indicator of the playback quality to the video server over the wireless communication system.

11. A method of operating a video system, comprising:

in a video server, receiving a request for a video from a wireless communication device over a wireless communication system;

in the video server, requesting a geographic location of the wireless communication device;

in the video server, requesting the video from a media storage system;

in the media storage system, processing the request for the video and transferring the video to the video server;

in the video server, monitoring the geographic location and transferring reference frames of the video for delivery to the wireless communication device over the wireless communication system if the geographic location is within a group of predefined geographic areas and stopping the transfer of the reference frames if the geographic location is not within the group of predefined geographic areas;

in the video server, transferring update frames of the video for delivery to the wireless communication device over the wireless communication system without regard to whether the geographic location is within the group of predefined geographic areas.

12. The method of operating the video system of claim 11, wherein transferring the reference frames comprises transferring the reference frames over a first logical transport link;

wherein transferring the update frames comprises transferring the update frames over a second logical transport link; and

further comprising;

in the wireless communication device, receiving the reference frames of the video over the first logical transport link and the update frames of the video over the second logical transport link and determining a playback sequence among the reference frames of the video and the update frames of the video.

13. The method of operating the video system of claim 12, wherein the first logical transport link comprises a first transportation port of the wireless communication device and the second logical transport link comprises a second transportation port of the wireless communication device.

14. The method of operating the video system of claim 11, wherein the reference frames of the video comprise MPEG I-frames and the update frames of the video comprise at least one of MPEG P-frames and MPEG B-frames.

15. The method of operating the video system of claim 11, wherein the group of predefined geographic areas comprises geographic regions of the wireless communication system and wherein the geographic regions indicate regions of a particular bandwidth of wireless communications between the wireless communication system and the wireless communication device.

16. The method of operating the video system of claim 11, wherein the group of predefined geographic areas comprises geographic regions of the wireless communication system and wherein the geographic regions indicate regions of a particular signal strength of wireless communications between the wireless communication system and the wireless communication device.

17. The method of operating the video system of claim 11, further comprising:

in the video server, querying a database with the geographic location and receiving a response from the database indicating if the geographic location is within the group of predefined geographic areas.

18. A communication system comprising:

a video server configured to receive a request for a video from a wireless communication device;

the video server configured to monitor a geographic location of the wireless communication device and transfer reference frames of the video for delivery to the wireless communication device if the geographic location is within a group of predefined geographic areas and stop the transfer of the reference frames if the geographic location is not within the group of predefined geographic areas;

the video server configured to transfer update frames of the video for delivery to the wireless communication device without regard to whether the geographic location is within the group of predefined geographic areas;

the wireless communication device configured to receive the video, process the reference frames and the update frames to determine a playback sequence of the video, and display the video in the playback sequence.

19. The communication system of claim 18, comprising:

the video server configured to transfer the reference frames of the video over a first logical transport link and the update frames of the video over a second logical transport link; and

the wireless communication device configured to receive the reference frames of the video over the first logical transport link and the update frames of the video over the second logical transport link and determine a playback sequence among the reference frames of the video and the update frames of the video.

20. The communication system of claim 18, wherein the reference frames of the video comprise MPEG I-frames and the update frames of the video comprise at least one of MPEG P-frames and MPEG B-frames.