System and method for monitoring whole home digital video recorder usage for internet protocol television

• US 8,434,121 B2
• Filed: 10/16/2009
• Issued: 04/30/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ospalik, Kenneth, Malee, Daniel P., Mathew, John, Tektumanidze, Giya, Earnshaw, Marissa
• Primary Examiner(s): Pendleton, Brian
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lewis, Jonathan V
• Application Number:
  US12/580,862
• Publication Number:
  US 20110093907A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,292 Days
• Field of Search: 725/95
• US Class Current: 725/95
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2393 involving handling client requests scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• 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 21/26216 involving the channel capacity, e.g. network bandwidth admission control, resource allocation in open networks H04L12/5692; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10; establishing a schedule or organising the servicing of application requests taking into account QoS H04L67/61
• 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 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17336 Handling of requests in head-ends

Abstract

A method for monitoring a bandwidth configuration for a plurality of customer premises connected to a video head-end office in an Internet Protocol television network is disclosed. The bandwidth configuration is received for each of the plurality of customer premises. The bandwidth configuration is stored for each of the plurality of customer premises in a memory of a first server. A data file is received from the video head-end office. The data file indicates that a set-top box device located at one of the customer premises has requested a video stream that would exceed a first number of video streams available to the one of the customer premises and that would exceed a first bandwidth currently available between the video head-end office and the one of the customer premises. The data file is stored in the memory of the first server.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a system comprising a processor, a bandwidth configuration for equipment of a customer premises connected to a video head-end office in an Internet Protocol television network;

storing, by the system, the bandwidth configuration in a memory of a server;

receiving, by the system, a data file associated with the equipment of the customer premises connected to the video head-end office in the Internet Protocol television network, wherein the data file indicates that a set-top box device located at the customer premises has requested a video stream that would exceed a first number of video streams available to the equipment of the customer premises and that would exceed a first bandwidth currently available between the video head-end office and the equipment of the customer premises;

storing, by the system, the data file in the memory of the server;

formatting, by the system, the bandwidth configuration and the data file for use in the server;

transmitting, by the system, the formatted bandwidth configuration to the server;

transmitting, by the system, the formatted data file to the server;

determining, by the system, a second number of video streams requested by the equipment of the customer premises when the data file was generated; and

providing, by the system, a third number of video streams to the equipment of the customer premises from the video head-end office in the Internet Protocol television network based on a difference between the first number of video streams and the second number of video streams.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining, by the system, a second bandwidth to provide to the equipment of the customer premises based on the formatted data file.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the data file includes identification for the set-top box device that requested the video stream that would exceed the first number of video streams available to the equipment of the customer premises and that would exceed the first bandwidth currently available between the video head-end office and the equipment of the customer premises.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the data file includes a total bandwidth utilized by a total number of video streams transmitted from the video head-end office to the equipment of the customer premises.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the data file includes a number of high definition video streams and a number of standard definition video streams being transmitted to the equipment of the customer premises when the video stream was requested.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the data file includes an indication that the requested video stream would exceed the first number of video streams allowed over a communication link between the equipment of the customer premises and the video head-end office.

7. A computer-readable storage device, comprising computer instructions which, responsive to being executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving a bandwidth configuration for equipment of a customer premises connected to a video head-end office in an Internet Protocol television network;

storing the bandwidth configuration in a memory of a server;

receiving a data file associated with the equipment of the customer premises connected to the video head-end office in the Internet Protocol television network, wherein the data file indicates that a set-top box device located at the customer premises has requested a video stream that would exceed a first number of video streams available to the equipment of the customer premises and that would exceed a first bandwidth currently available between the video head-end office and the equipment of the customer premises;

storing the data file in the memory of the server;

formatting the bandwidth configuration and the data file for use in the server;

transmitting the formatted bandwidth configuration to the server;

transmitting the formatted data file to the server;

determining a second number of video streams requested by the equipment of the customer premises when the data file was generated; and

providing a third number of video streams to the equipment of the customer premises from the video head-end office in the Internet Protocol television network based on a difference between the first number of video streams and the second number of video streams.

8. The computer-readable storage device of claim 7 further comprising:

determining a second bandwidth to provide to the equipment of the customer premises based on the formatted data file.

9. The computer-readable storage device of claim 7 wherein the data file includes identification for the set-top box device that requested video stream would exceed the first bandwidth currently available.

10. The computer-readable storage device of claim 7 wherein the data file includes a total bandwidth utilized by a total number of video streams transmitted from the video head-end office to the equipment of the customer premises.

11. The computer-readable storage device of claim 7 wherein the data file includes a number of high definition video streams and a number of standard definition video streams being transmitted to the equipment of the customer premises when the video stream was requested.

12. The computer-readable storage device of claim 7 wherein the data file includes an indication that the requested video stream would exceed the first number of video streams allowed over a communication link between the equipment of the customer premises and the video head-end office.

13. The computer-readable storage device of claim 7 wherein the bandwidth configuration includes a total bandwidth allocated to the equipment of the customer premises, and a total number of high definition video streams and a total number of standard definition video streams available for ingress and egress at the equipment of the customer premises.

14. A system comprising:

a memory storing computer instructions; and

a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor, responsive to executing the computer instructions, performs operations comprising;

receiving a bandwidth configuration for equipment of a customer premises connected to a video head-end office in an Internet Protocol television network;

storing the bandwidth configuration in a memory of a server;

receiving a data file associated with the equipment of the customer premises connected to the video head-end office in the Internet Protocol television network, wherein the data file indicates that a set-top box device located at the customer premises has requested a video stream that would exceed a first number of video streams available to the equipment of the customer premises and that would exceed a first bandwidth currently available between the video head-end office and the equipment of the customer premises;

storing the data file in the memory of the server;

formatting the bandwidth configuration and the data file for use in the server;

transmitting the formatted bandwidth configuration to the server;

transmitting the formatted data file to the server;

determining a second number of video streams requested by the equipment of the customer premises when the data file was generated; and

providing a third number of video streams to the equipment of the customer premises from the video head-end office in the Internet Protocol television network based on a difference between the first number of video streams and the second number of video streams.

15. The system of claim 14 further comprising determining a second bandwidth to provide to the equipment of the customer premises based on the formatted data file.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein the bandwidth configuration includes a total bandwidth allocated to the equipment of the customer premises, and a total number of high definition video streams and a total number of standard definition video streams available for ingress and egress at the equipment of the customer premises.

17. The system of claim 14 wherein the data file includes a total bandwidth utilized by a total number of video streams transmitted from the video head-end office to the equipment of customer premises.

18. The system of claim 14 wherein the data file includes a number of high definition video streams and a number of standard definition video streams being transmitted to the equipment of customer premises when the video stream was requested.

19. The system of claim 14 wherein the data file includes identification for the set-top box device that requested the video stream that would exceed the first number of video streams available to the equipment of the customer premises and that would exceed the first bandwidth currently available between the video head-end office and the customer premises.

20. The system of claim 14 wherein the data file includes an indication that the requested video stream would exceed the first number of video streams allowed over a communication link between the equipment of the customer premises and the video head-end office.