Remote transmission system

• US 8,467,337 B1
• Filed: 01/28/2013
• Issued: 06/18/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LiveU Ltd. (LiveU, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: LiveU Ltd. (LiveU, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ohayon, Rony Haim, Cohen, Avichai
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Brian D
• Application Number:
  US13/752,016
• Publication Number:
  US 20130145404A1
• Time in Patent Office: 141 Days
• Field of Search: 370/328, 370/338, 370/235, 370/351
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0697 using spatial multiplexing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0041 Arrangements at the transmitter end
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0045 Arrangements at the receiver end
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0058 Block-coded modulation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0071 Use of interleaving interleaving per se H03M13/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2212/00 Encapsulation of packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/02 Details ; arrangements for supplying electrical power along data transmission lines systems for transmitting signals via power distribution lines H04B3/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/25 with rate being modified by the source upon detecting a change of network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/9057 Arrangements for supporting packet reassembly or resequencing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/324 in the data link layer [OSI layer 2], e.g. HDLC
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2187 Live feed
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2383 Channel coding or modulation of digital bit-stream, e.g. QPSK modulation arrangements for detecting or preventing errors in the information received by adapting the channel coding H04L1/0009; analogue front ends or means for connecting modulators, demodulators or transceivers to a transmission line H04L27/0002
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4382 Demodulation or channel decoding, e.g. QPSK demodulation analog front ends or means for connecting modulators, demodulators or transceivers to a transmission line H04L27/0002
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6131 involving transmission via a mobile phone network wireless downlink channel access H04W74/006
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6143 involving transmission via a satellite
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6175 involving transmission via Internet broadcast-related systems characterised by the transmission system being the Internet H04H60/82
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6375 for requesting retransmission , e.g. of data packets lost or corrupted during transmission from serverARQ protocols H04L1/18; implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP] H04L69/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 : in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/542 : using measured or perceived quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/15 : Setup of multiple wireless link connections

Abstract

A transmission apparatus includes a plurality of modems, which are configured to communicate via respective wireless communication channels and includes at least first and second modems configured to communicate respectively over separate first and second wireless communication networks. The transmission apparatus also includes a stream processor, which is configured to receive and process an incoming media stream so as to provide multiple upload streams for transmission by different ones of the modems, including first and second upload streams for transmission by the first and second modems, respectively.

Claims

1. A device configured to facilitate live video transmission from a remote location, the device comprising:

a first modem driver for enabling transmission of a first plurality of packets to a receiver via a first cellular communication network wirelessly accessible from the remote location;

a second modem driver for enabling transmission of a second plurality of packets to the receiver via a second cellular communication network wirelessly accessible from the remote location, wherein the first plurality of packets and the second plurality of packets are part of a live video stream; and

at least one processor configured to receive the first plurality of packets and the second plurality of packets, and to distribute the first plurality of packets to the first modem driver and the second plurality of packets to the second modem driver in a manner such that the first plurality of packets are transmitted via the first cellular communication network and the second plurality of packets are transmitted via the second cellular communication network.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to distribute the first plurality of packets and second plurality of packets in a manner permitting reconstruction of the live video stream at the receiver when the first plurality of packets are distributed to the receiver via the first cellular communication network and when the second plurality of packets are distributed to the receiver via the second cellular communication network.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to enable an additional plurality of packets to be transmitted to the receiver via both the first cellular communication network and the second cellular communication network.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to enable transmission of at least one of the first plurality of packets and the second plurality of packets to the receiver via a communication route that includes an Internet connection and at least one of the first cellular communication network and the second cellular communication network.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the first modem driver enables transmission using a first mobile telephone technology, and the second modem driver enables transmission using a second mobile telephone technology different from the first mobile telephone technology.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to create a virtual broadband upload connection via both the first modem driver and the second modem driver.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein during a transmission period, the first plurality of packets is greater in number than the second plurality of packets, resulting in more packets transmitted via the first cellular communication network than via the second cellular communication network.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the device is configured to be powered by a mobile power source.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to distribute the first plurality of packets and the second plurality of packets in a manner that enables the first plurality of packets to be transmitted via the first cellular communication network while the second plurality of packets are transmitted via the second cellular communication network.

10. The device of claim 1, further comprising:

a third modem driver for enabling transmission of a third plurality of packets to the receiver;

a fourth modem driver for enabling transmission of a fourth plurality of packets to the receiver; and

wherein the at least one processor is further configured to receive the third plurality of packets and the fourth plurality of packets, and to distribute the third plurality of packets to the third modem driver and the fourth plurality of packets to the fourth modem driver in a manner permitting reconstruction of the live video stream at the receiver using the first plurality of packets, the second plurality of packets, the third plurality of packets and the fourth plurality of packets.

11. The device of claim 1, further comprising at least one WiFi modem, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to distribute at least some of the second plurality of packets via the WiFi modem.

12. The device of claim 1, further comprising at least one WiFi modem, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to distribute, via an Internet connection, a third plurality of packets to the receiver using the WiFi modem.

13. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to dynamically adjust distribution of the first plurality of packets and the second plurality of packets based on a bandwidth of at least one of the first cellular communication network and the second cellular communication network.

14. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor includes at least one modem manager configured to manage packet transmission via at least the first cellular communication network and at least the second cellular communication network.

15. A device configured to facilitate live video transmission from a remote location, the device comprising:

at least one processor configured to receive at least a first plurality of packets and a second plurality of packets associated with a live video stream and to distribute the first plurality of packets and second plurality of packets, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to;

enable transmission of the first plurality of packets to a receiver via a first cellular communication network wirelessly accessible from the remote location; and

enable transmission of the second plurality of packets to the receiver via a second cellular communication network wirelessly accessible from the remote location.

16. The device of claim 15, wherein the at least one processor includes at least one modem manager configured to manage packet transmission via at least the first cellular communication network and at least the second cellular communication network.

17. The device of claim 16, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to enable transmission of a third plurality of packets and a fourth plurality of packets, and wherein the modem manager is configured to cause distribution of the first plurality of packets to a first modem, the second plurality of packets to a second modem, the third plurality of packets to a third modem, and the fourth plurality of packets to a fourth modem.

18. The device of claim 17, wherein each of the first modem, the second modem, the third modem, and the fourth modem lacks sufficient performance to singularly transmit the live video stream at a desired quality, while the combined performance of the four modems has sufficient performance to transmit the plurality of data packets in a manner permitting the live video stream to be reconstructed at the receiver at the desired quality.

19. The device of claim 15, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to enable transmission of the first plurality of packets at a first transmission rate and to enable transmission of the second plurality of packets at a second transmission rate, such that a combination of the first transmission rate and the second transmission rate enables reconstruction of the live video stream at the receiver.

20. The device of claim 19, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to adjust at least one of the first transmission rate and the second transmission rate, to compensate for change in a throughput of at least one of the first cellular communication network and the second cellular communication network.

21. The device according to claim 15, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to manage, based on at least one performance factor, transmission of the first plurality of packets via the first cellular communication network and the second plurality of packets via the second cellular communication network, and wherein the at least one performance factor is chosen from a group consisting of:

modem rate, bandwidth, modem reliability, operating license limitations, network congestion, modem error rate, transmission latency, and connection quality.

22. The device of claim 15, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to assign an identifier to each of the first plurality of packets and second plurality of packets, and to enable transmission of the first plurality of packets and the second plurality of packets in non-serial order.

23. The device of claim 15, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to manage a video encoder configured to adjust at least one compression rate of video transmitted in the first plurality of packets and the second plurality of packets.

24. The device of claim 15, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to store at least some of the of the first plurality of packets and the second plurality of packets in a buffer.

25. The device of claim 15, wherein the least one processor is further configured to distribute the first plurality of packets and the second plurality of packets based on feedback information from the receiver, wherein the feedback information is reflective of upload success.

26. The device according to claim 25, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to receive the feedback information via a back channel and to adjust quality of the live video stream based on the feedback information.

27. The device of claim 15, further comprising at least one WiFi modem, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to distribute at least some of the second plurality of packets via the WiFi modem.

28. The device of claim 15, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to dynamically adjust distribution of the first plurality of packets and the second plurality of packets based on a bandwidth of at least one of the first cellular communication network and the second cellular communication network.

29. A method for transmitting live video from a remote location, the method comprising:

splitting a video stream into a plurality of packets;

distributing a first group of the plurality of packets to at least one connectable modem associated with a first cellular communication network, and a second group of the plurality of packets to a second connectable modem associated with a second cellular communication network;

transmitting the first group of packets to a receiver via the first cellular communication network wirelessly accessible from the remote location;

transmitting the second group of packets to the receiver via the second cellular communication network wirelessly accessible from the remote location; and

wherein the transmission of the first group of packets and the second group of packets enables reconstructing the video stream at the receiver.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein transmission of the first group packets occurs at a first transmission rate and the transmission of the second group packets is at a second transmission rate, and a combination of both transmission rates enables reconstruction of the video stream at the receiver.