Methods, systems, and devices for bandwidth conservation

• US 8,621,500 B2
• Filed: 12/02/2011
• Issued: 12/31/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/01/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property II LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Weaver, Timothy H., Whited, Albert
• Primary Examiner(s): Pendleton, Brian
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lin, Jason K
• Application Number:
  US13/310,512
• Publication Number:
  US 20120079520A1
• Time in Patent Office: 760 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 725/14
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0882 Utilisation of link capacity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring

Abstract

Methods, systems, and devices are disclosed for conserving bandwidth. A user'"'"'s bandwidth consumption is monitored and compared to a threshold value. When the user'"'"'s bandwidth consumption equals or exceeds the threshold value, then behavior is incentivized that reduces the user'"'"'s bandwidth consumption.

Claims

1. A method to conserve bandwidth, comprising:

monitoring, by a processing device, bandwidth consumption of a user;

obtaining, by the processing device, a historical pattern of timing related user inputs;

determining, by the processing device, that the timing related user inputs are to be received based on the historical pattern; and

deciding, by the processing device, to ignore the historical pattern of the timing related user inputs when the user is consuming media that does not transition to advertisements, in which deciding to ignore the historical pattern causes the processing device to maintain the bandwidth consumption of the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein deciding to ignore the historical pattern causes the processing device to refrain from indicating that the user is absent.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising prompting the user to forego a high definition stream of data and to instead receive a standard definition stream of data, in order to reduce the bandwidth consumption of the user.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising prompting the user to retrieve locally stored content in order to reduce the bandwidth consumption of the user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the historical pattern of the timing related user inputs correspond to channel surfing at a top of an hour on a television.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising when the timing related user inputs corresponding to channel surfing are expected to a user interface and no inputs corresponding to channel surfing are received during transition to advertisements, predicting that no user is present and conserving bandwidth by reducing the bandwidth consumption of the user.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising comparing the bandwidth consumption of the user to a threshold value.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising incentivizing behavior that reduces the bandwidth consumption of the user when the bandwidth consumption of the user exceeds the threshold value.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein incentivizing behavior that reduces the bandwidth consumption of the user comprises retrieving locally stored content to reduce the bandwidth consumption of the user.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein incentivizing behavior that reduces the bandwidth consumption of the user comprises receiving a reduced resolution stream of data.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the media being consumed is a movie.

12. A processing device, comprising:

a processor;

a memory comprising a program, the processor coupled to the memory to execute the program;

the processor monitoring bandwidth consumption of a user;

the processor obtaining a historical pattern of timing related user inputs;

the processor determining that the timing related user inputs are to be received based on the historical pattern; and

the processor deciding to ignore the historical pattern of the timing related user inputs when the user is consuming media that does not transition to advertisements, in which deciding to ignore the historical pattern causes the processor to maintain the bandwidth consumption of the user.

13. The processing device of claim 12, wherein deciding to ignore the historical pattern causes the processor to refrain from indicating that the user is absent.

14. The processing device of claim 12, wherein the processor prompts the user to forego a high definition stream of data and to instead receive a standard definition stream of data, in order to reduce the bandwidth consumption of the user.

15. The processing device of claim 12, wherein the processor prompts the user to retrieve locally stored content in order to reduce the bandwidth consumption of the user.

16. The processing device of claim 12, wherein the historical pattern of the timing related user inputs correspond to channel surfing at a top of an hour on a television.

17. The processing device of claim 16, wherein when the timing related user inputs corresponding to channel surfing are expected to a user interface and no inputs corresponding to channel surfing are received during transition to advertisements, the processor predicts that no user is present and conservers bandwidth by reducing the bandwidth consumption of the user.

18. A computer program product, embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium, the computer program product including instructions for causing a computer to execute a method for conserving bandwidth, comprising:

monitoring, by a processing device, bandwidth consumption of a user;

obtaining, by the processing device, a historical pattern of timing related user inputs;

determining, by the processing device, that the timing related user inputs are to be received based on the historical pattern; and

deciding, by the processing device, to ignore the historical pattern of the timing related user inputs when the user is consuming media that does not transition to advertisements, in which deciding to ignore the historical pattern causes the processing device to maintain the bandwidth consumption of the user.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein deciding to ignore the historical pattern causes the processing device to refrain from indicating that the user is absent.

20. The computer program product of claim 18, further comprising prompting the user to forego a high definition stream of data and to instead receive a standard definition stream of data, in order to reduce the bandwidth consumption of the user.