System and method for configuring media network resources

• US 8,660,019 B2
• Filed: 05/10/2007
• Issued: 02/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Schryer, Norman L., Killian, Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): RENNER, BRANDON M
• Application Number:
  US11/746,661
• Publication Number:
  US 20080279112A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,483 Days
• Field of Search: 370254-255, 709220-222
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2809 indicating that an appliance service is present in a home automation network monitoring functionality H04L43/0817; discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services, H04L67/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5051 Service on demand, e.g. definition and deployment of services in real time
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5061 characterised by the interaction between service providers and their network customers, e.g. customer relationship management

Abstract

A system and method for configuring media resources is disclosed. A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a network element having a controller element to present a graphical user interface (GUI) to identify available configuration settings for one or more self-describing services offered to one or more media devices in the network, and manage a network connectivity of the media devices in the network to receive the one or more self-describing services in accordance with a selection of the available configuration settings. Additional embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, comprising computer instructions which, responsive to being executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving a service resource request for at least one self-describing service provided over a network, wherein connectivity requirements are identified by the at least one self-describing service;

determining configuration settings for a group of media devices;

determining corresponding configuration settings available to a plurality of media devices of the group of media devices requesting the at least one self-describing service based at least in part on the connectivity requirements and the determined configuration settings for the plurality of media devices of the group of media devices;

providing a graphical user interface that identifies the available corresponding configuration settings and that presents one or more media services being delivered to one or more other media devices in the network, wherein the one or more media services are presented in a categorization by at least one of bandwidth, security level, ratings, or preferences;

receiving from a media device of the plurality of media devices a selection for an applied configuration setting from the available corresponding configuration settings according to the one or more media services that are presented in the categorization;

configuring a network connectivity of the plurality of media devices according to the applied configuration setting;

monitoring network resources;

determining if a quality of service is unacceptable according to the network resources that are monitored;

transmitting a notice of one or more media devices that exceed a provisioned capacity responsive to determining that the quality of service is unacceptable; and

managing the network connectivity of the plurality of media devices to receive the at least one self-describing service from a network component in accordance with the applied configuration setting and the monitored media resource consumption.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the managing of the network connectivity comprises increasing available bandwidth to a first media device and decreasing the available bandwidth to a second media device.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, comprising computer instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations for receiving self-describing information from the at least one self-describing service, wherein the self-describing information comprises at least one among requirements for bandwidth, port and security.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the configuration settings comprise at least one among port settings, bandwidth settings, physical addresses, logical addresses, download settings, or security settings.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 4, wherein the graphical user interface presents a list of selectable bandwidths available to the media devices responsive to the at least one self-describing service requesting a bandwidth for delivering the at least one self-describing service.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 4, wherein the graphical user interface presents a list of selectable media devices responsive to the at least one self-describing service requesting an address for delivery of the service.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the network component is a residential gateway, and further comprising computer instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations for terminating the at least one self-describing service to balance network resources among the plurality of media devices.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the media device is at least one among a television, cell phone, portable music player, printer, fax machine, or remote controller.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the at least one self-describing service is at least one among MP3 audio streaming service, an MPEG video streaming service, a text messaging service, a broadcast service, a video-on-demand service, a pay-per-view service, or a file sharing service.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface presents a status window of icons representing the plurality of media devices, wherein the icons identify the configuration settings of the plurality of media devices.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, comprising computer instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations for:

assessing a network loading associated with receiving the at least one self-describing service;

evaluating a network capacity provisioned by an Internet Service Provider; and

reporting the quality of service based at least in part on the network loading and the network capacity.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, comprising computer instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations for:

determining an effective bandwidth used by the plurality of media devices;

determining an average bandwidth supplied by the Internet Service Provider; and

presenting a status window that reports the effective bandwidth, the average bandwidth, and a difference in the effective bandwidth and the average bandwidth.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, comprising computer instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations for accepting, rejecting, or modifying a service request for a network resource.

14. A network element, comprising:

a memory storing computer instructions; and

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

receiving a service resource request for at least one self-describing service provided over a network, wherein connectivity requirements are identified by the at least one self-describing service;

determining configuration settings for a group of media devices;

determining corresponding configuration settings available to a plurality of media devices of the group of media devices for receiving a media service;

providing a graphical user interface to identify the available corresponding configuration settings and to present a quality of service for each of a plurality of services, wherein the one or more media services are presented in a categorization by at least one of bandwidth, security level, ratings, or preferences;

configuring a network connectivity of the plurality of media devices according to an applied configuration setting that is selected by a media device of the plurality of media devices;

monitoring network resources;

determining if a quality of service is unacceptable according to the network resources that are monitored;

transmitting a notice of one or more media devices that exceed a provisioned capacity responsive to determining that the quality of service is unacceptable; and

managing a network connectivity of the plurality of media devices in the network to receive the at least one self-describing service in accordance with a selection of the available configuration settings and the monitored media resource consumption.

15. The network element of claim 14, wherein the controller, responsive to executing the computer instructions, performs operations comprising identifying connectivity requests of the at least one self-describing service offered to the plurality of media devices in the network, wherein the available corresponding configuration settings are associated with the connectivity requests.

16. The network element of claim 14, wherein the at least one self-describing service provides self-describing information comprising at least one among requirements for bandwidth or security, and wherein the managing of the network connectivity comprises opening a socket stream connection based on the selection of the available corresponding configuration settings, increasing available bandwidth to a first media device and decreasing the available bandwidth to a second media device.

17. The network element of claim 14, wherein the managing of the network connectivity comprises increasing available bandwidth to a first media device and decreasing the available bandwidth to a second media device.

18. The network element of claim 14, wherein the plurality of services includes the at least one self-describing service, and wherein each of the quality of services are listed in order based on quality.

19. The network element of claim 18, wherein the configuration settings comprise at least one among port settings, bandwidth settings, physical addresses, logical addresses, download settings, or security settings, and wherein the graphical user interface identifies a performance rating for each of the plurality of media devices.

20. The network element of claim 14, wherein the self-describing service is at least one among an audio streaming service, a video streaming service, a text messaging service, a broadcast service, a video-on-demand service, a pay-per-view service, or a file sharing service.

21. A media device comprising:

a memory storing computer instructions; and

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

presenting a graphical user interface to identify configuration settings associated with a connectivity of a self-describing service available over a network to a plurality of media devices including the media device and to present one or more media services being delivered to one or more other media devices in the network, wherein the one or more media services are presented in a categorization by at least one of bandwidth, security level, ratings, or preferences, wherein a service resource request is presented by the self-describing service, and wherein connectivity requirements are identified by the self-describing service, wherein the configuration settings are determined based at least in part on the connectivity requirements and configuration settings information provided by the plurality of media devices;

receiving a selection of an applied configuration setting for network connectivity according to the categorized one or more media services; and

receiving a notice that the media device exceeds a provisioned capacity responsive to determining that a quality of service is unacceptable based on a monitoring of network resources.

22. The media device of claim 21, wherein the controller, responsive to executing the computer instructions, performs operations comprising

managing the connectivity of the media device to receive the self-describing service in accordance with the selected configuration setting.

23. The media device of claim 22, wherein the managing of the connectivity comprises increasing available bandwidth to the media device.

24. The media device of claim 21, wherein the controller, responsive to executing the computer instructions, performs operations comprising receiving self-describing information from a self-describing server comprising at least one among requirements for bandwidth, port or security.

25. The media device of claim 21, wherein the configuration settings comprise at least one among port settings, bandwidth settings, physical addresses, logical addresses, download settings, or security settings.

26. The media device of claim 21, wherein the media device is at least one among a television, cell phone, portable music player, printer, fax machine, or a remote controller for controlling media presented at the media device.

27. A method for configuring media network resources, the method comprising:

identifying, by a system comprising a processor, connectivity requirements for presentation of a self-describing service that is provided over a network, wherein the connectivity requirements are presented in a service resource request by the self-describing service;

determining, by the system, configuration settings of the media network resources that at least in part satisfy a portion of the connectivity requirements to identify available configuration settings;

presenting, by the system, a graphical user interface to identify the available configuration settings and to present one or more media services being delivered to one or more other media devices in the network, wherein the one or more media services are presented in a categorization by at least one of bandwidth, security level, ratings, or preferences;

receiving, by the system, a selection of an applied configuration setting from the available configuration settings according to the presented categorization;

monitoring, by the system, network resources;

determining, by the system, if a quality of service is unacceptable according to the network resources that are monitored; and

transmitting, by the system, a notice of one or more media devices that exceed a provisioned capacity responsive to determining that the quality of service is unacceptable.

28. The method of claim 27, comprising:

applying, by the system, the selection to the media network resources to connect with the self-describing service in accordance with the applied configuration setting.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the selection for the applied configuration setting comprises increasing available bandwidth to a first media device and decreasing the available bandwidth to a second media device.

30. The method of claim 27, comprising receiving, by the system, self-describing information from the self-describing service, wherein the self-describing information comprises at least one among requirements for bandwidth, port or security.

31. The method of claim 27, wherein the configuration settings comprise at least one among port settings, bandwidth settings, physical addresses, logical addresses, download settings, or security settings.