Rate adaptation for video calling

• US 8,723,913 B2
• Filed: 07/22/2011
• Issued: 05/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/07/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Lau, Kevin, Obaidi, Ahmad Arash
• Primary Examiner(s): Ramakrishnaiah, Melur
• Application Number:
  US13/189,281
• Publication Number:
  US 20120086767A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,026 Days
• Field of Search: 348 1401- 1416, 370/468, 375/240.02
• US Class Current: 348/14.02
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42365 Presence services providing information on the willingness to communicate or the ability to communicate in terms of media capability or network connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/14 Systems for two-way working H04N7/12, H04N7/173 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/141 between two video terminals, e.g. videophone telephonic communication systems combined with television receiver for reception of entertainment or information matter H04M11/085
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/147 Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals selecting H04Q
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/148 Interfacing a video terminal to a particular transmission medium, e.g. ISDN

Abstract

Telecommunication devices are described herein that are configured to establish a video call and adapt frame rates at which video and audio frames of the video call are transmitted. The telecommunication devices adapt frame rates based at least on uplink and downlink link qualities of each telecommunication device. By adapting the frame rates, the telecommunication devices engage in a real-time exchange of the video and audio frames of the video call. A server is also described herein that is configured to conditionally establish a video call between telecommunication devices, to determine link qualities of the telecommunication devices, and to adapt frame rates based at least on the link qualities.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

establishing, by a first telecommunication device, a video call with a second telecommunication device;

determining, by the first telecommunication device, uplink and downlink link qualities of the first telecommunication device;

receiving, from the second telecommunication device, a request for an adaptation to a first frame rate at which the first telecommunication device transmits video and audio frames of the video call, the request for the adaptation of the first frame rate specifying a downlink link quality of the second telecommunication device;

requesting that the second telecommunication device adapt a second frame rate at which the second telecommunication device transmits video and audio frames of the video call based at least on the downlink link quality; and

adapting the first frame rate based on the lower of the uplink link quality of the first telecommunication device and the downlink link quality of the second telecommunication device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining is based on a historical model associated with the first telecommunication device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the historical model includes link qualities associated with locations where a user of the first telecommunication device or a user of the second communication device is at on specific days and times.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the adapting comprises decreasing the first frame rate in response to a decrease in uplink link quality.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to determining a weak uplink link quality and a strong downlink link quality, decreasing the first frame rate and requesting an increase of the second frame rate.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising periodically monitoring the uplink and downlink link qualities and performing at least one of the adapting or the requesting responsive to changes in the uplink or downlink link qualities.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining that a network, device, or user feature of one of the first or second telecommunication devices has changed and, in response, terminating the video call.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the establishing of the video call is performed conditionally based at least on whether the first and second telecommunication devices are connected to 4G networks or WiFi networks.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising exchanging video and audio frames in accordance with the first frame rate and the second frame rate.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the exchanging is performed in real-time, with video and audio frames buffered more than a threshold amount of time being discarded.

11. One or more non-transitory computer storage media comprising computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a server device of a telecommunications service provider, perform operations including:

conditionally establishing a video call between a first telecommunication device and a second telecommunication device based on network, device, or user features of the first and second telecommunication devices;

determining link qualities associated with each of the first and second telecommunication devices;

adapting a frame rate of at least one of the first and second telecommunication devices based on the determined link qualities, the frame rate being a rate at which the first or second telecommunication device transmits video and audio frames of the video call; and

terminating the video call when the second telecommunication device is not connected to a 4G network or a WiFi network or when a network load exceeds a threshold.

12. The one or more non-transitory computer storage media of claim 11, wherein the link qualities include one or both of uplink link qualities or downlink link qualities.

13. The one or more non-transitory computer storage media of claim 11, wherein the operations further include determining that a telecommunication device has a WiFi network available but is not connected to the WiFi network and informing the telecommunication device that connection to the WiFi network will enable the telecommunication device to engage in video calls.

14. The one or more non-transitory computer storage media of claim 11, wherein the determining of the link qualities comprises predicting the signals strengths based on locations of one or both of the first and second telecommunication devices.

15. The one or more non-transitory computer storage media of claim 11, wherein adapting the frame rates further comprises:

adapting the frame rate of the first telecommunication device based on the lower of an uplink link quality of the first telecommunication device and a downlink link quality of the second telecommunication device; and

adapting the frame rate of the second telecommunication device based on the lower of an uplink link quality of the second telecommunication device and a downlink link quality of the first telecommunication device.

16. The one or more non-transitory computer storage media of claim 11, wherein adapting the frame rates further comprises one of:

instructing one or both of the first and second telecommunication devices to adapt their frame rates;

or

dropping n video and audio frames out of every m video and audio frames received from the first or second telecommunication device, wherein n is less than m.

17. A telecommunication device comprising:

a processor;

a video calling module configured to be operated by the processor to establish a video call with another telecommunication device and exchange video and audio frames with the other telecommunication device and render those video and audio frames in real-time; and

a rate adaptation module configured to be operated by the processor to;

determine uplink and downlink link qualities of the telecommunication device;

receiving, from the other telecommunication device, a request for an adaptation to a first frame rate at which the telecommunication device transmits video and audio frames of the video call, the request for the adaptation of the first frame rate specifying a downlink link quality of the other telecommunication device;

requesting that the other telecommunication device adapt a second frame rate at which the other telecommunication device transmits video and audio frames of the video call based at least on the downlink link quality; and

adapting the first frame rate based on the lower of the uplink link quality of the first telecommunication device and the downlink link quality of the second telecommunication device.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the rate adaptation module transmits requests to the other telecommunication device and receives requests from the other telecommunication device by utilizing a control layer associated with the video call.