MPEG-W decoder

• US 8,837,578 B2
• Filed: 03/16/2011
• Issued: 09/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Gavade, Sameer Vasant, Adimatyam, Venkata S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Perungavoor, Sath V
• Assistant Examiner(s): Brown, Jr., Howard D
• Application Number:
  US13/049,204
• Publication Number:
  US 20120236930A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,280 Days
• Field of Search: 375/240, 709/231
• US Class Current: 375/240
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/162 User input
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/164 Feedback from the receiver or from the transmission channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44209 Monitoring of downstream path of the transmission network originating from a server, e.g. bandwidth variations of a wireless network arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4424 Monitoring of the internal components or processes of the client device, e.g. CPU or memory load, processing speed, timer, counter or percentage of the hard disk space used error monitoring in general G06F11/30; arrangements for monitoring conditions of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/32; diagnosis, testing or measuring for television receivers H04N17/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4621 Controlling the complexity of the content stream or additional data, e.g. lowering the resolution or bit-rate of the video stream for a mobile client with a small screen arrangements for using the results of monitoring on user's side in broadcast systems H04H60/65; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6373 for rate control , e.g. request to the server to modify its transmission rate flow control in packet networks H04L47/10
• 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 21/8455 involving pointers to the content, e.g. pointers to the I-frames of the video stream

Abstract

A device comprising a Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG)-W decoder; and one or more processing systems to execute the instructions of the MPEG-W decoder, which configure the one or more processing systems to receive a request for streaming content; select an estimate of a bandwidth for a connection between a destination device and a source device; select a device type pertaining to the destination device; generate a stream request that includes an MPEG-W link, the estimate of the bandwidth, the device type, the MPEG-W link including an address pertaining to the source device, a name of the streaming content, and a file extension of an MPEG-W format; transmit the stream request to the source device; select a streaming content based on the stream request; wherein the streaming content has a resolution corresponding to the estimate of the bandwidth; and transmitting the streaming content to the destination device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a request for streaming content designated to a destination device;

selecting an estimate of a bandwidth for a connection between the destination device and a source device;

generating a stream request for receiving the streaming content, wherein the stream request includes an Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG)-W link and the estimate of the bandwidth, wherein the MPEG-W link includes a network address pertaining to the source device, a name of the streaming content, and a file extension of an MPEG-W format;

transmitting the stream request to the source device;

receiving the streaming content from the source device in response to the stream request;

determining whether a change in a current bandwidth associated with the connection between the destination device and the source device supports a change in a resolution of the streaming content;

in response to determining that the change in the current bandwidth associated with the connection supports the change in the resolution of the streaming content, generating a first update message that includes are request for changing the resolution of the streaming content; and

transmitting the first update message to the source device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the stream request;

selecting the streaming content based on the stream request, wherein the streaming content has a resolution corresponding to the estimate of the bandwidth; and

streaming the streaming content to the destination device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying when the streaming content includes video content;

monitoring when a size of a viewing window for playing the streaming content on the destination device changes;

generating a second update message that includes a second request for changing the resolution of the streaming content when the size of the viewing window of the destination device changes; and

transmitting the second update message to the source device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting the estimate comprises:

selecting one of a default estimate of a bandwidth derived from a bandwidth connection history or a lowest estimate of a bandwidth derived from a connection capability of the destination device,

wherein the default estimate and the lowest estimate are derived before a connection between the destination device and the source device exists for receiving the streaming content.

5. A device comprising:

one or more memories to store instructions of a Destination Moving Picture Experts Group (D-MPEG)-W decoder; and

one or more processing systems to execute the instructions that configure the one or more processing systems to;

receive a request for streaming content designated to a destination device, wherein the D-MPEG-W decoder is associated with the destination device;

select an estimate of a bandwidth for a connection between the device and a source device;

generate a stream request for receiving the streaming content, wherein the stream request includes an MPEG-W link and the estimate of the bandwidth, wherein the MPEG-W link includes a network address pertaining to the source device, a name of the streaming content, and a file extension of an MPEG-W format;

transmit the stream request to the source device;

receive the streaming content from the source device in response to the stream request;

estimate a current streaming bandwidth during the receiving of the streaming content;

determine whether the current streaming bandwidth supports a change in a resolution of the streaming content;

generate a first update message that indicates the current streaming bandwidth in response to determining that the current streaming bandwidth supports the change in the resolution of the streaming content; and

transmit the first update message to the source device.

6. The device of claim 5, wherein when determining, the one or more processing systems is further configured to:

access a data structure that maps a bandwidth to a content resolution;

select the content resolution in correspondence to the current streaming bandwidth;

identify a current content resolution associated with the streaming content; and

identify whether there is a difference between the current content resolution and the content resolution corresponding to the current streaming bandwidth.

7. The device of claim 5, wherein the one or more processing systems is further configured to:

monitor device resource utilization pertaining to the device, wherein the device resource utilization includes at least one of processor utilization, memory utilization, or information pertaining to current network connections;

select a resolution of the streaming content based on the current resource utilization;

identify a current content resolution of the streaming content;

determine whether there is a difference between the resolution and the current content resolution;

generate a second update message that includes a request for the streaming content having the resolution when there is the difference between the resolution and the current content resolution; and

transmit the second update message to the source device.

8. The device of claim 5, wherein the one or more processing systems is further configured to:

identify when the streaming content includes video content;

monitor when a size of a viewing window for playing the streaming content on the device changes;

generate a third update message that includes a request for changing the resolution of the streaming content when the size of the viewing window of the device changes; and

transmit the third update message to the source device.

9. The device of claim 5, wherein the one or more processing systems is further configured to:

identify whether the requested streaming content includes video content based on the name of the streaming content included in the MPEG-W link, wherein the stream request includes a size of a display pertaining to the device, when the streaming content is identified as video content.

10. The device of claim 5, wherein the device is a mobile communication device.

11. The device of claim 5, wherein the D-MPEG-W decoder is part of a content player capable of playing streaming content.

12. The device of claim 5, wherein when selecting the estimate, the one or more processing systems is further configured to:

select a default estimate of a bandwidth derived from a bandwidth connection history associated with the device, wherein the default estimate is derived before a connection between the device and the source device exists for receiving the streaming content.

13. A device comprising:

one or more memories to store instructions of a Source Moving Picture Experts Group (S-MPEG)-W decoder; and

one or more processing systems to execute the instructions that configure the one or more processing systems to;

receive a stream request designated to a destination device, wherein the stream request includes an MPEG-W link, an estimate of a bandwidth for a connection between the destination device and the device, and a device type pertaining to the destination device, wherein the MPEG-W link includes a network address pertaining to the device, a name of a streaming content, and a file extension of an MPEG-W format;

select a streaming content based on the stream request, wherein the streaming content has a resolution corresponding to the estimate of the bandwidth;

stream the streaming content to the destination device; and

receive an update message that includes an updated estimate of a bandwidth and a position point that indicates a position of the streaming content from a perspective of the destination device.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the one or more processing systems is further configured to:

select a same streaming content as the streaming content except the same streaming content has a resolution different from the streaming content based on the updated estimate of the bandwidth;

decode the same streaming content;

locate the position point in the same streaming content; and

partition the same streaming content beginning at the position point.

15. The device of claim 14, wherein when selecting the same streaming content, the one or more processing systems is further configured to:

identify a mapping between the updated estimate of bandwidth and the same streaming content; and

select the same streaming content based on the mapping.

16. The device of claim 13, wherein the device is a web server or a peer device relative to the destination device.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions for a Destination Moving Picture Experts Group (D-MPEG)-W decoder, which when executed are for:

receiving a request for streaming content designated to a destination device;

selecting an estimate of a bandwidth for a connection between the destination device and a source device based on a bandwidth connection history pertaining to one or more previous streaming sessions;

generating a stream request for receiving the streaming content, wherein the stream request includes an MPEG-W link, the estimate of the bandwidth, wherein the MPEG-W link includes a network address pertaining to the source device, a name of the streaming content, and a file extension of an MPEG-W format;

transmitting the stream request to the source device;

receiving the streaming content from the source device in response to the stream request;

monitoring device resource utilization pertaining to the destination device,

selecting a resolution of the streaming content based on the current resource utilization;

identifying a current content resolution of the streaming content;

determining whether there is a difference between the resolution and the current content resolution;

generating an update message that includes a request for the streaming content having the resolution when there is the difference between the resolution and the current content resolution; and

transmitting the update message to the source device.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17,

wherein the device resource utilization includes at least one of processor utilization, memory utilization, or information pertaining to current network connections.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions for a Source Moving Picture Experts Group (S-MPEG)-W decoder, which when executed are for:

receiving a stream request designated to a destination device, wherein the stream request includes an MPEG-W link and an estimate of a bandwidth, wherein the MPEG-W link includes a network address pertaining to a source device, a name of a streaming content, and a file extension of an MPEG-W format;

selecting a streaming content based on the stream request, wherein the streaming content has a resolution corresponding to the estimate of the bandwidth;

streaming the streaming content to the destination device; and

in response to determining that a change in a current bandwidth associated with the connection supports a change in the resolution, receive an update message that includes a request for the change in the resolution.