Apparatus and method for media transmission bandwidth control using bandwidth estimation
First Claim
1. A method for determining, by a receiving station, an estimated available bandwidth for transmitting a media stream over a network from a transmitting station to the receiving station, the method comprising:
- receiving a plurality of frames from the media stream at the receiving station;
determining an inter-arrival time differential d for each frame from the plurality of frames, the inter-arrival time differential di, for a current frame i calculated as the difference between a network transmission time of the current frame i and a network transmission time of a previous frame i-1 according to di=(ti−
ti-1)−
(Ti−
Ti-1), whereinti, is a receive time, at the receiving station, of the current frame i,ti−
1 is a receive time, at the receiving station, of the previous frame i-1 that immediately precedes the current frame i,Ti, is a timestamp of the current frame i, andTi−
1 is a timestamp of the previous frame i-1;
determining an inter-frame size differential dL for each frame from the plurality of frames, the inter-frame size differential dLi, for the current frame i calculated as the difference between a frame size of the current frame i and a frame size of the previous frame i-1 according to dLi=Li−
Li−
1, whereinLiis the frame size of frame i, andLi−
1 is the frame size of frame i-1;
determining an estimated function by an adaptive filter that uses the inter-arrival time differential d for each frame from the plurality of frames and the inter-frame size differential dL for each frame from the plurality of frames as inputs, the estimated function having a slope Ci−
1 and an offset mi, wherein the slope Ci−
1 represents an inverse capacity of the network with respect to the plurality of frames and the offset mi represents a deviation from a steady-state condition with respect to the plurality of frames; and
determining the estimated available bandwidth based on a comparison between the offset mi and one or more thresholds.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system, apparatus, and method for estimating available bandwidth for transmitting a media stream over a network, the media stream having a plurality of frames. One method includes receiving some of the plurality of frames, each frame of the plurality of frames having a inter-frame size differential and an inter-arrival time differential, detecting whether at least some of the inter-arrival time differentials are outside of a steady-state range using at least some of the inter-frame size differentials, and estimating an available bandwidth based on the detected change and using a processor.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. A method for determining, by a receiving station, an estimated available bandwidth for transmitting a media stream over a network from a transmitting station to the receiving station, the method comprising:
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receiving a plurality of frames from the media stream at the receiving station; determining an inter-arrival time differential d for each frame from the plurality of frames, the inter-arrival time differential di, for a current frame i calculated as the difference between a network transmission time of the current frame i and a network transmission time of a previous frame i-1 according to di=(ti−
ti-1)−
(Ti−
Ti-1), whereinti, is a receive time, at the receiving station, of the current frame i, ti−
1 is a receive time, at the receiving station, of the previous frame i-1 that immediately precedes the current frame i,Ti, is a timestamp of the current frame i, and Ti−
1 is a timestamp of the previous frame i-1;determining an inter-frame size differential dL for each frame from the plurality of frames, the inter-frame size differential dLi, for the current frame i calculated as the difference between a frame size of the current frame i and a frame size of the previous frame i-1 according to dLi=Li−
Li−
1, whereinLiis the frame size of frame i, and Li−
1 is the frame size of frame i-1;determining an estimated function by an adaptive filter that uses the inter-arrival time differential d for each frame from the plurality of frames and the inter-frame size differential dL for each frame from the plurality of frames as inputs, the estimated function having a slope Ci−
1 and an offset mi, wherein the slope Ci−
1 represents an inverse capacity of the network with respect to the plurality of frames and the offset mi represents a deviation from a steady-state condition with respect to the plurality of frames; anddetermining the estimated available bandwidth based on a comparison between the offset mi and one or more thresholds. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method of regulating a bitrate of a media stream encoded by a transmitting station based on an estimated available bandwidth of a network determined by a receiving station, the method comprising:
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receiving a plurality of frames from the media stream by the receiving station, the plurality of frames each having an inter-arrival time differential di and an inter-frame size differential dLi, the inter-arrival time for each frame given by di=(ti−
ti−
1)−
(Ti−
Ti−
1), whereinti is a receive time of a current frame i, ti−
1 is a receive time of the previous frame i-1 that immediately precedes the current frame i,Ti is a timestamp of the current frame i, and Ti−
1 is a timestamp of the previous frame i-1, andthe inter-frame size differential for each frame given by dLi=Li−
Li−
1, whereinLi is the frame size of frame i, and Li−
is the frame size of frame i-1;estimating a relationship between the inter-arrival time differential and the inter-frame size differential by an adaptive filter that uses the inter-arrival time differential di for each frame from the plurality of frames and the inter-frame size differential dLi for each frame from the plurality of frames as inputs and determines a function having a slope Ci−
1 and an offset mi wherein the slope Ci−
1 represents an inverse capacity of the network with respect to the plurality of frames and the offset mi represents a deviation from a steady-state condition with respect to the plurality of frames;detecting an available bandwidth over-use if the offset mi is greater than a positive threshold; detecting an available bandwidth under-use if the offset mi is less than a negative threshold; determining the estimated available bandwidth based on whether there is a detected over-use or under-use using a processor; and regulating the bitrate of the encoded media stream by sending the estimated available bandwidth to the transmitting station. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method for estimating, at a receiving station, available bandwidth for transmitting a media stream over a network from a transmitting station to the receiving station, the method comprising:
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receiving a plurality of frames from the media stream at the receiving station, each frame of the plurality of frames having an inter-frame size differential dLi and an inter-arrival time differential di, the inter-arrival time for each frame given by di=(ti−
ti−
1)−
(Ti−
Ti−
1) , whereinti is a receive time, at the receiving station, of a current frame i, ti−
1 is a receive time, at the receiving station, of the previous frame i-1 that immediately precedes the current frame i,Ti, is a timestamp of the current frame i, and Ti−
1 is a timestamp of the previous frame i-1, and the inter-frame size differential for each frame given by dLi=Li−
Li−
1, whereinLi is the frame size of frame i, and Li−
1 is the frame size of frame i-1;determining an estimated function by an adaptive filter that uses the inter-arrival time differential for each frame from the plurality of frames and the inter-frame size differential for each frame from the plurality of frames as inputs, the estimated function having a slope Ci−
1 and an offset mi, wherein the slope Ci−
1 represents an inverse capacity of the network with respect to the plurality of frames and the offset mi represents a deviation from a steady-state condition with respect to the plurality of frames;determining a steady-state range using the slope Ci−
1 of the estimated function and at least one pre-determined threshold value;detecting if at least some of the inter-arrival time differentials are outside of a steady-state range using at least some of the inter-frame size differentials; and estimating an available bandwidth based on the detection using a processor. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21)
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22. A computing device for estimating available bandwidth for transmitting a media stream over a network, the computing device comprising:
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a memory; and a processor configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to; receive a plurality of frames from the media stream, each frame of the plurality of frames having an inter-frame size differential dLi and an inter-arrival time differential di, the inter-arrival time for each frame given by di=(ti−
ti−
1)−
(Ti−
Ti−
1) , whereinti is a receive time of a current frame i, ti−
1 is a receive time of the previous frame i-1 that immediately precedes the current frame i,Ti is a timestamp of the current frame i, and Ti−
is a timestamp of the previous frame i-1, andthe inter-frame size differential for each frame given by dLi =Li−
Li−
1, whereinLi is the frame size of frame i, and Li−
1 is the frame size of frame i-1;determine an estimated function by an adaptive filter that uses the inter-arrival time differential d for each frame from the plurality of frames and the inter-frame size differential dL for each frame from the plurality of frames as inputs, the estimated function having a slope Ci−
1 and an offset mi, wherein the slope Ci−
1 represents an inverse capacity of the network with respect to the plurality of frames and the offset mi represents a deviation from a steady-state condition with respect to the plurality of frames;determine a steady-state range using the slope Ci−
1 of the estimated function and at least one pre-determined threshold value;detect whether at least some of the inter-arrival time differentials are outside of the steady-state range using at least some of the inter-frame size differentials; and estimate an available bandwidth based on the detection.
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23. A computing device for estimating available bandwidth for transmitting a media stream over a network, the computing device comprising:
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an RTP receiver configured to receive a plurality of frames from the media stream over the network, each frame having an inter-arrival time differential di and an inter-frame size differential dLi, the inter-arrival time for each frame given by di=(ti−
ti−
1)−
(Ti−
Ti−
1) , whereinti is a receive time of a current frame i, ti−
1 is a receive time of the previous frame i-1 that immediately precedes the current frame i,Ti is a timestamp of the current frame i, and Ti−
1 is a timestamp of the previous frame i-1, andthe inter-frame size differential for each frame given by dLi=Li−
Li−
1, whereinLi is the frame size of frame i, and Li−
1 is the frame size of frame i-1;an adaptive filter configured to determine an estimated function of a relationship between the inter-arrival time differential and the inter-frame size differential based on inter-arrival time differential and inter-frame size differential for the plurality of frames, the estimated function having a slope and an offset; an over-use detector configured to detect an over-use or under-use of the network based on a comparison between the offset and one or more pre-determined thresholds; and a remote rate-control configured to determine an estimated available bandwidth based on the detection of an over-use or under-use by the over-use detector. - View Dependent Claims (24)
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Specification