Quality of experience reporting for combined unicast-multicast/broadcast streaming of media content

• US 9,161,013 B2
• Filed: 10/14/2013
• Issued: 10/13/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/09/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Oyman, Ozgur
• Primary Examiner(s): Daftuar, Saket K
• Application Number:
  US14/053,495
• Publication Number:
  US 20140047123A1
• Time in Patent Office: 729 Days
• Field of Search: 709/201, 709/202, 709/203, 709/217, 709/218, 709/219, 709/225, 709/226, 709/227, 709/231, 709/232, 375/240.12, 375/240.02, 375/240.16, 375/240.25, 375/240.01, 375/240.26, 375/240.03, 375/240.13, 375/240.29, 375/E7.026, 375/240.14, 375/240.15, 375/240.24, 370/252, 370/230, 370/329, 370/350
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1863 comprising mechanisms for improved reliability, e.g. status reports arrangements for detecting or preventing errors by carrying supervisory signal the return channel H04L1/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/189 in combination with wireless systems selective distribution or broadcast in wireless communication networks H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0051 of dedicated pilots, i.e. pilots destined for a single user or terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/611 for multicast or broadcast systems for broadcast or conference H04L12/18; arrangements for broadcast or distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/00; arrangements for broadcast applications with a direct linkage to broadcast information or to broadcast space-time H04H60/00; selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS], H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/613 for the control of the source by the destination control signals issued by the client directed to the server or network components specially adapted for selective content distribution H04N21/637
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/65 Network streaming protocols, e.g. real-time transport protocol [RTP] or real-time control protocol [RTCP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/70 Media network packetisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/756 adapting media to device capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/762 at the source reformatting of additional data in video distribution servers H04N21/2355
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/00 Stereoscopic video systems; Multi-view video systems; Details thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/194 Transmission of image signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/105 Selection of the reference unit for prediction within a chosen coding or prediction mode, e.g. adaptive choice of position and number of pixels used for prediction
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/147 according to rate distortion criteria rate-distortion as a criterion for motion estimation H04N19/567
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/196 being specially adapted for the computation of encoding parameters, e.g. by averaging previously computed encoding parameters processing of motion vectors H04N19/513
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/44 : Decoders specially adapted therefor, e.g. video decoders which are asymmetric with respect to the encoder
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/46 : Embedding additional information in the video signal during the compression process H04N19/517, H04N19/68, H04N19/70 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/463 : by compressing encoding parameters before transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/597 : specially adapted for multi-view video sequence encoding
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/70 : characterised by syntax aspects related to video coding, e.g. related to compression standards
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/80 : Details of filtering operations specially adapted for video compression, e.g. for pixel interpolation H04N19/635, H04N19/86 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234309 : by transcoding between formats or standards, e.g. from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 or from Quicktime to Realvideo conversion of standards in analog television systems H04N7/01
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2353 : specifically adapted to content descriptors, e.g. coding, compressing or processing of metadata
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2404 : Monitoring of server processing errors or hardware failure error or fault detection G06F11/07; monitoring in general G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25825 : involving client display capabilities, e.g. screen resolution of a mobile phone optimising the visualisation of content during browsing in the Internet G06F16/9577; processing of terminal status or physical abilities in wireless networks H04W8/22; authentication in wireless network security H04W12/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25833 : involving client hardware characteristics, e.g. manufacturer, processing or storage capabilities allocation of resources considering hardware capabilities in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/5044; allocation of resources considering software capabilities in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/5055
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26258 : for generating a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlist, or scheduling item distribution according to such list retrieval of multimedia data based on playlists G06F16/40
• 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 21/6125 : involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6131 : involving transmission via a mobile phone network wireless downlink channel access H04W74/006
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/643 : Communication protocols network streaming protocols, e.g. real-time transport protocol [RTP] or real-time control protocol [RTCP], H04L65/65
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6437 : Real-time Transport Protocol [RTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/816 : involving special video data, e.g 3D video
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 : by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 : Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 : Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 : Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 60/04 : using triggered events
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/12 : Setup of transport tunnels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/16 : Involving different core network technologies, e.g. a packet-switched [PS] bearer in combination with a circuit-switched [CS] bearer
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/40 : for selective distribution or broadcast
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure describe devices, methods, computer-readable media and systems configurations for monitoring and reporting quality of experience (QoE) metrics that are associated with an access method. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

one or more non-transitory computer-readable media having instructions; and

one or more processors coupled with the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media to execute the instructions to cause a quality of experience (QoE) monitoring module;

to track one or more playlist elements included in a playlist metric of a dynamic adaptive streaming over hypertext transfer protocol (DASH)-formatted content, wherein the DASH-formatted content is to provide an ability to dynamically switch between different bitrate representations of media content;

to detect a switch event that represents a switch from unicast to broadcast delivery of the DASH-formatted content or a switch from broadcast to unicast delivery of the DASH-formatted content;

to compute the playlist metric; and

to report the playlist metric, wherein the one or more playlist elements includes at least a list of playback periods and a stop reason based on the switch event.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a playback period of the list of playback periods comprises a time interval between a user action and whichever occurs sooner of a next user action, an end of the playback or a failure to stops playback.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the playlist metric comprises a stop reason entry and a media player is to provide a reason that causes a presentation to stop to the stop reason entry of the playlist metric.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the reason why a presentation of a representation was stopped is either:

a switch from unicast to broadcast, or a switch from broadcast to unicast.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein QoE monitoring module is to report one or more QoE metrics in a QoE report formatted which includes an extensible markup language (XML).

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the QoE monitoring module is to report the one or more metrics with a HTTP POST request carrying an XML formatted metadata.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more QoE metrics comprises a list of Representation Switch Events.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more QoE metrics comprises a list of HTTP Request/Response transactions.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more QoE metrics comprises media presentation description (MPD) information on media content representations of the received DASH-formatted content.

10. A product including:

a non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon instructions; and

one or more processors, coupled with the non-transitory storage medium, to execute the instructions to result in;

tracking one or more playlist elements included in a playlist metric of a dynamic adaptive streaming over hypertext transfer protocol (DASH)-formatted content, wherein the DASH-formatted content is to provide an ability to dynamically switch between different bitrate representations of media content;

detecting a switch event that represents a switch from unicast to broadcast delivery of the DASH-formatted content or a switch from broadcast to unicast delivery of the DASH-formatted content;

computing the playlist metric based on the switch event, wherein the switch event includes either a switch from unicast to broadcast or a switch from broadcast to unicast; and

reporting a computed playlist metric.

11. The product of claim 10, wherein a playback period of the list of playback periods comprises a time interval between a user action and whichever occurs sooner of a next user action, an end of the playback or a failure to stop playback.

12. The product of claim 10, wherein the playlist metric comprise a stop reason entry and a media player is to provide a reason to the stop reason entry of the playlist metric.

13. The product of claim 12, wherein the reason why a presentation of a representation was stopped is either:

a switch from unicast to broadcast or a switch from broadcast to unicast.

14. The product of claim 10, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in:

reporting one or more QoE metrics in a QoE report formatted as an extensible markup language (XML).

15. The product of claim 14, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in:

reporting the one or more metrics with a HTTP POST request carrying an XML formatted metadata.

16. The product of claim 10, wherein the one or more QoE metrics comprises a list of Representation Switch Events.

17. The product of claim 10, wherein the one or more QoE metrics comprises a List of HTTP Request/Response Transactions.

18. The product of claim 10, wherein the one or more QoE metrics comprises media presentation description (MPD) information on media content representations of the received DASH-formatted content.

19. A method of a quality of experience (QoE) monitoring module comprising:

tracking, by QoE logic executed by one or more processors, one or more playlist elements included in a playlist metric of a dynamic adaptive streaming over hypertext transfer protocol (DASH)-formatted content, wherein the DASH-formatted content is to provide an ability to dynamically switch between different bitrate representations of media content;

detecting, by the QoE logic executed by the one or more processors, a switch event that represents a switch from unicast to broadcast delivery of the DASH-formatted content or a switch from broadcast to unicast delivery of the DASH-formatted content;

computing, by the QoE logic executed by the one or more processors, the playlist metric based on the switch event, wherein the switch event includes either a switch from unicast to broadcast or a switch from broadcast to unicast; and

reporting, by the QoE logic executed by the one or more processors, a compute playlist metric.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein a playback period of the list of playback periods comprises a time interval between a user action and whichever occurs sooner of a next user action, an end of the playback or a failure to stop playback.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the playlist metric comprising:

updating the stop reason element according to a media player reason that cause the media player to stop playing a presentation.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the reason why the presentation of a representation was stopped is either:

a switch from unicast to broadcast or a switch from broadcast to unicast.

23. The method of claim 19, comprising:

reporting one or more QoE metrics in a QoE report formatted as an extensible markup language (XML).

24. The method of claim 23, comprising:

reporting the one or more metrics with a HTTP POST request signaling carrying an XML formatted metadata.

25. A system comprising:

a user equipment (UE) having one or more processors operably coupled to a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), wherein the one or more processors are to execute quality of experience (QoE) logic in the DRAM to

track one or more playlist elements included in a playlist metric of a dynamic adaptive streaming over hypertext transfer protocol (DASH)-formatted content, wherein the DASH-formatted content is to provide an ability to dynamically switch between different birtate representations of media content;

detect a switch event that represents a switch from unicast to broadcast delivery of the DASH-formatted content or a switch from broadcast to unicast delivery of the DASH-formatted content;

compute the playlist metric; and

report the playlist metric, wherein the one or more playlist elements includes at least a list of playback periods and a stop reason based on the switch event.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein a playback period of the list of playback periods comprises a time interval between a user action and whichever occurs sooner of a next user action, an end of the playback or a failure to stop playback.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the playlist metric comprises a stop reason entry and a media player is to provide a reason that to the stop reason entry of the playlist metric.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the reason why a presentation of a representation was stopped is either:

a switch from unicast to broadcast or a switch from broadcast to unicast.

29. The system of claim 25, wherein QoE logic is to report one or more QoE metrics in a QoE report formatted which includes an extensible markup language (XML).

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the QoE logic is to report the one or more metrics with a HTTP POST request signaling carrying an XML formatted metadata.

31. The system of claim 25, wherein the one or more QoE metrics comprises a list of Representation Switch Events.

32. The system of claim 25, wherein the one or more QoE metrics comprises a List of HTTP Request/Response Transactions.

33. The system of claim 25, wherein the one or more QoE metrics comprises media presentation description (MPD) information on media content representations of the received DASH-formatted content.