Quality of service for distribution of content to network devices

• US 9,185,004 B2
• Filed: 12/29/2010
• Issued: 11/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Salinger, Jorge Daniel, Francisco, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Angela
• Application Number:
  US12/981,053
• Publication Number:
  US 20120173746A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,777 Days
• Field of Search: 709/230
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5019 Ensuring fulfilment of SLA
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/509 wherein the managed service relates to media content delivery, e.g. audio, video or TV
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/55 Testing of service level quality, e.g. simulating service usage
• 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 65/752 adapting media to network capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/756 adapting media to device capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/61 taking into account QoS or priority requirements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26216 involving the channel capacity, e.g. network bandwidth admission control, resource allocation in open networks H04L12/5692; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10; establishing a schedule or organising the servicing of application requests taking into account QoS H04L67/61
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64322 IP

Abstract

A gateway device configured to receive IP video content may select and use transmission methods that maintain a certain quality of service for delivering the content. A transmission method may be selected based on a network to which the client device is connected. The gateway device may select a network through which the content is to be delivered depending on a variety of factors including bandwidth availability, client compatibility, quality of service provided and the like. A gateway device may further be configured to convert multicast transmissions to unicast, to provide dynamic storage of content for pre-positioning and other purposes and/or to provide other functions.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a gateway device, a content item addressed to a client device;

determining, by the gateway device, a protocol in which the content item is formatted;

in response to determining that the content item is not formatted according to Internet Protocol (IP), re-formatting, by the gateway device, the content item into one or more IP packets;

determining whether the content item corresponds to a specified content media type;

in response to determining that the content item corresponds to the specified content media type, selecting a network for transmitting the content item to the client device based on quality of service criteria, the selected network comprising one of a first network and a second network, wherein both the first and second networks are networks at a location of the client device; and

in response to determining that a first bandwidth of the selected network, the first bandwidth being prioritized for the specified content media type, is unavailable, selecting a second bandwidth of the selected network, the second bandwidth being prioritized for a different content media type, and transmitting the content item to the client device using the second bandwidth.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected network is the first network, the method further comprising transmitting the one or more IP packets to the client device through the first network using a time division multiple access resource reservation control protocol, and allocating a time slot in a transmission stream between the gateway device and the client device for delivering the content item.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an additional content item addressed to the client device;

determining whether the additional content item corresponds to the specified content media type; and

in response to determining that the additional content item does not correspond to the specified content media type, scheduling transmission of the additional content item over one of the first and second networks using un-prioritized bandwidth.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising using a first resource reservation control scheme for transmissions over the first network and a second resource reservation control scheme for transmissions over the second network.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an additional content item addressed to the client device;

determining whether the additional content item corresponds to the specified content media type; and

in response to determining that the additional content item does not correspond to the specified content media type, selecting the second network for transmission of the additional content item to the client device.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising using a same resource reservation control scheme for transmission over both the first and second networks.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the network further comprises:

determining whether the first network comprises available bandwidth; and

in response to determining that the first network comprises available bandwidth, selecting the first network.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the network further comprises:

determining whether the first network comprises available bandwidth; and

in response to determining that the first network does not comprise available bandwidth, determining whether the second network comprises available bandwidth; and

in response to determining that the second network comprises available bandwidth, selecting the second network, wherein the first and second networks are physically different.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the content item is formatted according to a multicast protocol; and

in response to determining that the content item is formatted according to the multicast protocol, converting the content item to a unicast protocol format prior to transmitting the content item to the client device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the gateway device stores the content item in a storage device prior to receiving a request from the client device for the content item.

11. The method of claim 4, wherein the second resource reservation control scheme comprises reserving bandwidth in the second network for transmission of the specified content media type.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the first bandwidth is associated with a content transmission channel,

wherein determining whether the second network comprises available bandwidth comprises determining whether the content transmission channel, dedicated to transmitting only the specified content media type, comprises available bandwidth,

wherein the second network comprises at least three devices and the content transmission channel dedicated to the specified content media type is open for use by the at least three devices, and

wherein the second network comprises at least one other content transmission channel not dedicated to transmitting only the specified content media type.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the content item comprises one or more of:

advertisements, digital rights management keys or code images.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the specified content media type is video.

15. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

memory operatively coupled to the processor and storing computer readable instructions that, when executed, cause the apparatus to;

receive a content item addressed to a client device at a location having at least a first network and a second network, wherein the first network uses a first resource reservation control scheme and the second network uses a second resource reservation control scheme different from the first resource reservation control scheme and wherein the client device is physically separate from the apparatus;

determine one of the first network and the second network to which the client device is already connected; and

select a transmission method for delivering the content item from the apparatus to the client device over the determined one of the first network and the second network based on a resource reservation control scheme of the determined one of the first network and the second network, wherein the determined one of the first network and the second network comprises a content transmission channel reserved for transmitting a specified media type and a different content transmission channel reserved for transmitting a different media type, and wherein the resource reservation control scheme of the determined one of the first network and the second network permits transmission of content items corresponding to the specified media type over the different content transmission channel when the content transmission channel is unavailable.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the determined one of the first network and the second network comprises the first network and wherein the selected transmission method comprises time division multiple access (TDMA).

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the specified media type comprises one or more of:

audio, video, text, haptic content or application data.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the determined one of the first network and the second network comprises at least one channel not reserved for transmission of content of a particular media type.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the memory further stores computer readable instructions that, when executed, cause the apparatus to:

determine that the content item is formatted according to a multicast protocol;

in response to determining that the content item is formatted according to the multicast protocol, determine whether the client device is compatible with the multicast protocol;

in response to determining that the client device is incompatible with the multicast protocol, convert the content item to a unicast protocol format; and

transmit the content item to the client device in the unicast protocol format.

20. One or more non-transitory computer readable media storing computer readable instructions that, when executed, cause an apparatus to:

receive a content item, addressed to a user device at a location having at least a first network using a first resource reservation control scheme and a second network using a second resource reservation control scheme;

select the first network based on a quality of service criteria;

transmit the content item over the first network to the user device in accordance with the first resource reservation control scheme by causing the apparatus to;

determine whether network bandwidth of the first network and prioritized for a content media type corresponding to the content item is available; and

when the network bandwidth prioritized for the content media type is available, transmit the content item to the user device over the first network using the network bandwidth prioritized for the content media type, otherwise;

when the network bandwidth prioritized for the content media type is unavailable, select a different network bandwidth of the first network and prioritized for a different content media type and transmit the content item to the user device using the different network bandwidth prioritized for the different content media type.

21. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 20, wherein the one or more non-transitory computer readable media further store computer readable instructions that, when executed, cause the apparatus to:

determine a priority of the content item relative to one or more other content items stored in a transmission queue; and

store the content item in the transmission queue based on the priority of the content item.