Transmitting multiple adaptive bit rate (ABR) segment streams on a shared frequency

• US 9,241,204 B2
• Filed: 06/27/2013
• Issued: 01/19/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Li, Yong, Blanche, Bradley Donald, Chen, Xuemin
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, Warner
• Application Number:
  US13/929,696
• Publication Number:
  US 20140355624A1
• Time in Patent Office: 936 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/00 Modulated-carrier systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23439 for generating different versions
• 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 21/4524 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; systems specially adapted for using geographical information in broadcast systems H04H60/70; protocols in which the network application is adapted for the location of the user terminal in communication control or processing H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/631 Multimode Transmission, e.g. transmitting basic layers and enhancement layers of the content over different transmission paths or transmitting with different error corrections, different keys or with different transmission protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/0478 Provisions for broadband connections

Abstract

A system for transmitting multiple adaptive bit rate (ABR) segment streams on a shared frequency may include an ABR segment generator and transmitter circuitry. The ABR segment generator may encode a content item based at least in part on different ABR profiles to generate encoded streams. The ABR profiles may indicate encoding parameters corresponding to the encoded streams, e.g., bit rates, resolutions, frame rates and/or codecs. The ABR segment generator may be further configured to segment the encoded streams to generate ABR segment streams. The transmitter circuitry may be configured to transmit the ABR segment streams on a shared frequency, such as by transmitting the segment streams over spatially separated antennas, or by applying different orbital angular momentums to the ABR segment streams. In one or more implementations, the system may further include a segment interleaver that is configured to interleave the ABR segment streams.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting multiple adaptive bit rate (ABR) segment streams on a shared frequency, the method comprising:

encoding a content item based at least in part on a plurality of ABR profiles to generate a plurality of encoded streams, each of the plurality of encoded streams being encoded differently and each of the plurality of encoded streams corresponding to one of the plurality of ABR profiles;

segmenting the plurality of encoded streams to generate a plurality of ABR segment streams, each of the plurality of ABR segment streams corresponding to one of the plurality of encoded streams; and

transmitting the plurality of ABR segment streams on the shared frequency to an electronic device irrespective of whether any of the plurality of ABR segment streams have been requested by the electronic device, wherein at least two of the plurality of ABR segment streams are transmitted on the shared frequency to the electronic device simultaneously.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the plurality of ABR segment streams on the shared frequency further comprises:

modulating the plurality of ABR segment streams to generate a plurality of modulated streams; and

transmitting, via a plurality of spatially separated antennas, the plurality of modulated streams on the shared frequency, wherein each of the plurality of modulated streams is transmitted via one of the plurality of spatially separated antennas.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the plurality of ABR segment streams on the shared frequency further comprises:

generating a plurality of orbital angular momentum channels from the plurality of ABR segment streams; and

transmitting the plurality of orbital angular momentum channels on the shared frequency.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein generating the plurality of orbital angular momentum channels from the plurality of ABR segment streams further comprises:

modulating the plurality of ABR segment streams to generate a plurality of modulated streams; and

applying one of a plurality of orbital angular momentums to each of the plurality of modulated streams to generate the plurality of orbital angular momentum channels, wherein a different orbital angular momentum is applied to each of the plurality of modulated streams.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

interleaving the plurality of ABR segment streams to generate a plurality of interleaved segment streams.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein transmitting the plurality of ABR segment streams on the shared frequency further comprises:

transmitting the plurality of interleaved segment streams on the shared frequency.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of ABR profiles indicates at least one of a bit rate, a resolution, a frame rate, or a codec.

8. A method for receiving adaptive bit rate (ABR) segment streams on a shared frequency, the method comprising:

receiving, by an electronic device, a plurality of ABR segment streams concurrently on the shared frequency, wherein each of the plurality of ABR segment streams comprises a plurality of segments of a content item that are encoded based at least in part on one of a plurality of ABR profiles and each of the plurality of ABR segment streams is encoded differently; and

selecting, by the electronic device, one of the plurality of ABR segment streams for display based at least in part on a characteristic determinable by the electronic device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the characteristic determinable by the electronic device comprises at least one of:

a codec that is available to the electronic device, power that is available to the electronic device, processing resources that are available to the electronic device, or a size of a display that is available to the electronic device.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

transmitting an indication of the plurality of ABR profiles to a plurality of electronic devices;

receiving, from an electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices, a request for one of the plurality of segments of one of the plurality of ABR segment streams; and

transmitting the one of the plurality of segments of the one of the plurality of ABR segment streams to the electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein receiving the plurality of ABR segment streams on the shared frequency further comprises:

receiving, via a plurality of spatially separated antennas, a plurality of modulated streams on the shared frequency; and

demodulating the plurality of modulated streams to recover the plurality of ABR segment streams.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein receiving the plurality of ABR segment streams on the shared frequency further comprises:

receiving a plurality of orbital angular momentum channels on the shared frequency, wherein each of the plurality of orbital angular momentum channels comprises one of a plurality of orbital angular momentums;

separating each of the plurality of orbital angular momentum channels to generate a plurality of modulated streams; and

demodulating the plurality of modulated streams to generate the plurality of ABR segment streams.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the plurality of segments of each of the plurality of ABR segment streams are interleaved and the method further comprising:

deinterleaving the plurality of segments of each of the plurality of ABR segment streams.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

determining that a segment of the plurality of segments of a first ABR segment stream of the plurality of ABR segment streams is corrupted; and

recovering the corrupted segment of the plurality of segments of the first ABR segment stream of the plurality of ABR segment streams based at least in part on a corresponding segment of a second ABR segment stream of the plurality of ABR segment streams.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein recovering the segment of the plurality of segments of the first ABR segment stream of the plurality of ABR segment streams based at least in part on the corresponding segment of the second ABR segment stream of the plurality of ABR segment streams further comprises:

transcoding the corresponding segment of the second ABR segment stream of the plurality of ABR segment streams to recover an uncorrupted version of the segment of the plurality of segments of the first ABR segment stream that was determined to have been corrupted.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the second ABR segment stream of the plurality of ABR segment streams comprises a highest bit rate of the plurality of ABR segment streams for which the corresponding segment was received error-free.

17. The method of claim 8, wherein each of the plurality of ABR profiles indicates at least one of a bit rate, a resolution, a frame rate, or a codec.

18. A device for transmitting multiple adaptive bit rate (ABR) segment streams on a shared frequency, the device comprising:

an ABR segment stream generator configured to encode a content item based at least in part on a plurality of ABR profiles to generate a plurality of encoded streams, each of the plurality of encoded streams being encoded differently, and to segment the plurality of encoded streams to generate a plurality of ABR segment streams; and

a transmitter configured to simultaneously transmit the plurality of ABR segment streams on the shared frequency to an electronic device.

19. The device of claim 18, further comprising:

a plurality of orbital angular momentum (OAM) applicators configured to apply one of a plurality of orbital angular momentums to each of the plurality of ABR segment streams to generate a plurality of OAM channels,

wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit the plurality of OAM channels on the shared frequency.

20. The device of claim 19, wherein a different orbital angular momentum is applied to each of the plurality of ABR segment streams.

21. The device of claim 18, further comprising:

a plurality of spatially separated antennas; and

a plurality of modulators configured to modulate the plurality of ABR segment streams to generate a plurality of modulated streams,

wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit, via a plurality of spatially separated antennas, the plurality of modulated streams on the shared frequency, wherein each of the plurality of modulated streams is transmitted via one of the plurality of spatially separated antennas.

22. The device of claim 18, further comprising:

a segment interleaver configured to interleave the plurality of ABR segment streams to generate a plurality of interleaved segment streams,

wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit the plurality of interleaved segment streams on the shared frequency.