System and method for determining optimal bandwidth for streaming to a client device in an adjustable bit rate video system

• US 9,276,967 B2
• Filed: 07/27/2012
• Issued: 03/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Casey, Steven M., Castro, Felipe, Dhaliwal, Ronnie, Choi, Hong
• Primary Examiner(s): Ibrahim, Mohamed
• Assistant Examiner(s): FIORILLO, JAMES N
• Application Number:
  US13/559,835
• Publication Number:
  US 20140032781A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,313 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/22 Traffic shaping
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets
• 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 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23439 for generating different versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2393 involving handling client requests scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2402 Monitoring of the downstream path of the transmission network, e.g. bandwidth available traffic monitoring in data switching networks H04L43/00; monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2662 Controlling the complexity of the video stream, e.g. by scaling the resolution or bitrate of the video stream based on the client capabilities

Abstract

A system and method for selecting an initial bandwidth setting. A determination is made that a client is initiating a communication session. Network conditions for the client are determined. A bandwidth setting for the client is selected utilizing the network conditions and a previous bandwidth setting saved in a memory. The communication session for the client is initiated utilizing the bandwidth seating.

Claims

1. A method for selecting an initial bandwidth setting, the method comprising:

determining a client is initiating a communication session to receive streaming content from a content source, wherein the streaming content is stored as a plurality of content segments and a manifest describing the plurality of content segments and their order, each of the plurality of content segments being available in a plurality of bit rate encodings;

determining an identifier for the client;

determining network conditions for the client;

selecting a bandwidth setting for the client utilizing the network conditions and a previous bandwidth setting saved in a memory;

initiating the communication session for the client utilizing the bandwidth setting;

wherein initiating the communication session for the client comprises streaming a first content segment having a first bit rate encoding based on the bandwidth setting;

and updating the bandwidth setting to change a bit rate of the streaming content, based on buffer utilization at one or more devices in a network connection between the client and the content source, wherein changing a bit rate of the streaming content comprises streaming a second content segment of the content, the second content segment having a different bit rate encoding than the first content segment;

storing at least one of the updated bandwidth setting, the buffer utilization, and a bandwidth history in memory.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the client is a video streaming application.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the network conditions include a type of data connection being utilized by the client.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the network conditions include determining a number of clients sharing a network connection with bandwidth limitations.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the communication session is initiation of a video session.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

updating the memory with a bandwidth setting in response to determining the client is functional at the bandwidth setting.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining an identifier associated with the client to determine the previous bandwidth setting associated with the client.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the identifier is a MAC address associated with the client.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

storing the bandwidth setting at a predefined interval.

10. A server for selecting a bandwidth setting, comprising:

a processor for executing a set of instructions; and

a memory for storing the set of instructions, wherein the set of instructions are configured to;

determine a client is initiating a communication session to receive streaming content from a content source, wherein the streaming content is stored as a plurality of content segments and a manifest describing the plurality of content segments and their order, each of the plurality of content segments being available in a plurality of bit rate encodings;

determine an identifier associated with the client;

determine network conditions for the client;

select a bandwidth setting for the client utilizing the network conditions and the identifier associated with the client, wherein the identifier is associated with a previous bandwidth setting saved in a memory;

initiate the communication session for the client utilizing the bandwidth setting wherein initiating the communication session for the client comprises streaming a first content segment having a first bit rate encoding based on the bandwidth setting; and

update the bandwidth setting to change a bit rate of the streaming content, based on buffer utilization at one or more devices in a network connection between the client and the content source, wherein changing a bit rate of the streaming content comprises streaming a second content segment of the content, the second content segment having a different bit rate encoding than the first content segment;

store at least one of the updated bandwidth setting, the buffer utilization, and a bandwidth history in memory.

11. The server according to claim 10, wherein the client is a video streaming application, and wherein the network conditions include a type of data connection being utilized by the client.

12. The server according to claim 10, wherein the network conditions include determining a number of clients sharing a network connection with bandwidth limitations.

13. The server according to claim 10, wherein the memory is a database accessed by the server to determine the previous bandwidth setting.

14. The server according to claim 10, wherein the bandwidth setting is selected for each new communication session, and wherein the communication session includes at least video streaming.

15. The server according to claim 10, wherein the server is the content source.

16. A system for retrieving a bandwidth setting, the system comprising:

a server configured to determine a client is initiating a communication session to receive streaming content from a content source, determine an identifier associated with the client, determine network conditions for the client, select a bandwidth setting for the client utilizing the identifier associated with the client, the network conditions for the client, and a previous bandwidth setting utilized by the client, initiate the communication session for the client utilizing the bandwidth setting, and update the bandwidth setting to change a bit rate of the streaming content based on buffer utilization at one or more devices in a network connection between the client and the content source; and

a database in communication with the server, the database is operable to store the updated bandwidth setting utilized by the client;

wherein the streaming content is stored as a plurality of content segments and a manifest describing the plurality of content segments and their order, each of the plurality of content segments being available in a plurality of bit rate encodings;

wherein initiating the communication session for the client comprises streaming a first content segment having a first bit rate encoding based on the bandwidth setting;

and wherein changing a bit rate of the streaming content comprises streaming a second content segment of the content, the second content segment having a different bit rate encoding than the first content segment.

17. The system according to claim 16, wherein a plurality of bandwidth settings are stored in the database, and wherein the plurality of bandwidth settings are associated with each of a plurality of clients utilizing each of a plurality of identifiers for initiating communications sessions.

18. The system according to claim 16, wherein the identifier is a MAC address.

19. The system according to claim 16, wherein the network conditions include at least a number of clients sharing a network connection with bandwidth limitations and a type of connection utilized by the client.

20. The server according to claim 16, wherein the server is the content source.