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

• US 9,438,883 B2
• Filed: 09/27/2012
• Issued: 09/06/2016
• 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:
  US13/628,340
• Publication Number:
  US 20130268577A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,440 Days
• Field of Search: 709/231, 709/219, 709/217, 709/203, 709/226, 709/227, 709/232, 375/240.12, 375/240.02, 375/240.16, 375/240.25, 375/240.01, 375/240.26, 375/240.03, 375/40.13, 375/240.29, 375/E7.026, 375/240.14, 375/240.15, 375/240.17, 375/240.18, 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. One or more non-transitory computer readable media having instructions that, when executed, cause a dynamic adaptive streaming over hypertext transfer protocol (DASH) client on a user equipment (UE) to:

download, by a processor of the UE, segments of a media stream from a server, the segments being DASH segments provided to the DASH client by a unicast access method or a broadcast access method, the segments to be received at the UE by a transceiver of a network interface and placed in memory of the UE;

record, in the memory of the UE while monitoring download and playback of the segments of the media stream, a quality of experience (QoE) metric related to playback of the segments of the media stream, wherein the QoE metric includes an indication of a switch to the unicast access method or the broadcast access method; and

transmit, from the UE using the transceiver of the network interface, the QoE metric to a QoE reporting server,

wherein the QoE metric comprises a playlist metric to log a list of playlist elements for one or more playback periods in a measurement interval and the list of playlist elements includes a stop-reason parameter that includes the indication of the switch as a reason why a continuous presentation of a representation of the media stream was stopped.

2. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the broadcast access method is a multimedia broadcast/multicast service (MBMS) or file delivery over unidirectional transport (FLUTE)-based access method and the unicast access method is a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP)-based access method.

3. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the DASH client to:

obtain a reporting trigger in a media presentation description (MPD), an open mobile alliance (OMA) device management (DM) QoE management object, or in a session description protocol (SDP) message; and

transmit the QoE metric based on the reporting trigger.

4. An apparatus comprising:

a media player having a processor to download segments of a media stream from a server, the segments provided by a unicast access method or a broadcast access method;

a quality of experience (QoE) monitoring module coupled to the media player, the QoE monitoring module to;

record, in memory of the apparatus while monitoring download and playback the segments of the media stream, a QoE metric related to the playback of the segments of the media stream, wherein the QoE metric includes an indication of a switch to the unicast access method or the broadcast access method; and

transmit the QoE metric to a QoE reporting server,

wherein the QoE metric comprises a playlist metric to log a list of playlist elements for one or more playback periods in a measurement interval and the list of playlist elements includes a stop-reason parameter that includes the indication of the switch as a reason why a continuous presentation of a representation of the media stream was stopped.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the broadcast access method is a multimedia broadcast/multicast service (MBMS) or file delivery over unidirectional transport (FLUTE)-based access method and the unicast access method is a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP)-based access method.

6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the QoE monitoring module is to:

obtain a reporting trigger in a media presentation description (MPD), an open mobile alliance (OMA) device management (DM) QoE management object, or in a session description protocol (SDP) message; and

transmit the QoE metric based on the reporting trigger.

7. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising:

a touchscreen display,

wherein the media player is to render the media stream on the touchscreen display.

8. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the media player is to:

receive a first portion of the media stream via the unicast access method; and

receive a second portion of the media stream via the broadcast access method.

9. A method comprising:

downloading, by a processor of a user equipment, segments of a media stream from a server, the segments provided to a dynamic adaptive streaming over hypertext transfer protocol (DASH) client by a unicast access method or a broadcast access method;

recording, in memory of the user equipment, while monitoring download and playback of the segments, a quality of experience (QoE) metric related to the playback of the segments of the media stream, wherein the QoE metric includes an indication of a switch to the unicast access method or the broadcast access method; and

transmitting, by the user equipment, the QoE metric to a QoE reporting server,

wherein the QoE metric comprises a playlist metric to log a list of playlist elements for one or more playback periods in a measurement interval and the list of playlist elements includes a stop-reason parameter that includes the indication of the switch as a reason why a continuous presentation of a representation of the media stream was stopped.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the broadcast access method is a multimedia broadcast/multicast service (MBMS) or file delivery over unidirectional transport (FLUTE)-based access method and the unicast access method is a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP)-based access method.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving a reporting trigger in a media presentation description (MPD), an open mobile alliance (OMA) device management (DM) QoE management object, or in a session description protocol (SDP) message; and

transmitting the QoE metric based on the reporting trigger.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving a first portion of the media stream via the unicast access method; and

receiving a second portion of the media stream via the broadcast access method.