Layered multicast and fair bandwidth allocation and packet prioritization

• US 9,462,305 B2
• Filed: 02/03/2015
• Issued: 10/04/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Scale Video Coding LLC (Equitable IP Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Blitz Stream Video LLC
• Inventors: Van Zijst, Erik
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, Xavier S.
• Application Number:
  US14/612,335
• Publication Number:
  US 20150146516A1
• Time in Patent Office: 609 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/18 Automatic repetition systems, e.g. Van Duuren systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1874 Buffer management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1887 Scheduling and prioritising arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1836 with heterogeneous network architecture
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1868 Measures taken after transmission, e.g. acknowledgments
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1881 with schedule organisation, e.g. priority, sequence management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/604 Address structures or formats
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0829 Packet loss
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/04 Interdomain routing, e.g. hierarchical routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/12 Shortest path evaluation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/123 Evaluation of link metrics techniques for monitoring network metrics H04L43/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/16 Multipoint routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/18 Loop-free operations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/302 Route determination based on requested QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/48 Routing tree calculation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/64 using an overlay routing layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/11 Identifying congestion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/125 : by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/15 : in relation to multipoint traffic arrangements for broadcast or multicast in data networks H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2408 : for supporting different services, e.g. a differentiated services [DiffServ] type of service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2416 : Real-time traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2441 : relying on flow classification, e.g. using integrated services [IntServ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/30 : in combination with information about buffer occupancy at either end or at transit nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/32 : by discarding or delaying data units, e.g. packets or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/34 : ensuring sequence integrity, e.g. using sequence numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/00 : Network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/103 : across network layers, e.g. resolution of network layer into physical layer addresses or address resolution protocol [ARP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/34 : Scalability techniques involving progressive bit-plane based encoding of the enhancement layer, e.g. fine granular scalability [FGS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/39 : involving multiple description coding [MDC], i.e. with separate layers being structured as independently decodable descriptions of input picture data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234327 : by decomposing into layers, e.g. base layer and one or more enhancement layers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23605 : Creation or processing of packetized elementary streams [PES]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2383 : Channel coding or modulation of digital bit-stream, e.g. QPSK modulation arrangements for detecting or preventing errors in the information received by adapting the channel coding H04L1/0009; analogue front ends or means for connecting modulators, demodulators or transceivers to a transmission line H04L27/0002
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 : involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6405 : Multicasting data broadcast and multicast in packet switching networks H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64322 : IP

Abstract

Embodiments include an overlay multicast network. The overlay multicast network may provide a set of features to ensure reliable and timely arrival of multicast data. The embodiments include a congestion control system that may prioritize designated layers of data within a data stream over other layers of the same data stream. Each data stream transmitted over the network may be given an equal share of the bandwidth. Addressing in routing tables maintained by routers may utilize summarized addressing based on the difference in location of the router and destination address. Summarization levels may be adjusted to minimize travel distances for packets in the network. Data from high priority data stream layers may also be retransmitted upon request from a destination machine to ensure reliable delivery of data.

Claims

1. A method of replacing lost packets within a data transmission network distributing packets from a source to a plurality of receivers through a plurality of connected nodes, each node including a buffer memory, said method comprising:

receiving a plurality of packets in a stream of data originating from said source at a first node within said network;

detecting in the first node the loss of a packet from said received stream of data;

sending from the first node to a preceding node in the plurality of connected nodes a request for retransmission of said missing packet, wherein the preceding node is upstream from the first node;

determining, at the preceding node of said network in response to receipt of a retransmission request, whether the missing packet is contained within the buffer memory within said preceding node; and

either forwarding the missing packet from the preceding node to the first node in response to the retransmission request if the packet is located in said buffer memory, or forwarding the retransmission request from the preceding node to an upstream node in a direction toward the source if the packet is not located in said buffer memory and said preceding node is not said source.

2. The method of replacing lost packets within a data transmission network distributing packets from a source to a plurality of receivers, as set forth in claim 1, wherein each packet in said stream includes a sequence designation indicating its order within the sequence and the loss of a packet in said stream is detected by examining the sequence designations.

3. The method of replacing lost packets within a data transmission network distributing packets from a source to a plurality of receivers, as set forth in claim 1, wherein packets are stored within said buffer memory for a fixed period of time after which they are discarded from said buffer memory.

4. The method of replacing lost packets within a data transmission network distributing packets from a source to a plurality of receivers, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said buffer memory is allocated a fixed amount of memory space within said preceding node reserved to store the most recently forwarded packets and the older packets exceeding said fixed amount of memory space are discarded from said buffer memory.

5. The method of replacing lost packets within a data transmission network distributing packets from a source to a plurality of receivers, as set forth in claim 1, wherein each of said data packets includes a priority designation selected from a plurality of priority designations to define a plurality of virtual streams of data, each virtual stream having a different priority and, further, that each packet within each virtual stream includes a sequence designation indicating its order in the sequence of packets within its virtual stream and wherein a retransmission request for a missing packet is generated only in the event the missing packet is from a virtual stream having a priority designation greater than a preselected value.

10. The method of replacing lost packets within a data transmission network distributing packets from a source to a plurality of receivers, as set forth in claim 1, wherein packets are stored within said memory until they are successfully transmitted from said preceding node containing said memory, after which they are discarded from said memory.

6. A method of replacing lost packets within a data stream in a data transmission network distributing packets from a source to a plurality of receivers through a plurality of connected nodes, wherein each data packet includes a priority designation to define a plurality of separate virtual streams of data, each virtual stream having an associated priority, said method comprising:

receiving a plurality of packets in a plurality of virtual streams of data into a first node of the plurality of connected nodes;

determining a congestion level of the network;

detecting in the first node a missing packet from one of said received virtual streams of data;

deciding whether to send to a preceding node in the plurality of connected nodes a request for retransmission of said missing packet based upon the congestion level of said network and the priority associated with the virtual stream of data from which the packet is missing; and

responsive to sending the request for retransmission, receiving the missing packet from the preceding node, wherein the missing packet is retransmitted from a buffer memory of one of the plurality of connected nodes.

7. The method of replacing lost packets within a data stream in a data transmission network distributing packets from a source to a plurality of receivers as set forth in claim 6 wherein said retransmission request is sent in response to detection of a missing packet within one of the virtual streams of data if the congestion level of said network is less than a selected value.

8. The method of replacing lost packets within a data stream in a data transmission network distributing packets from a source to a plurality of receivers as set forth in claim 6, wherein:

each data packet includes a priority designation corresponding to the priority of the packets'"'"' virtual stream;

each packet includes a sequence designation indicating its order in the sequence of packets within its virtual stream; and

said retransmission request is sent in response to detection of a missing packet within said sequence of packets within one of the virtual streams of data if the priority designation of the missing packet is greater than a selected priority value.

9. The method of replacing lost packets within a data stream in a data transmission network distributing packets from a source to a plurality of receivers as set forth in claim 6 wherein the data in the packets represents video, each data packet being associated with a virtual stream, each virtual stream having an associated priority level, said priority designations based upon the perceived quality of the video represented by the packets in the virtual stream.