Edge optimized transrating system

• US 9,516,375 B2
• Filed: 12/02/2009
• Issued: 12/06/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Portsmouth Network Corporation
• Original Assignee: Orckit IP LLC (Orckit-Corrigent )
• Inventors: Aloni, Eliezer, Mor, Gal, Brousard, Noam
• Primary Examiner(s): Hailu, Kibrom T
• Application Number:
  US12/629,310
• Publication Number:
  US 20100138646A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,561 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2852 Metropolitan area networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2878 Access multiplexer, e.g. DSLAM generic distributed time multiplexers, e.g. TDM/TDMA H04J3/1694
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/6478 Digital subscriber line, e.g. DSL, ADSL, HDSL, XDSL, VDSL
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/222 Secondary servers, e.g. proxy server, cable television Head-end provisioning of proxy services in data packet switching networks H04L67/56
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2343 involving reformatting operations of video signals for distribution or compliance with end-user requests or end-user device requirements video transcoding H04N19/40; media packet handling at the source H04L65/762
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234363 by altering the spatial resolution, e.g. for clients with a lower screen resolution
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23439 for generating different versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/235 Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2362 Generation or processing of Service Information [SI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2389 Multiplex stream processing, e.g. multiplex stream encrypting
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/435 Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• 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 21/6408 Unicasting
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64738 Monitoring network characteristics, e.g. bandwidth, congestion level data switched network analysis H04L41/14; monitoring functioning in data switched networks H04L43/0817; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73

Abstract

A system and method for bandwidth management by controlling the bit rate of a signal stream in real time according to available link bandwidth. Applications include multiple-channel video data streams over a limited-bandwidth link such as a Digital Subscriber Line. A video signal is transrated at the head end to multiple streams having different bit rates, by a multirating device which sends the multiple streams over a network, along with metadata containing information about the data structure and parameters of the streams. At the network access edge, a demultirating device uses the metadata to select the stream with the highest video quality whose bit rate does not exceed the available bandwidth of the end-user'"'"'s access link. This scheme provides multiple unicast signals to different end-users in place of a single multicast signal, supports multiple high-definition channels over a limited bandwidth link, and is compatible with standard encryption methods.

Claims

1. A system for bandwidth management of an input data stream having end-user content, the system comprising:

a multirating device comprising;

a transrater operative to transrate the input data stream into a plurality of transrated data streams in a single program transport stream (SPTS), with each of the plurality of transrated data streams having different bit rates and different video qualities depending on the different bit rates, each of the plurality of transrated data stream having a bit rate equal to or lower than the input data stream; and

a metadata generator, operative to generate metadata which includes data structure and parameter information about the transrated data streams in the SPTS,

wherein each transrated data stream in the SPTS with a lower quality than the input data stream is configured to have a bit rate lower than the input data stream; and

a plurality of demultirating devices coupled to the multirating device via a network, each demultirating device comprising;

a receiver configured to receive the SPTS from the multirating device;

a selector, configured to receive the metadata about the received SPTS and an available bandwidth of at least one of a plurality of different end-user links, and to select, for one of the different end-user links, one of the plurality of transrated data streams from the received SPTS based on the metadata about the received SPTS and the available bandwidth of the one of the different end-user links; and

a sequencer for concatenating a segment of the selected one of the plurality of transrated data streams from the received SPTS to a segment of a previously-selected data stream from the said SPTS, to form a unicast data stream for sending to the selected one of the different end-user links,

wherein each demultirating device is configured to generate multiple different unicast data streams for sending to the different end-user links, wherein each of the multiple unicast data streams is generated to suit the available bandwidth for a corresponding one of the different end-user links.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the input data stream corresponds to one of multiple channels, and wherein each channel has a separate SPTS.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of transrated data streams has a different video quality depending on its nominal maximum bit rate.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein each data stream having end-user content represents a video program.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein each SPTS unicast data stream generated by one of the demultiraters is a sequential composite of different bit rate signals selected and combined by that demultirater according to available bandwidth considerations.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the multiple different unicast data streams generated by the demultirating device is dedicated to a particular one of the end-user links.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein each demultirating device is configured to send each one of the multiple different unicast data streams to a different one of the different end-user links simultaneously,

wherein each respective one of the multiple unicast data streams sent by that demultirating device suits the available bandwidth for the corresponding one of the different end-user links over which that unicast data stream is sent.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein the selector is configured to receive an available bandwidth for each respective one of the different end-user links.

2. A system comprising:

a plurality of demultirating devices; and

a multirating device for bandwidth management of an input data stream having end-user content, the multirating device comprising;

a transrater operative to transrate the input data stream into a plurality of transrated data streams in a single program transport stream (SPTS), with the plurality of transrated data streams having different bit rates and different video qualities depending on the different bit rates, each of the plurality of transrated data stream having a bit rate equal to or lower than the input data stream; and

a metadata generator, operative to generate metadata which includes data structure and parameter information about the transrated data streams in the SPTS,

wherein the multirating device is configured to output the plurality of transrated data streams in the SPTS and the generated metadata to the plurality of demultirating devices over a network, and each transrated data stream in the SPTS with a lower quality than the input data stream is configured to have a bit rate lower than the input data stream,

wherein each of the plurality of demultirating devices is configured to generate multiple different unicast data streams for sending to different end-user links, wherein each of the multiple unicast data streams is generated to suit the available bandwidth for a corresponding one of the different end-user links.

3. The multirating device of claim 2, further comprising an encryption unit operative to encrypt the plurality of transrated data streams without encrypting the metadata.

4. A method for bandwidth management over an end-user link of a data stream having end-user content, the method comprising the steps of:

transrating the data stream by a multirating device into a plurality of transrated data streams in a single program transport system (SPTS), with the plurality of transrated data streams having different bit rates and different video qualities depending on the bit rates, each of the plurality of transrated data stream having a bit rate equal to or lower than the data stream, wherein each transrated stream in the SPTS with a lower quality than the data stream is configured to have a bit rate lower than the data stream;

generating, by the multirating device, metadata which includes data structure and parameter information about the transrated data streams in the SPTS;

transmitting, over a network, to a plurality of demultirating devices, the plurality of transrated data streams and the metadata in the single program transport stream (SPTS); and

at each of the plurality of demultirating devices;

receiving, by the demultirating device, the SPTS with the plurality of transrated data streams and the metadata from the multirating device;

selecting, by the multirating device, of a single transrated data stream of the plurality of transrated data streams based on the metadata and an available bandwidth of at least one of a plurality of different end-user links; and

transmitting, by the demultirating device of at least part of the single transrated data stream to a selected one of the different end-user links to an end-user; and

wherein each demultirating, device is configured to generate multiple different unicast data streams for sending to the different end-user links, wherein each of the multiple unicast data streams is generated to suit the available bandwidth for a corresponding one of the different end-user links.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the transrated data streams have different qualities corresponding to the different nominal maximum bit rates, and wherein the selecting of a single transrated data stream is done by selecting the transrated data stream having the highest quality of transrated data streams whose nominal maximum bit does not exceed the available bandwidth of the at least one link.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the selecting of a single transrated data stream is repeated after a predetermined time interval has elapsed.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the at least one link is a plurality of links, and the selecting of a single transrated data stream is done individually for each link, thereby sending a unicast data stream to each of the plurality of links.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the selecting of a single transrated data stream is a predetermined constant selection.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein the data stream is a video stream, and wherein the metadata comprises at least:

an overall video quality level of a transrated data stream;

a Group of Picture (GOP) parameter of the transrated data stream; and

a bandwidth consumed by the transrated data stream.

10. The method of claim 4, wherein the transrated data streams are encrypted, and the metadata are not encrypted.

11. The method of claim 4, wherein the transrated data streams are contained in a single program transport stream.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the single program transport stream further contains the metadata.

13. A method for bandwidth management of a data stream having end-user content, the method comprising the steps of:

transrating the data stream by a multirating device into a single program transport system (SPTS), with the plurality of transrated data streams having different bit rates and different qualities depending on the different bit rates, each of the plurality of transrated data stream having a bit rate equal to or lower than the at least one data stream, wherein each transrated stream in the SPTS with a lower quality than the data stream is configured to have a bit rate lower than the data stream;

generating, by the multirating device, metadata which includes data structure and parameter information about the transrated data streams in each SPTS; and

combining said plurality of transrated data streams in the single program transport stream (SPTS); and

transmitting, to a plurality of demultirating devices across a network, the plurality of transrated data streams in the SPTS and the metadata,

wherein each of the plurality of demultirating devices is configured to generate multiple different unicast data streams for sending to different end-user links, wherein each of the multiple unicast data streams is generated to suit the available bandwidth for a corresponding one of the different end-user links.

14. A computer product for bandwidth management of a data stream having end-user content, the product comprising non-transitory tangible data storage that includes a set of executable commands for a computer, which commands, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to perform the steps of:

transrating the data stream into a plurality of transrated data streams in a single program transport stream (SPTS), with the plurality of transrated data streams having different bit rates and different video qualities depending on the different bit rates, each of the plurality of transrated data stream having a bit rate equal to or lower than the at least one data stream wherein each transrated stream in the SPTS with a lower quality than the data stream is configured to have a bit rate lower than the data stream;

generating metadata which includes data structure and parameter information about the transrated data streams in each SPTS;

combining said plurality of transrated data streams in the single program transport stream (SPTS); and

transmitting the plurality of transrated data streams in the SPTS and the metadata to a plurality of demultirating devices across a network,

wherein each demultirating device is configured to generate multiple different unicast data streams for sending to different end-user links, wherein each of the multiple unicast data streams is generated to suit the available bandwidth for a corresponding one of the different end-user links.