Systems and methods for electronic news gathering

• US 9,609,546 B2
• Filed: 02/02/2016
• Issued: 03/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/02/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accelerated Media Technologies, Inc. (ZMG Ruckus Factory)
• Original Assignee: Accelerated Media Technologies, Inc. (ZMG Ruckus Factory)
• Inventors: Freeman, Dudley C., Blanchard, Scott David, Lillie, Andrew George, Noronha, Ciro Aloisio, Slattery, William Anthony, Jennings, Thomas P., DeFala, Steven Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): HAN, CLEMENCE S
• Application Number:
  US15/013,970
• Publication Number:
  US 20160227551A1
• Time in Patent Office: 420 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0009 by adapting the channel coding H04L1/1812 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/004 by using forward error control H04L1/0618 takes precedence; coding, decoding or code conversion, for error detection or correction H03M13/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0231 based on communication conditions dynamic wireless traffic scheduling definition based on channel quality criteria H04W72/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0252 per individual bearer or channel dynamic wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0289 Congestion control load shedding arrangements in network planning H04W16/08; performing reselection for handling the traffic H04W36/22; wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12
• 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 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/542 using measured or perceived quality

Abstract

A system comprising: at least one network modem configured to communicate wirelessly with at least one base station; and a subsystem configured to provide data packets to the at least one network modem to be transmitted wirelessly to the at least one base station, the subsystem comprising at least one video encoder configured to receive at least one input video signal and provide at least some of the data packets based on the at least one input video signal, wherein: the at least one network modem is further configured to provide network condition information to the subsystem; and the subsystem is further configured to adjust at least one operating parameter of the at least one video encoder based at least in part on the network condition information received from the at least one network modem.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

at least one network modem configured to communicate wirelessly with at least one base station; and

a subsystem configured to provide data packets to the at least one network modem to be transmitted wirelessly to the at least one base station, the subsystem comprising at least one first video encoder of a plurality of video encoders in an Electronic News Gathering (ENG) network, the at least one first video encoder being configured to receive at least one input video signal and provide at least some of the data packets based on the at least one input video signal, wherein;

the at least one network modem is further configured to;

receive, via the at least one base station, from a controller configured to allocate bandwidth among the plurality of video encoders in the ENG network, a bit rate assigned to the at least one first video encoder, wherein the bit rate is assigned based at least in part on;

a radio frequency (RF) link quality between the at least one network modem and the at least one base station;

at least one first value indicative of video complexity at the at least one first video encoder; and

at least one second value indicative of video complexity at at least one second video encoder of the plurality of video encoders in the ENG network; and

provide network condition information to the subsystem, wherein the network condition information comprises the bit rate assigned to the at least one first encoder by the controller configured to allocate bandwidth among the plurality of video encoders in the ENG network; and

the subsystem is further configured to adjust at least one operating parameter of the at least one video encoder based at least in part on the network condition information received from the at least one network modem.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one network modem is configured to communicate wirelessly with the at least one base station using at least one communication protocol based on a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) standard.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one network modem is configured to communicate wirelessly with the at least one base station using a Broadcast Auxiliary Service (BAS) frequency band.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the BAS frequency band comprises a 2 GHz band.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the BAS frequency band comprises a 7 GHz band.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the network condition information comprises a maximum data rate (MDR).

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the network condition information comprises a current data rate (CDR).

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one network modem is further configured to provide network condition information to the subsystem at least once every two seconds.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one network modem is further configured to provide network condition information to the subsystem at least once every second.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one operating parameter that the subsystem is configured to adjust based at least in part on the network condition information comprises a bit rate of the at least one video encoder.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein:

the network condition information comprises at least one link quality measure for a wireless link between the at least one network modem and the at least one base station;

the at least one operating parameter that the subsystem is configured to adjust based at least in part on the network condition information further comprises at least one forward error correction parameter; and

the subsystem is configured to adjust the at least one forward error correction parameter based at least in part on the at least one link quality measure.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one forward error correction parameter comprises a number of rows and/or a number of columns for forward error correction.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one link quality measure comprises a relative link quality (RLQ).

14. The system of claim 11, wherein:

the network condition information further comprises a current data rate (CDR); and

the subsystem is configured to adjust the bit rate of the at least one video encoder based at least in part on the CDR and the at least one forward error correction parameter.

15. A method comprising acts of:

communicating, via at least one network modem, wirelessly with at least one base station;

providing data packets to the at least one network modem to be transmitted wirelessly to the at least one base station, wherein at least some of the data packets are provided by at least one first video encoder of a plurality of video encoders in an Electronic News Gathering (ENG) network, the at least one first video encoder being configured to receive at least one input video signal and provide at least some of the data packets based on at least one input video signal;

receiving, from the at least one network modem, network condition information, the network condition information comprising a bit rate received by the at least one network modem via the at least one base station, the bit rate being assigned to the at least one first video encoder by a controller configured to allocate bandwidth among the plurality of video encoders in the ENG network, wherein the bit rate is assigned based at least in part on;

a radio frequency (RF) link quality between the at least one network modem and the at least one base station;

at least one first value indicative of video complexity at the at least one first video encoder; and

at least one second value indicative of video complexity at at least one second video encoder of the plurality of video encoders in the ENG network; and

adjusting at least one operating parameter of the at least one video encoder based at least in part on the network condition information received from the at least one network modem.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the at least one network modem communicates wirelessly with the at least one base station using at least one communication protocol based on a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) standard.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the at least one network modem communicates wirelessly with the at least one base station using a Broadcast Auxiliary Service (BAS) frequency band.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the BAS frequency band comprises a 2 GHz band.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the BAS frequency band comprises a 7 GHz band.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the network condition information comprises a maximum data rate (MDR).

21. The method of claim 15, wherein the network condition information comprises a current data rate (CDR).

22. The method of claim 15, wherein the at least one network modem is further configured to provide network condition information at least once every two seconds.

23. The method of claim 15, wherein the network condition information is received from the at least one network modem at least once every second.

24. The method of claim 15, wherein the at least one operating parameter that is adjusted based at least in part on the network condition information comprises a bit rate of the at least one video encoder.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein:

the network condition information comprises at least one link quality measure for a wireless link between the at least one network modem and the at least one base station;

the at least one operating parameter that is adjusted based at least in part on the network condition information further comprises at least one forward error correction parameter; and

the method further comprises adjusting the at least one forward error correction parameter based at least in part on the at least one link quality measure.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the at least one forward error correction parameter comprises a number of rows and/or a number of columns for forward error correction.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the at least one link quality measure comprises a relative link quality (RLQ).

28. The method of claim 25, wherein:

the network condition information further comprises a current data rate (CDR); and

the bit rate of the at least one video encoder is adjusted based at least in part on the CDR and the at least one forward error correction parameter.

29. At least one non-transitory computer-readable medium having encoded thereon executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform a method comprising acts of:

communicating, via at least one network modem, wirelessly with at least one base station;

providing data packets to the at least one network modem to be transmitted wirelessly to the at least one base station, wherein at least some of the data packets are provided by at least one first video encoder of a plurality of video encoders in an Electronic News Gathering (ENG) network, the at least one first video encoder being configured to receive at least one input video signal and provide at least some of the data packets based on at least one input video signal;

receiving, from the at least one network modem, network condition information, the network condition information comprising a bit rate received by the at least one network modem via the at least one base station, the bit rate being assigned to the at least one first video encoder by a controller configured to allocate bandwidth among the plurality of video encoders in the ENG network, wherein the bit rate is assigned based at least in part on;

a radio frequency (RF) link quality between the at least one network modem and the at least one base station;

at least one first value indicative of video complexity at the at least one first video encoder; and

at least one second value indicative of video complexity at at least one second video encoder of the plurality of video encoders in the ENG network; and

adjusting at least one operating parameter of the at least one video encoder based at least in part on the network condition information received from the at least one network modem.

30. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the at least one network modem communicates wirelessly with the at least one base station using at least one communication protocol based on a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) standard.