Network bandwidth conservation

• US 9,699,230 B2
• Filed: 12/10/2014
• Issued: 07/04/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Alam, Iftekhar, Ho, Ming-Ju, Mascarenhas, Patrick
• Primary Examiner(s): WON, MICHAEL YOUNG
• Application Number:
  US14/565,758
• Publication Number:
  US 20160173388A1
• Time in Patent Office: 937 Days
• Field of Search: 709228, 709230, 709241, 709203, 709219, 709227, 709232
• 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 65/80 Responding to QoS

Abstract

A method includes determining, at a server associated with a wireless communications network, a first set of multimedia content items to be transmitted via a multimedia broadcast multicast services (MBMS) broadcast transmission to multiple devices. The first set of multimedia content items may be determined based on a data traffic profile of the wireless communication network. The server may select a particular node of the wireless communications network to transmit the first set of multimedia content items via the MBMS broadcast transmission. The method also includes determining a second set of multimedia content items to be transmitted from the selected node to a particular device via a unicast transmission. The second set of multimedia content items may be determined based on a content request profile associated with the particular device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining, at a server associated with a wireless communications network, a first set of multimedia content items to be transmitted via a multimedia broadcast multicast services broadcast transmission to multiple devices including a first device and a second device, wherein the first set of multimedia content items is determined based on a data traffic profile of the wireless communication network;

selecting, at the server, a particular node of a plurality of nodes of the wireless communications network to transmit the first set of multimedia content items via the multimedia broadcast multicast services broadcast transmission, wherein the particular node includes or is associated with a particular transmission node of a plurality of transmission nodes of the wireless communications network;

determining, at the server, that the second device is outside of a first transmission range associated with a first transmission power of the particular transmission node;

determining, at the server, that the second device is within a second transmission range associated with a second transmission power of the particular transmission node;

sending a message from the server to the particular transmission node, wherein the message includes instructions to transmit the first set of multimedia content items via the multimedia broadcast multicast services broadcast transmission at the second transmission power; and

determining, at the server, a second set of multimedia content items to be transmitted from the particular node to the first device via a unicast transmission, wherein the second set of multimedia content items is determined based on a content request profile associated with the first device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the data traffic profile identifies a plurality of multimedia content items transmitted to multiple devices via the wireless communications network during a first time period associated with a higher network bandwidth consumption rate than a network bandwidth consumption rate associated with a second time period.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first set of multimedia content items is predicted to consume more network bandwidth than other multimedia content items of the plurality of multimedia content items during the first time period.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the first time period represents a peak usage period of the wireless communications network, and wherein the second time period represents an off-peak usage period of the wireless communications network.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising sending the first set of multimedia content items from the server to the particular node, wherein the particular node transmits the first set of multimedia content items via the multimedia broadcast multicast services broadcast transmission during the second time period.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the data traffic profile of the wireless communications network identifies a plurality of off-peak usage periods associated with individual nodes of the plurality of nodes of the wireless communications network;

the server selects the particular node to transmit the first set of multimedia content items via the multimedia broadcast multicast services broadcast transmission based on a comparison of an off-peak usage period associated with the particular node to other off-peak usage periods of the plurality of nodes; and

the particular transmission node transmits the first set of multimedia content items via the multimedia broadcast multicast services broadcast transmission during the off-peak usage period associated with the particular node.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of multimedia content items includes a first video-on-demand content item.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the second set of multimedia content items includes a second video-on-demand content item.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the content request profile of the first device identifies a plurality of multimedia content items transmitted to the first device via the wireless communications network during a first time period associated with a higher network bandwidth consumption rate than a network bandwidth consumption rate associated with a second time period.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the second set of multimedia content items is predicted to consume more network bandwidth than other multimedia content items of the plurality of multimedia content items during the first time period.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising sending the second set of multimedia content items from the server to the particular node, wherein the particular node transmits the second set of multimedia content items to the first device via the unicast transmission during the second time period.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the particular transmission node includes or is associated with a particular transmission tower of a plurality of transmission towers of the wireless communication network.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the particular node includes or is associated with an access point, a station, a node B device, or a combination thereof.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless communications network includes a long term evolution network, and wherein the multimedia broadcast multicast services broadcast transmission includes an evolved multimedia broadcast multicast services broadcast transmission.

15. A computer-readable storage device comprising instructions executable by a processor of a device to perform operations including:

determining, based on a data traffic profile of a wireless communications network, a first set of multimedia content items to be transmitted via a first multimedia broadcast multicast services broadcast transmission to multiple devices including a first device and a second device;

selecting a particular node of a plurality of nodes of the wireless communications network to transmit the first set of multimedia content items via the multimedia broadcast multicast services broadcast transmission, wherein the particular node includes or is associated with a particular transmission node of a plurality of transmission nodes of the wireless communications network;

determining that the second device is outside of a first transmission range associated with a first transmission power of the particular transmission node;

determining that the second device is within a second transmission range associated with a second transmission power of the particular transmission node;

sending a message to the particular transmission node, wherein the message includes instructions to transmit the first set of multimedia content items via the multimedia broadcast multicast services broadcast transmission at the second transmission power; and

determining, based on a content request profile associated with the first device, a second set of multimedia content items to be transmitted to the first device via a unicast transmission.

16. The computer-readable storage device of claim 15, the operations further comprising:

determining, based on the data traffic profile of the wireless communications network, a third set of multimedia content items to be transmitted via a second multimedia broadcast multicast services broadcast transmission,

wherein the third set of multimedia content items is transmitted via the second multimedia broadcast multicast services broadcast transmission before the second set of multimedia content items is transmitted to the first device via the unicast transmission.

17. The computer-readable storage device of claim 15, the operations further comprising:

sending the first set of multimedia content items to the particular node;

receiving a second message from the particular node, wherein the second message indicates that the first set of multimedia content items has been transmitted by the particular node via the first multimedia broadcast multicast services broadcast transmission; and

in response to receiving the second message, sending instructions to the particular node to transmit the second set of multimedia content items to the first device via the unicast transmission.

18. An electronic device comprising:

a processor;

a memory in communication with the processor, the memory including instructions executable by the processor to perform operations including;

determining, based on a data traffic profile of a wireless communications network, a first set of multimedia content items to be transmitted via a first multimedia broadcast multicast services broadcast transmission to multiple devices including a first device and a second device;

selecting a particular node of a plurality of nodes of the wireless communications network to transmit the first set of multimedia content items via the multimedia broadcast multicast services broadcast transmission, wherein the particular node includes or is associated with a particular transmission node of a plurality of transmission nodes of the wireless communications network;

determining that the second device is outside of a first transmission range associated with a first transmission power of the particular transmission node;

determining that the second device is within a second transmission range associated with a second transmission power of the particular transmission node;

sending a message to the particular transmission node, wherein the message includes instructions to transmit the first set of multimedia content items via the multimedia broadcast multicast services broadcast transmission at the second transmission power; and

determining, based on a content request profile associated with the first device, a second set of multimedia content items to be transmitted to the first device via a unicast transmission.

19. The electronic device of claim 18, wherein the content request profile identifies a plurality of multimedia content items that are transmitted to the device during a peak usage period of the wireless communications network.

20. The electronic device of claim 19, the operations further comprising:

sending a second message to the particular transmission node, wherein the second message identifies an off-peak usage period associated with the multimedia broadcast multicast services broadcast transmission; and

transmitting, during at least a portion of the off-peak usage period, the first set of multimedia content items.