MULTI-SERVICE BANDWIDTH ALLOCATION

• US 20110197239A1
• Filed: 02/10/2011
• Published: 08/11/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/11/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Synamedia Limited
• Original Assignee: BNI Video (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Schlack, John
• Granted Patent: US 9,143,813 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/95
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/72 using reservation actions during connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2385 Channel allocation H04N21/266 takes precedence; Bandwidth allocation H04N21/24 takes precedence ; allocation of channels according to the instantaneous demands of the users in time-division multiplex systems H04J3/1682; admission control, resource allocation in open networks H04L12/5692; arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896; negotiating bandwidth in wireless networks H04W28/16
• 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 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6118 involving cable transmission, e.g. using a cable modem
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6408 Unicasting

Abstract

A channel allocation mechanism for manages bandwidth using a channel profile to assure an available channel for supporting the highest expected bandwidth request by leaving a contiguous segment available to support such requests. Configurations discussed further below define a profile for expected media types, and associate each channel with a profile designating the media types assignable on that channel. Each media type includes a service and a bitrate, thus different formats of the same service (such as SD and HD) are distinguished. Each profile specifies a media type, and each channel is associated with one or more profiles. Further, a mapping of channels to associated profiles includes a reserve designation, indicating that other (unreserved) be fully assigned before assigning the reserved channels. The reserved channels provide a contiguous block of bandwidth, so that large bandwidth requests do not encounter assignment failure from a plurality of sparsely allocated channels.

Claims

1. In a video services delivery environment for providing a plurality of video services in response to subscriber requests, a method of assigning channels for servicing the requests comprising:

identifying, from a plurality of channels available for assignment to service the subscriber request, a channel having a service designation corresponding to the service in the subscriber request;

determining availability of a channel by identifying, from among channels having a service designation of only the requested service, sufficient bandwidth for servicing the request; and

assigning, based on the determined availability of a dedicated channel, the subscriber request to the available dedicated channel.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the channels in the plurality of channels are either dedicated channels for assigning to an individual service or overflow channels having a service designation for multiple services, further comprising assigning the subscriber request to an overflow channel when the dedicated channels are unavailable.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the channels further comprise reserve channels, the reserve channels designated for an individual service after the dedicated channels for the service have been assigned, further comprising assigning the subscriber request to a reserve channel when the dedicated channels are unavailable.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising defining, for each channel, a profile indicative of the service designation for each of the plurality of channels, the profile specifying, for each channel, the services that may be assigned to it.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein each profile specifies a set of media types, each media type specifying a service and a format, the format indicative of a bandwidth requirement, and assigning the subscriber request to a channel having a profile matching the media type of the subscriber request.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

establishing a profile, the profile indicative of media types, each media type identifying a service, a media format and a bitrate,

the media format indicative of a delivery structure for the identified service, and

the bitrate indicative of bandwidth occupied by the identified service in the assigned channel; and

associating a service profile with each of the channels, the service profile indicative of subscriber requests assignable to each respective channel; and

assigning a channel by locating a channel associated with a profile matching the media type of the subscriber request.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the profile associated with each channel specifies the service assignable to that channel and the media types of each associated profile indicate available formats assignable to the channel, further comprising assigning to a dedicated channel associated with a profile indicative of a single media type before assigning to a channel associated with a profile of multiple media types.

8. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

computing, a loading for each channel, the loading indicative of assigned bandwidth currently unavailable for assignment to subscriber requests;

assigning, if the service profile for a channel indicates multiple media types, matching subscriber requests to the most loaded channel for that media type; and

assigning, if the service profile for a channel indicates a single media type, matching subscriber requests to an available block of bandwidth without crossing a block boundary into another block, the block size based on the bitrate.

9. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

computing a blocking factor for each dedicated channel, the blocking factor indicating, based on the profile assigned to the channel, the media type having the highest bitrate; and

assigning subscriber requests to the most loaded channel until a subsequent request would leave the channel with less than a full blocking factor.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising computing a blocking factor based on the highest bitrate among the associated profiles that is less than 50% of the total available bandwidth of the channel.

11. A video services delivery server for providing a plurality of video services in response to subscriber requests, a method of assigning channels for servicing the requests comprising:

identifying, from a plurality of channels available for assignment to service the subscriber request, a channel having a service designation corresponding to the service in the subscriber request;

determining availability of a channel by identifying, from among channels having a service designation of only the requested service, sufficient bandwidth for servicing the request; and

assigning, based on the determined availability of a dedicated channel, the subscriber request to the available dedicated channel.

12. The server of claim 11 wherein the channels in the plurality of channels are either dedicated channels for assigning to an individual service or overflow channels having a service designation for multiple services, further comprising assigning the subscriber request to an overflow channel when the dedicated channels are unavailable.

13. The server of claim 11 wherein the channels further comprise reserve channels, the reserve channels designated for an individual service after the dedicated channels for the service have been assigned further comprising assigning the subscriber request to a reserve channel when the dedicated channels are unavailable.

14. The server of claim 11 further comprising a profile table defining, for each channel, a profile indicative of the service designation for each of the plurality of channels, the profile specifying, for each channel, the services that may be assigned to it.

15. The server of claim 14 wherein each profile specifies a set of media types, each media type specifying a service and a format, the format indicative of a bandwidth requirement, and assigning the subscriber request to a channel having a profile matching the media type of the subscriber request.

16. In a video services delivery environment for providing a plurality of video services in response to subscriber requests, a computer program product stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium for performing a method of assigning video transmission resources, the method comprising:

defining a plurality of channels for multimedia transmissions, each channel having a bandwidth and at least one service designation, the service designation indicative of the services for which the channel is allocated to fulfill;

receiving a subscriber request, the subscriber request indicative of a service and a bandwidth for which transmission resources are requested;

identifying, from the plurality of channels, dedicated channels having a service designation for only the service indicated by the request;

comparing available bandwidth in the dedicated channels with the bandwidth of the subscriber request to identify availability of the dedicated channels to service the request; and

satisfying the request by assigning the subscriber request in the dedicated subset of channels based on the identified availability before assigning the request to the subset of channels having multiple service designations.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising:

establishing a profile, the profile indicative of media types, each media type identifying a service, a media format and a bitrate,

the media format indicative of a delivery structure for the identified service, and

the bitrate indicative of bandwidth occupied by the identified service in the assigned channel;

associating a service profile with each of the channels, the service profile indicative of subscriber requests assignable to each respective channel; and

assigning a channel by locating a channel associated with a profile matching the media type of the subscriber request.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the profile associated with each channel specifies the service assignable to that channel and the media types of each associated profile indicate available formats assignable to the channel.

19. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

computing, a loading for each channel, the loading indicative of assigned bandwidth currently unavailable for assignment to subscriber requests;

assigning, if the service profile for a channel indicates multiple media types, matching subscriber requests to the most loaded channel for that media type; and

assigning, if the service profile for a channel indicates a single media type, matching subscriber requests to an available block of bandwidth without crossing a block boundary into another block, the block size based on the bitrate.

20. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

computing a blocking factor for each dedicated channel, the blocking factor indicating, based on the profile assigned to the channel, the media type having the highest bitrate; and

assigning subscriber requests to the most loaded channel until a subsequent request would leave the channel with less than a full blocking factor.