Wireless video uplink system that includes a reservation system

• US 8,296,810 B1
• Filed: 08/30/2010
• Issued: 10/23/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Nichols, Jarrod A., Delker, Jason R., Everson, John Michael, Kropf, Bradley Allen
• Primary Examiner(s): Saltarelli, Dominic D
• Application Number:
  US12/871,502
• Time in Patent Office: 785 Days
• Field of Search: 725/62, 725/86, 725/96, 725/98, 725/105, 725/115, 725/118, 455/3.05, 455/422.1, 455/450
• US Class Current: 725/62
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/07 characterised by processes or methods for the generation
• 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: H04N 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4524 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; systems specially adapted for using geographical information in broadcast systems H04H60/70; protocols in which the network application is adapted for the location of the user terminal in communication control or processing H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47214 for content reservation or setting reminders; for requesting event notification, e.g. of sport results or stock market stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; notification of incoming messages in packet switching networks H04L51/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/26 Resource reservation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

A wireless video uplink system comprises wireless access systems and a reservation system. The reservation system receives a video uplink request that indicates a user, a geographic location, and a time period. The reservation system processes the video uplink request to select one of the wireless access systems that serves the geographic location. The reservation system determines if the selected wireless access system has available video uplink capacity during the time period, and if so, the system directs the selected wireless access system to provide the wireless video uplink to a wireless video device associated with the user during the time period. The selected wireless access system wirelessly receives video data over the video uplink from the wireless video device during the time period. The selected wireless access system also inhibits another video uplink attempt from another wireless video device during the time period.

Claims

1. A method of operating a wireless video uplink system having a reservation system and a plurality of wireless access systems, the method comprising:

in the reservation system, receiving a video uplink request that indicates a user, a geographic location, and a time period;

in the reservation system, processing the video uplink request to select one of the wireless access systems that serves the geographic location;

in the reservation system, determining if the selected wireless access system has available video uplink capacity during the time period, and if the selected wireless access system has available video uplink capacity during the time period, then directing the selected wireless access system to provide a wireless video uplink to a wireless video device associated with the user during the time period;

in the selected wireless access system, wirelessly receiving video data over the video uplink from the wireless video device during the time period and inhibiting another video uplink attempt from another wireless video device during the time period.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising transferring the video data from the wireless video uplink to a video server for distribution of the video data.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising, in the reservation system, transferring a geographic map for delivery to the user and wherein receiving the video uplink request comprises receiving a user selection of the geographic location from the geographic map.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising, in the reservation system, transferring a reservation menu for delivery to the user and wherein receiving the video uplink request comprises receiving a user input to the reservation menu indicating a uniform resource locator to obtain access to the video data.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising, in the reservation system, transferring a reservation menu for delivery to the user and wherein receiving the video uplink request comprises receiving a user input to the reservation menu indicating if public access is available to the video data.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising, in the reservation system, transferring a reservation menu for delivery to the user and wherein receiving the video uplink request comprises receiving a user input to the reservation menu indicating an access code required to access the video data.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising, in the reservation system, transferring a reservation menu for delivery to the user and wherein receiving the video uplink request comprises receiving a user input to the reservation menu indicating a fee required to access the video data.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising, in the reservation system, processing the uplink request to determine if a pooling arrangement applies to the reservation, and if a the pooling arrangement applies, transferring a notice for delivery to the user indicating the pooling arrangement, wherein entities in the pooling arrangement will have access to the video data.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising, in the reservation system, processing the uplink request to authorize the user, and wherein directing the selected wireless access system to provide the wireless video uplink comprises directing the selected wireless access system to provide the wireless video uplink if both the user is authorized and if the selected wireless access system has the available video uplink capacity during the time period.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the wireless video device associated with the user is one of a set of wireless video devices associated with the user, and further comprising processing the uplink request to identify the set of wireless video devices associated with the user, and wherein directing the wireless access system to provide the wireless video uplink comprises directing the wireless access system to provide the wireless video uplink to a first one of the set of the wireless video devices to request the wireless video uplink during the time period and inhibiting subsequent video uplink attempts from the other wireless video devices in the set during the time period.

11. A wireless video uplink system comprising:

a plurality of wireless access systems;

a reservation system configured to receive a video uplink request that indicates a user, a geographic location, and a time period, process the video uplink request to select one of the wireless access systems that serves the geographic location, determine if the selected wireless access system has available video uplink capacity during the time period, and if the selected wireless access system has available video uplink capacity during the time period, then to direct the selected wireless access system to provide a wireless video uplink to a wireless video device associated with the user during the time period; and

wherein

the selected wireless access system is configured to wirelessly receive video data over the video uplink from the wireless video device during the time period and inhibit another video uplink attempt from another wireless video device during the time period.

12. The wireless video uplink system of claim 11 wherein the selected wireless access system is configured to transfer the video data from the wireless video uplink to a video server for distribution of the video data.

13. The wireless video uplink system of claim 11 wherein the reservation system is configured to transfer a geographic map for delivery to the user and wherein the video uplink request comprises a user selection of the geographic location from the geographic map.

14. The wireless video uplink system of claim 11 wherein the reservation system is configured to transfer a reservation menu for delivery to the user, wherein the video uplink request indicates a uniform resource locator to obtain access to the video data, and wherein the uniform resource locator comprises a user input to the reservation menu.

15. The wireless video uplink system of claim 11 wherein the reservation system is configured to transfer a reservation menu for delivery to the user, wherein the video uplink request indicates if public access is available to the video data, and wherein the public access comprises a user input to the reservation menu.

16. The wireless video uplink system of claim 11 wherein the reservation system is configured to transfer a reservation menu for delivery to the user, wherein the video uplink request indicates an access code required to access the video data, and wherein the access code comprises a user input to the reservation menu.

17. The wireless video uplink system of claim 11 wherein the reservation system is configured to transfer a reservation menu for delivery to the user, wherein the video uplink request indicates a fee required to access the video data, and wherein the fee comprises a user input to the reservation menu.

18. The wireless video uplink system of claim 11 wherein the reservation system is configured to process the uplink request to determine if a pooling arrangement applies to the reservation, and if a the pooling arrangement applies, to transfer a notice for delivery to the user indicating the pooling arrangement, wherein entities in the pooling arrangement will have access to the video data.

19. The wireless video uplink system of claim 11 wherein the reservation system is configured to process the uplink request to authorize the user, and direct the selected wireless access system to provide the wireless video uplink if both the user is authorized and if the selected wireless access system has the available video uplink capacity during the time period.

20. The wireless video uplink system of claim 11 wherein the wireless video device associated with the user is one of a set of wireless video devices associated with the user, and wherein the reservation system is configured to process the uplink request to identify the set of wireless video devices associated with the user, and to direct the wireless access system to provide the wireless video uplink to a first one of the set of the wireless video devices to request the wireless video uplink during the time period and inhibit subsequent video uplink attempts from the other wireless video devices in the set during the time period.