Dynamic adjustment of bandwidth allocation for an in-progress media session

• US 8,693,499 B2
• Filed: 08/17/2010
• Issued: 04/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Chandrasekaran, Subramanian, Bell, Anthony Bryan
• Primary Examiner(s): Gidado, Rasheed
• Application Number:
  US12/857,581
• Publication Number:
  US 20120044955A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,330 Days
• Field of Search: 370/230, 370/232, 370/235, 370/401, 370/468, 709/226, 709/227, 709/228, 709/231
• US Class Current: 370/468
• 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 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/765 triggered by the end-points
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/801 Real time traffic

Abstract

A client in a media session periodically transmits a “keepalive” message that indicates that a new amount of bandwidth is requested for the in-progress media session. A bandwidth policy service receives the keepalive message and determines whether the new amount of bandwidth can be allocated to the in-progress media session. If the service determines that the new amount of bandwidth can be allocated to the session, the service transmits a response to the keepalive message that indicates that the new amount of bandwidth has been allocated to the media session. The client receives the response and adjusts the bandwidth utilized by the in-progress session to the new amount of bandwidth.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for dynamically adjusting bandwidth allocation for an in-progress media session, the method comprising:

receiving, from a client device, a keepalive message during an in-progress media session with another client device, the keepalive message comprising an indication that the client device is connected to the in-progress media session, wherein the keepalive message is received periodically during the in-progress media session, and wherein the media session comprises an audio call or video call;

determining based upon the keepalive message that a new amount of bandwidth has been requested for the in-progress media session;

determining whether the new amount of bandwidth is less than or greater than an amount of bandwidth previously allocated to the in-progress media session by

calculating a delta bandwidth comprising the difference between the new amount of bandwidth and an amount of bandwidth previously allocated to the in-progress media session,

determining if the delta bandwidth is available on a network link utilized by the in-progress media session, and

determining that the new amount of bandwidth can be allocated to the in-progress media session in response to determining that the delta bandwidth is available on the network link;

in response to determining that the new amount of bandwidth that has been requested for the in-progress media session is less than the amount of bandwidth previously allocated to the in-progress media session, granting the request;

in response to determining that the new amount of bandwidth is greater than the amount of bandwidth previously allocated to the in-progress media session, determining whether the new amount of bandwidth can be allocated to the in-progress media session;

in response to determining that the new amount of bandwidth can be allocated to the in-progress media session, allocating the new amount of bandwidth to the in-progress media session and transmitting, to the client device, a response to the keepalive message indicating that the new amount of bandwidth has been allocated to the media session; and

transmitting, to the client device, a response to the keepalive message indicating that the new amount of bandwidth has not been allocated to the media session in response to determining that the new amount of bandwidth cannot be allocated to the in-progress media session, wherein the response specifies a particular amount of bandwidth that can be utilized by the client.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the new amount of bandwidth can be allocated to the in-progress media session further comprises determining that the new amount of bandwidth cannot be allocated to the in-progress media session in response to determining that the delta bandwidth is not available on the network link.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising updating a runtime database with the new amount of bandwidth in response to determining that the new amount of bandwidth can be allocated to the in-progress media session.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, further comprising prior to establishment of the media session:

receiving a request for allocation of bandwidth to a new media session;

in response receiving the request for allocation of bandwidth to a new media session, determining whether a requested amount of bandwidth can be allocated to the new media session;

in response to determining that the requested amount of bandwidth can be allocated to the new media session, updating the runtime database with the requested amount of bandwidth and transmitting a response to the request for allocation of bandwidth to the new media session indicating that the requested amount of bandwidth has been granted; and

in response to determining that the requested amount of bandwidth cannot be allocated to the new media session, transmitting a response to the request specifying a particular amount of bandwidth that can be utilized by the client in the new media session.

5. A computer-implemented method for dynamically adjusting bandwidth allocation for an in-progress media session, the method comprising:

determining whether a new amount of bandwidth is required for an in-progress media session between a client device and another client device by calculating a delta bandwidth comprising the difference between the new amount of bandwidth and an amount of bandwidth previously allocated to the in-progress media session, wherein the media session comprises an audio call or a video call;

in response to determining the new amount of bandwidth required for the in-progress media session, transmitting, from the client device, a keepalive message during the in-progress media session requesting the new amount of bandwidth for the in-progress media session, the keepalive message comprising an indication that the client device is connected to the in-progress media session, wherein the keepalive message is transmitted periodically during the in-progress media session, wherein a server determines if the delta bandwidth is available on a network link utilized by the in-progress media session, and determines that the new amount of bandwidth can be allocated to the in-progress media session in response to determining that the delta bandwidth is available on the network link, and wherein a server grants the request for the new amount of bandwidth if the new amount of bandwidth is less than the amount of bandwidth previously allocated to the in-progress media session;

receiving, at the client device, a response to the keepalive message;

determining based upon the response to the keepalive message whether the request for the new amount of bandwidth for the in-progress media session was granted;

in response to determining that the request for the new amount of bandwidth for the in-progress media session was granted, adjusting, at the client device, the bandwidth utilized by the in-progress media session to the new amount of bandwidth; and

in response to determining that the request for the new amount of bandwidth for the in-progress media session was not granted, adjusting, at the client device, the bandwidth utilized by the in-progress media session to a particular amount of bandwidth specified in the response to the keepalive message.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, further comprising prior to establishment of the media session:

transmitting a request for allocation of bandwidth for a new media session, the request identifying a requested allocation of bandwidth for the new media session;

receiving a response to the request for allocation of bandwidth to the new media session;

determining whether the requested allocation of bandwidth has been granted based upon the response to the request for allocation of bandwidth to the new media session; and

establishing the session with the requested allocation of bandwidth in response to determining that the requested allocation of bandwidth was granted.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, further comprising periodically transmitting the keepalive message during an in-progress media session even when a new amount of bandwidth is not required for the in-progress media session.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the keepalive message is transmitted to a bandwidth policy service.

9. A computer-readable storage medium not including a signal and having computer-executable instructions stored thereupon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

receive, from a client device, a periodic keepalive message during an in-progress media session, the keepalive message comprising an indication that the client device is connected to the in-progress media session with another client device, wherein the in-progress media session comprises an audio call or a video call;

determine based upon the keepalive message that a new amount of bandwidth has been requested for the in-progress media session;

determining whether the new amount of bandwidth is less than or greater than an amount of bandwidth previously allocated to the in-progress media session;

in response to determining that the new amount of bandwidth is less than the amount of bandwidth previously allocated to the in-progress media session, granting the request;

in response to determining that the new amount of bandwidth that has been requested for the in-progress media session is greater than the amount of bandwidth previously allocated to the in-progress media session, determine whether the new amount of bandwidth can be allocated to the in-progress media session by calculating a delta bandwidth comprising the difference between the new amount of bandwidth and an amount of bandwidth previously allocated to the in-progress media session, determining if the delta bandwidth is available on a network link utilized by the in-progress media session, and determining that the new amount of bandwidth can be allocated to the in-progress media session in response to determining that the delta bandwidth is available on the network link;

in response to determining that the new amount of bandwidth can be allocated to the in-progress media session, to allocate the new amount of bandwidth to the in-progress media session and to transmit, to the client device, a response to the keepalive message indicating that the new amount of bandwidth has been allocated to the media session; and

in response to determining that the new amount of bandwidth cannot be allocated to the in-progress media session, to transmit a response to the keepalive message indicating that the new amount of bandwidth has not been allocated to the media session, wherein the response specifies a particular amount of bandwidth that can be utilized by the client.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, having further computer-executable instructions stored thereupon which, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to update a runtime database with the new amount of bandwidth in response to determining that the new amount of bandwidth can be allocated to the in-progress media session.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, having further computer-executable instructions stored thereupon which, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to:

receive a request for allocation of bandwidth to a new media session prior to establishment of the media session;

in response receiving the request for allocation of bandwidth to a new media session, to determine whether a requested amount of bandwidth can be allocated to the new media session;

in response to determining that the requested amount of bandwidth can be allocated to the new media session, to update the runtime database with the requested amount of bandwidth and to transmit a response to the request for allocation of bandwidth to the new media session indicating that the requested amount of bandwidth has been granted; and

in response to determining that the requested amount of bandwidth cannot be allocated to the new media session, transmitting a response to the request specifying a particular amount of bandwidth that can be utilized by the client in the new media session.