ABR Bandwidth Conflict Detection and Resolution

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Solution Overview

Problem

Adaptive bitrate (ABR) streaming systems face challenges in ensuring fair bandwidth allocation, leading to unfair and incongruous bandwidth distribution among clients, which can result in greedy behavior affecting overall bandwidth quality.

Innovation Solution

A method and system for managing conflict resolution in ABR streaming environments by forecasting bandwidth requirements, detecting potential conflicts, and providing conflict notification or interactive resolution options to users, ensuring fair bandwidth allocation and user control.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If ABR streaming allows opportunistic bandwidth adaptation, then clients can dynamically adjust to network conditions, but greedy behavior emerges causing unfair bandwidth distribution

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvebandwidth adaptationVSAvoidbandwidth distribution fairness

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system implements a feedback mechanism where the network monitor continuously tracks bandwidth consumption of each client and reports it to the bandwidth manager. This feedback loop enables the system to detect greedy behavior and adjust bandwidth allocation dynamically, ensuring fair distribution while maintaining adaptability. The feedback principle transforms the uncontrolled opportunistic adaptation into a regulated process.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

Solution Approach 2:

The bandwidth manager performs preliminary actions by forecasting future bandwidth requirements before conflicts occur. By analyzing current consumption patterns and predicting future needs, the system proactively allocates bandwidth to prevent greedy behavior from compromising overall network fairness. This preliminary intervention stops unfair distribution before it happens rather than reacting after the fact.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

2Ease of operation

If bandwidth allocation is determined by client requests, then clients have control over their streaming quality, but the overall bandwidth quality of the network pipe deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveclient controlVSAvoidoverall bandwidth quality

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The bandwidth manager acts as an intermediary between clients and the network pipe. It receives client requests for bandwidth allocation but mediates these requests through fairness algorithms before granting actual bandwidth. This intermediary layer preserves client control over their streaming quality while preventing any single client from degrading the overall network pipe quality through greedy behavior.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The system performs preliminary bandwidth allocation decisions before clients can consume excessive resources. By forecasting bandwidth requirements and pre-allocating fair shares to each client, the system ensures that individual client control does not compromise overall network quality. The preliminary action constrains client requests to fair levels before they can harm the network pipe.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

3Productivity

If ABR systems adapt bandwidth to existing network conditions, then network utilization is optimized, but the system remains deficient relative to realistic content consumption environments

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvenetwork utilizationVSAvoidrealistic content consumption handling

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The system transitions from static bandwidth adaptation to dynamic control. The bandwidth manager continuously adjusts allocation based on real-time network conditions and client behavior patterns. This dynamic approach allows the system to handle realistic content consumption environments where multiple clients with varying priorities and consumption patterns share the network, going beyond simple network condition adaptation.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

Solution Approach 2:

The system implements comprehensive feedback mechanisms that monitor not only network conditions but also individual client consumption patterns. This enriched feedback enables the bandwidth manager to make intelligent allocation decisions that optimize network utilization while handling complex realistic scenarios including greedy behavior, varying content priorities, and dynamic client加入/departure patterns.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

Data Source

PatentUS10142259B2Conflict detection and resolution in an ABR network

Publication Date: 2018.11.27 TELEFONAKTIEBOLAGET LM ERICSSON (PUBL)

AI summary

A scheme for managing conflict resolution in an ABR streaming environment with respect to a bandwidth pipe serving a customer premises. In one aspect, when a session request is received from a new ABR client launched in the customer premises that includes one or more existing ABR clients having corresponding streaming sessions, a bandwidth forecasting module is configured to forecast bandwidth requirements with respect to the corresponding ABR streaming sessions after accounting for a bandwidth requirement for the new ABR client's session request. A conflict may be detected if any of forecasted bandwidth requirements violates a bitrate threshold policy relative to the corresponding ABR streaming sessions and/or the new session being requested. If there is a conflict, a conflict notification message to the new ABR client is provided and the session request from the new ABR client is rejected.