Adaptive Multicast Bitrate Control for Network Congestion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Congestion control mechanisms for multicast transmissions are limited, leading to service degradation such as packet loss and jitter for recipients when a path serviced by an access router becomes congested, as all recipients in a multicast group receive data at the same bitrate.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a system where access routers with proxies determine network conditions and adapt the multicast transmission bitrate along paths, either by requesting a lower bitrate from the server or transcoding the data to mitigate congestion, ensuring that congested paths receive data at a lower bitrate while non-congested paths maintain the original bitrate.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If all recipients in a multicast group receive multicast information at the same bitrate, then the system maintains simplicity in transmission management, but service degradation occurs when network paths become congested
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the multicast group into different subsets based on network path conditions. Each subset receives multicast information at appropriate bitrates tailored to their specific network conditions. This is achieved by dividing the group according to congestion status, allowing different transmission rates for different segments while maintaining overall system functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamic adaptation of transmission parameters by having access routers detect network congestion conditions and adjust the multicast information bitrate accordingly. The system transitions from static uniform bitrate transmission to dynamic bitrate adjustment based on real-time network conditions, enabling the transmission rate to adapt to changing congestion levels.
2Reliability
If the multicast bitrate is reduced to alleviate congestion, then packet loss decreases, but the quality of service degrades for all recipients
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by allowing different bitrate qualities for different segments of the multicast group based on their specific network path conditions. Recipients experiencing congestion receive lower bitrate transmissions to reduce packet loss, while recipients on non-congested paths continue to receive higher bitrate transmissions maintaining quality. This localized quality adjustment resolves the contradiction by applying quality reduction only where necessary.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and apparatuses for adaptively multicasting information from a server to a multicast group are provided. A multicast transmission along one or more paths of the transmission is changed as network conditions warrant.