Bandwidth-Based Licensing for Video Processing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing licensing schemes for video, audio, and multimedia content processing are complex and inefficient, requiring vendors to account for various stream types and permutations, leading to increased development and support costs, and result in uncollectible license fees for non-transrated streams.
Innovation Solution
A bandwidth-based licensing scheme that collects fees based on the total output stream bandwidth, using rate shaping capabilities and unique license keys generated by a web server, ensuring that service providers pay for the actual bandwidth used, simplifying management and enabling revenue collection from all processed streams.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If licensing schemes are based on the number of programs, transrated videos, and transport streams with different permutations, then the licensing model can cover various service types, but the complexity of the licensing scheme increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the licensing parameter from counting individual programs, transrated videos, and transport streams to measuring total output bandwidth. This parameter transformation simplifies the licensing scheme while maintaining adaptability, as bandwidth is a single metric that naturally encompasses all service types and permutations without requiring complex counting rules.
2Reliability
If the licensing scheme accounts for all possible combinations of HD streams, SD streams, still pictures, SPTS, MPTS, and programs with or without transrated video, then the licensing can be comprehensive, but the development time and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the essential resource consumption metric (bandwidth) from the complex mixture of different service types and permutations. By focusing only on the total bandwidth output rather than enumerating each service category, the scheme achieves comprehensive coverage without requiring developers to account for every possible combination of HD streams, SD streams, pictures, SPTS, MPTS, and transrated content.
3Measurement precision
If the licensing scheme requires tracking and managing multiple stream types and their permutations, then the licensing can be precise, but the support cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the bandwidth metric universal, as it applies to all types of content and service permutations without requiring different measurement methods. Whether the output consists of HD streams, SD streams, still pictures, SPTS, MPTS, or programs with transrated video, the same bandwidth measurement approach is used, eliminating the need for specialized tracking and management for each service type and thereby reducing support complexity.
4Ease of manufacture
If the licensing scheme only charges for transrated video streams, then the revenue collection is simple, but the vendor loses revenue from non-transrated streams that consume resources
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the billing parameter from service-type-specific (transrated video only) to resource-based (total bandwidth). This allows the vendor to collect revenue from all streams that consume processing resources, including non-transrated streams, while maintaining simple bandwidth-based measurement and billing. The parameter change enables resource consumption to be directly tied to licensing fees without requiring complex service-type classification.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and apparatus are provided for licensing service providers to process video, audio and/or multimedia content using a video processing device. A license key indicative of a license for an amount of bandwidth is generated. The license key is used at the video processing device to enforce the license based on whether there is sufficient licensed bandwidth available to accommodate a newly created output transport stream. If there is sufficient licensed bandwidth available, processing of the newly created output transport stream is allowed. If there is insufficient licensed bandwidth available, processing of the newly created output transport stream is denied. The service providers are charged a license fee to use the video processing equipment based on the licensed bandwidth.