Network Gateway Bandwidth Filtering for Adaptive Streaming
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Solution Overview
Problem
HTTP adaptive streaming technologies face challenges in cache efficiency due to the risk of network congestion and delayed segment delivery when alternative representations with higher bitrates are sent without considering downstream bandwidth, leading to potential buffer underflow and suboptimal network resource usage.
Innovation Solution
A network equipment is configured to modify requests by removing alternative representations with bitrates higher than the downstream bandwidth, ensuring timely delivery and optimizing network resource usage by forwarding the modified request upstream.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If alternative representations with higher bitrates are sent without considering downstream bandwidth, then the cache can deliver content faster, but network congestion and delayed segment delivery occur
Solution Approach 1:
The network equipment performs preliminary bandwidth assessment before delivering alternative representations from cache. By evaluating downstream bandwidth capacity in advance and filtering incompatible representations, the system prevents buffer underflow while maintaining fast cache delivery for compatible content.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses feedback from bandwidth measurements to dynamically adjust which alternative representations are sent. The network equipment continuously monitors downstream bandwidth and uses this feedback to filter the list of alternative representations, ensuring only bandwidth-compatible options are delivered.
2Adaptability or versatility
If all alternative representations are forwarded to the client terminal, then the client has more choices, but network resources are wasted transmitting incompatible high-bitrate content
Solution Approach 1:
The network equipment extracts and removes incompatible high-bitrate representations from the alternative representations list before forwarding to the client. This extraction process eliminates network waste by preventing transmission of content that the client cannot receive, while preserving all compatible alternatives for client selection.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies local quality filtering at the network equipment based on measured downstream bandwidth characteristics. Each network segment receives a customized filtered list of alternative representations tailored to its specific bandwidth capacity, optimizing resource usage while maintaining adaptability.
3Speed
If the cache delivers the first representation without checking bandwidth, then delivery is fast, but buffer underflow occurs when bandwidth is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The network equipment performs preliminary bandwidth verification before the cache delivers the first representation. By assessing downstream bandwidth capacity in advance and removing incompatible representations from the alternative list, the system ensures buffer stability while maintaining fast delivery for compatible content.
Data Source
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AI summary
Network equipment (GW) configured to be arranged along a transmission path between a client terminal and at least one server, said network equipment being configured to receive a request from the client terminal for a first representation of a segment of a multimedia content available at several representations, said request further specifying one or several alternative representations of said segment, which comprises: a bandwidth estimator (14) configured to determine at least one downstream bandwidth along a transmission path between a server and the client terminal, a filtering module (16) configured to modify said request by removing each alternative representation of the request whose associated bitrate is higher than the determined downstream bandwidth, and a communication module (11) configured to forward the modified request to an upstream network element arranged between the network equipment (GW) and the server.