Network Congestion Prediction for Seamless Content Streaming

Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional streaming content delivery to electronic devices is non-intelligent and fails to adapt promptly to changes in network congestion, leading to interruptions or lag in content consumption.

Innovation Solution

The system predicts network congestion and notifies electronic devices to adjust streaming quality proactively, allowing for seamless content consumption by incrementally downloading content data at varying quality levels based on network conditions, using notifications such as paging events to trigger changes in buffering strategies.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If the device requests content at a certain bitrate and quality level based on historical statistics, then the device can maintain stable content consumption, but the device cannot adapt promptly to network congestion changes, leading to buffer depletion and interruptions

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecontent consumption continuityVSAvoidresponse time to network changes

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The network performs preliminary actions by predicting future congestion conditions and proactively notifying the device before congestion occurs. This allows the device to pre-adjust its buffering strategy and quality requests, preventing buffer depletion before it happens rather than reacting after congestion has already impacted performance.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system implements feedback by having the network monitor its own congestion conditions and communicate this information back to the device. This closed-loop feedback mechanism enables the device to continuously adapt its content requests based on real-time network status, resolving the contradiction between stable consumption and prompt adaptation.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

2Stability of the object's composition

If the device waits for historical statistics to indicate a change in network performance before adjusting quality, then the device maintains stable operation, but the buffer becomes depleted and content consumption is interrupted or laggy

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvestreaming operation stabilityVSAvoidcontent delivery reliability

Core Design Contradiction:

Stability of the object's compositionVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The network performs preliminary actions by predicting future congestion conditions and proactively notifying the device before congestion occurs. This allows the device to pre-adjust its buffering strategy and quality requests, preventing buffer depletion before it happens rather than reacting after congestion has already impacted performance.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The device applies beforehand cushioning by increasing the buffer size or pre-loading content at higher rates before predicted congestion occurs. This creates a protective cushion of buffered content that prevents interruptions during the anticipated congestion period, maintaining reliable content delivery despite network conditions.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #11Beforehand cushioning (Prior cushioning)

3Adaptability or versatility

If the device reacts to network performance changes by requesting lower quality streams, then the device can adapt to congestion, but there is a delay period where data cannot be delivered and content consumption is interrupted

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveadaptation to network conditionsVSAvoidcontent consumption smoothness

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The network performs preliminary actions by predicting future congestion conditions and proactively notifying the device before congestion occurs. This allows the device to pre-adjust its buffering strategy and quality requests, preventing buffer depletion before it happens rather than reacting after congestion has already impacted performance.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The device applies preliminary anti-action by taking opposite actions in advance - increasing buffer size or pre-loading content at higher rates before predicted congestion occurs. This counteracts the upcoming network degradation by having sufficient content already buffered, preventing interruptions and maintaining smooth playback throughout the transition.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #9Preliminary anti-action

Data Source

PatentEP3141026B1System and method for content streaming in a network environment

Publication Date: 2020.07.15 SONY GROUP CORP

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AI summary

Streaming content with an electronic device includes incrementally downloading content data at a first quality level from a content server over a network. Triggered by receipt of a notification indicative of predicted network congestion, the electronic device 5 requests and downloads a next increment of the content data at a second quality level lower than the first quality level from the content server.