Popularity-Aware Bitrate Adaptation for Linear Programming
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Solution Overview
Problem
Communications service providers face challenges in maintaining high-quality media delivery to multiple mobile devices over constrained network links, as existing technologies fail to efficiently adapt bitrate based on content popularity, leading to suboptimal consumer satisfaction and communication efficiency.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a popularity-based adaptive bitrate management system that computes channel popularity scores and adjusts bitrates for linear programming content, allowing more popular channels to be transmitted at higher bitrates and less popular channels at lower bitrates, thereby optimizing bandwidth usage and consumer experience.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If uniform bitrate is used for all channel offerings, then network simplicity is maintained, but consumer satisfaction and media delivery quality deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by assigning different bitrates to different channel offerings based on their individual popularity scores. Each channel receives a customized bitrate allocation rather than a uniform rate, optimizing media delivery quality for each channel according to its specific demand characteristics.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts bitrates for channel offerings based on real-time or near-real-time popularity scores. The bitrate allocation is not static but adapts continuously as channel popularity changes, allowing the system to respond to varying consumer preferences and network conditions.
2Reliability
If higher bitrates are allocated to all channels, then media delivery quality improves, but bandwidth consumption and network resource usage increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the bitrate parameter for each channel offering based on its popularity score. By adjusting this critical parameter dynamically, the system ensures high media delivery quality for popular channels while reducing bandwidth consumption for less popular channels, optimizing the quality-to-resource ratio.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies partial action by allocating high bitrates only to the extent necessary for popular channels, rather than uniformly to all channels. This selective approach ensures adequate quality where needed while avoiding excessive bandwidth consumption for channels with lower demand.
3Productivity
If lower bitrates are used to conserve bandwidth, then network efficiency improves, but media delivery quality and consumer satisfaction deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent ensures that media delivery quality is maintained at high levels for popular channels by allocating appropriate bitrates locally to each channel based on its popularity. This prevents blanket bitrate reduction that would degrade quality across all channels, while still achieving overall network efficiency through selective optimization.
4Productivity
If popularity-based bitrate adaptation is implemented, then bandwidth utilization optimizes, but system complexity and computational requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements feedback mechanisms by continuously monitoring channel popularity scores and using this information to adjust bitrate allocations. The popularity metrics serve as feedback signals that drive adaptive bitrate decisions, creating a closed-loop system that optimizes bandwidth utilization based on actual channel performance and demand.
Solution Approach 2:
The bitrate management system operates autonomously by automatically computing popularity scores and determining optimal bitrates without requiring manual intervention. The system self-adjusts to changing conditions, reducing operational complexity while maintaining high bandwidth utilization efficiency.
Data Source
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AI summary
Embodiments provide popularity-based adaptive bitrate management of linear programming over constrained communications links. Embodiments can operate in context of a communications network communicating with multiple mobile client devices disposed in one or more transport craft. A number of channel offerings, including channels providing linear programming, can be made available via the communications network for consumption by the client devices. Embodiments can compute channel popularity scores for the channel offerings based on a predicted popularity, an estimated popularity, a measured popularity, etc. A bitrate can be determined for each (some or all) of the channel offerings based at least in part on its channel popularity score, so that more popular channel offerings can be communicated at higher bitrates. Determined-bitrate instances of the channel offerings can be obtained and/or generated, and delivered via the communications network, to the client devices for consumption.