Proxy System for Service-less Video Multicast
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Solution Overview
Problem
Typical content providers, especially those offering live video streams, face inefficiencies and high costs due to the need for unicast transmissions in cellular networks, which waste resources and degrade the quality of service and experience for users, as they must create separate streams for each user even when multiple users request the same content.
Innovation Solution
A system that enables content providers to initiate and manage multicast sessions without being multicast service providers, using a proxy system to handle the initiation and termination of multicast sessions, thereby reducing the number of streams and conserving bandwidth and resources by converting unicast to multicast when multiple users request the same content.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If unicast transmission is used for each user requesting video content, then each user receives personalized content delivery, but network resources are wasted and delivery costs increase when multiple users request the same content
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple unicast streams into a single multicast stream when multiple users in the same RAN request the same video content. The system detects overlapping content requests and consolidates them into one multicast transmission, thereby reducing network resource consumption while maintaining reliable content delivery to all users.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically switches between unicast and multicast transmission modes based on real-time analysis of user requests. When multiple users request the same content, the system transitions from individual unicast streams to a shared multicast stream, and can switch back to unicast when users leave or request different content, optimizing resource usage adaptively.
2Loss of energy
If multicast transmission is implemented to reduce network resource usage, then resource efficiency improves, but service complexity and deployment difficulty increase for typical content providers
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary system between the content provider and the network infrastructure that automatically manages multicast session initiation and termination. This intermediary handles the complex service setup, authentication, and coordination with the RAN, allowing typical content providers to use multicast without directly implementing complex multicast service logic.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements self-service mechanisms where the intermediary automatically detects when multicast conditions are met, initiates multicast sessions, and terminates them when appropriate. The system monitors user requests, manages session lifecycles, and optimizes resource allocation autonomously without requiring manual intervention from content providers or network operators.
3Ease of manufacture
If separate unicast streams are created for each user, then content delivery is simple to implement, but the number of streams grows linearly with user count increasing network load
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments user requests into groups based on content identity and location. Instead of treating each user request independently, the system segments and consolidates requests for the same content within the same RAN into a single multicast stream, while maintaining separate delivery for different content or different geographic regions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a universal multicast transmission mechanism that can serve multiple users simultaneously with a single stream. This multi-functional approach allows one content stream to be delivered to numerous users across different devices and applications, replacing the need for individual unicast streams and significantly improving network efficiency.
Data Source
AI summary
The typical service to deliver multimedia content is evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (eMBMS). However, the eMBMS is a service-oriented network architecture requiring a pre-defined and pre-established user service to stream a live video. The content provider must be a multicast service provider to use the eMBMS services, which many typical content providers are not. Accordingly, the present disclosure provides a live video streaming network architecture that enhances the eMBMS architecture to enable service-less multicast delivery. The provided system includes a virtual network function service running on an application server (AS) that identifies potential multicast scenarios based on user requests for a live video stream within a confined area. The AS collects information from the cellular users, checks the information to validate a potential multicast scenario, and transmits the information to the eMBMS core on behalf of the content provider and user equipment to instantiate a multicast resource bearer.