QoE Distribution Indicators for Network Resource Allocation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing network management methods fail to manage shared network resources effectively, leading to uneven perceptual playback quality among client devices, as they operate individually and compete for bandwidth without cooperative resource sharing, resulting in misappropriation of resources and suboptimal playback quality.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a system that uses Quality of Experience (QoE) distribution indicators to enable client devices to cooperatively share network resources, allowing them to adjust bit-rate representation selections based on their local QoE levels and relative QoE values of other devices, thereby promoting more even playback quality distribution within subscription tiers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If individual client devices operate independently to seize available bandwidth, then each device can maximize its own data throughput, but shared network resources are misappropriated and perceptual playback quality becomes uneven across devices
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements a feedback mechanism where the network management entity receives QoE information from client devices and sends back QoE distribution indicator values. These indicators provide feedback to each device about the overall QoE distribution in the network, enabling devices to adjust their bandwidth consumption behavior cooperatively while maintaining high throughput.
Solution Approach 2:
A network management entity acts as an intermediary between client devices, receiving QoE data from devices and distributing QoE distribution indicator values back to them. This intermediary coordinates resource allocation and enables cooperative behavior without requiring direct peer-to-peer communication between devices.
2Manufacturing precision
If client devices request higher bit-rate representations upon detecting available bandwidth, then individual playback quality may improve, but aggregate network resource utilization becomes inefficient
Solution Approach 1:
Devices receive QoE distribution indicator values that feedback about the overall quality distribution in the network. This enables devices to make informed decisions about bit-rate selection, requesting higher rates only when it would provide substantial quality improvement without causing waste, as determined by the network management entity's assessment of current network conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically changes the bit-rate parameter based on QoE distribution indicator values rather than simply responding to available bandwidth. This parameter adjustment ensures that quality improvements are substantial and efficient, preventing waste of network resources on marginal quality gains.
3Speed
If bandwidth is allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, then individual devices acting quickly can secure resources, but devices that cannot act first are penalized and overall quality distribution becomes uneven
Solution Approach 1:
The QoE distribution indicator values provide feedback that compensates for the speed-based advantage. Devices that acquire bandwidth quickly receive indicators showing the current quality distribution, enabling them to adjust their requests to maintain fairness. This feedback mechanism ensures that speed advantages do not permanently disadvantage slower-acting devices.
Solution Approach 2:
The system works to create equipotentiality in QoE distribution across all devices regardless of when they act. By using QoE distribution indicator values to guide bandwidth requests, the system ensures that all devices converge toward similar quality levels, eliminating the penalizing effect of acting slower in a first-come-first-served environment.
Data Source
AI summary
Various implementations disclosed herein enable client devices to share a network resource in order to produce more evenly distributed perceptual playback quality levels within each subscription tier. Sharing of a network resource is facilitated by providing client devices with one or more QoE distribution indicator values, which enables client device participation in the allocation of the network resource. In some implementations, a client device method includes determining a local QoE level value, and then modifying a representation selection of media content data based on the local QoE and one or more QoE distribution indicator values. The local QoE level value characterizes perceptual playback quality of media content data received by the client device using the shared network resource. The QoE distribution indicator values characterize at least in part the relative QoE values associated with a plurality of client devices sharing the shared network resource with the client device.