Video Packet Distribution Across Multiple Bearers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Wireless networks experience bandwidth limitations, leading to unpredictable packet loss that degrades video media quality, as they often indiscriminately drop consecutive packets, causing significant artifacts in decoded media.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus that distribute video packets over multiple bearers with varying quality of service levels, ensuring non-consecutive packets are carried across frames, allowing the network to intentionally drop packets based on priority, thereby minimizing consecutive packet loss and optimizing media quality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If video packets are transmitted over a single bearer, then the transmission process is simple, but consecutive packet loss occurs causing significant degradation in decoded media quality
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the video packet stream into multiple sub-streams and distributes them across multiple bearers with different quality of service levels. This segmentation prevents consecutive packet loss by ensuring that packet loss on one bearer does not result in consecutive losses in the reassembled stream, thereby maintaining media quality without significantly increasing system complexity
Solution Approach 2:
Different bearers are assigned different quality of service levels, creating local quality variations in the transmission paths. Critical packets are routed through high-quality bearers while less critical packets use lower-quality bearers, optimizing overall media quality while managing network resources efficiently
2Reliability
If multiple bearers are used to distribute video packets, then packet loss protection is improved, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments packets into different priority groups and assigns them to different bearers, providing unequal packet loss protection. This segmentation approach improves reliability by protecting critical packets more effectively while managing system complexity through structured organization of packet handling procedures
3Productivity
If packets are transmitted over bandwidth-constrained wireless networks, then network utilization is maximized, but random-like packet loss occurs degrading media quality
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different quality of service levels to different packet streams over the shared wireless network. By locally optimizing transmission quality for critical packets while allowing lower quality for less critical packets, the system maintains good media quality even under bandwidth constraints, effectively managing the trade-off between network utilization and media quality
Data Source
AI summary
A method and apparatus distributes video packets over multiple bearers for providing unequal packet loss protection. The method includes a packet processing function receiving a plurality of packets collectively comprising a flow of sequential data included in a sequence of media frames. For each packet, the packet processing function: applies a bearer selection process to select one of a plurality of bearers for transporting the packet over an access network, wherein each bearer has a different quality of service level which influences the probability of the transported packets being intentionally discarded by the access network, wherein the bearer selection process causes distribution of the plurality of packets across the plurality of bearers such that each bearer carries non-consecutive packets both within any given media frame and across sequential media frames and provides unequal packet loss protection for the packets in the plurality; and provides an indication of the selected bearer.