RU2380839C2 - Method for adaptive control of flow mediadata - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: information technologies.

SUBSTANCE: in the method quality change is fulfilled due to switching between flow with one preset quality level and flow with other preset quality level. In this method number of abovementioned quality levels and parametres determining quality of particular level can be set preliminary before data transmission start, and also can be changed during data transmission. Decision about switchover from one quality level to other quality level is made on the basis of information about characteristics of network connection over which data are transmitted, information about status of head-ends, transit nodes and subscriber points or other relevant information. Furthermore, switchover between flows with different quality levels is performed in head-end, transit node or subscriber point without interruption in data transmission and with providing data consistency.

EFFECT: providing maximum possible quality of transmitted video images, audio data or other multimedia data under conditions of data transmission network functioning parametres change.

4 cl

Description

The invention relates to the field of transmission of media data, in particular any of the streams of compressed or uncompressed audio or video information, or other multimedia information, or a combination thereof.

A DEVICE AND METHOD FOR DISTRIBUTING HIGH-QUALITY VIDEO AND AUDIO PROGRAMS TO REMOTE PLACES (1) is known as receiving and compressing digitized video information in accordance with a format chosen in advance in at least one central device; transmit the resulting compressed video information for one or more remotely located playback systems; receive and store the transmitted video information for playback at least one pre-selected point in time by each playback system; distribute stored compressed video information to one or more decompression systems; unpack the transmitted video information in each unpacking system, and receive the unpacked video information in at least one connected projection system, and reproduce visual images to one or more viewers based on this received information. However, when organizing streaming services with adaptation to data transmission conditions, such a scheme will require real-time transcoding of the stream for each connected client, which will require a significant increase in resources.

The objective of the present invention is to ensure the highest possible quality of broadcast video, audio or other multimedia data in the face of changing parameters of the functioning of the data network.

The problem is solved by adaptive control of the transmission of media data streams, which consists in changing the quality of the stream in the process of transmitting data from the head nodes through the data network and transit nodes to the subscriber nodes, characterized in that the quality change is carried out by switching between the stream with one specified quality level and flow with another given level of quality.

Moreover, the number of the aforementioned quality levels and the parameters that determine the quality of a particular level can be pre-set before the data transfer starts, and also changed during the data transfer, and the decision to switch a stream from one quality level to a stream with a different quality level can be made at based on information about the characteristics of the network connection through which data is transferred, information about the status of head, transit and subscriber nodes or other relevant information, as the metric system performance parameters and configuration hardware and software components of head, transit and subscriber nodes.

In addition, switching between streams with different quality levels is performed at the head node, the transit node, or at the subscriber node without interruption in data transmission and ensuring data consistency.

The method is as follows. Data transmission occurs from the head nodes performing reception, storage, conversion, including digitization and compression, and other data operations through the data transmission network and transit nodes to the subscriber nodes receiving, converting into a form suitable for human perception, and reproduction or display of this information. If there are several streams of the same content in the head node with different specified quality levels Q ₁ , ... Q _i , ... Q _j , ... Q _N, when the conditions in the network change, the connection possibilities are evaluated and the stream with the quality that is optimal will be selected Use available connection bandwidth.

For example, when establishing a connection with a subscriber unit, the flow Q _i is selected. When receiving a command to switch to a stream with quality Q _j , the following sequence of actions is performed:

- data transfer stream Q _i ,

- the arrival of the signal about switching to the stream Q _j ,

- completion of the data transfer stream Q _i ,

- transmission of an adaptive (transient) data sequence,

- data transfer stream Q _j .

The adaptive data sequence is generally specific to the data compression and stream presentation algorithm used. Synchronization is achieved based on timestamps, data block numbers and other labels identifying individual data blocks in streams.

Switching between streams with different quality levels is performed at the head node, the transit node, or at the subscriber node without interruption in data transmission and ensuring data consistency.

The proposed method allows to reduce the resources necessary for the organization of streaming services and customer service by introducing several fixed levels of stream quality and switching clients between these levels.

Information sources

1. The application for a patent of the Russian Federation No.20031282, 2002

Claims (4)

1. The method of adaptive control of the transmission of streaming media, including audio, video and other multimedia data, which consists in changing the quality of the stream in the process of transmitting data from the head nodes through the data network and transit nodes to the subscriber nodes, characterized in that the change the quality of the data stream is carried out if there is a node in the transmission of several data streams of the same content with different specified levels of quality by switching between a stream with one given level quality and flow with another specified level of quality. 2. The method according to claim 1, in which the number of the aforementioned quality levels and the parameters that determine the quality of a particular level can be pre-set before the start of data transfer, and also changed during the data transfer. 3. The method according to claim 1, in which the decision to switch a stream with one quality level to a stream with a different quality level can be made on the basis of information about the characteristics of the network connection through which data is transmitted, information about the status of the head, transit and subscriber nodes, or other relevant information. 4. The method according to claim 1, in which switching between streams with different quality levels is performed at the head node, the transit node, or at the subscriber node without interruption in data transmission and ensuring data consistency.