Patent Grant
9591375
The present invention is directed generally to mobile wireless network services. In particular, the invention is directed to a delivery mechanism for delivering broadcast video channels to mobile wireless devices.
Operators of mobile wireless networks want to offer their users a variety of broadcast video channels. A broadcast video channel is a broadcast video channel that can be viewed by many different users at the same time. Each user will see the same part of the video at the same time as other users. In contrast, a streamed broadcast video channel is a broadcast video channel that is sent only to a user that requests it. The same streaming video may be requested by different users, but each user will receive their own stream. Each streaming video user will see a different part of the video than the other users viewing at the same time.
Currently, to deliver broadcast video channels to mobile wireless devices, a network operator uses a server called a mobile broadcast service center to route a set of all the broadcast video channels the network operator offers through a wireless mobile communication network to each radio network controller in the network.
Routing a set of all offered broadcast video channels to each radio network controller has the advantage that little or no modifications need to be made to the mobile wireless network. However, routing a set of all offered broadcast video channels to each radio network controller is not an efficient use of transmission links in the network. This practice is inefficient since channels routed to a radio network controller are not forwarded unless requested for mobile wireless devices served by that radio network controller, and many are usually not requested at any one time. This inefficiency becomes worse as the network operator offers more channels since the ratio between the number of channels requested and the number offered usual becomes smaller. Compounding the inefficiency is the fact that requests for broadcast video channels are not evenly distributed geographically. Mobile video users are concentrated in some areas such as urban centers and most of the time their usage is limited to several popular broadcast video channels. In some areas, some channels may never be requested.
The cost of transport for broadcast video channels across the network transmission links is significant and this cost is highest on the transmission links nearer the network edge (i.e., the base stations). What is needed is a way to route broadcast video channels responsive to requests in order to minimize use of the network transmission links, particularly those nearer the network edge, while minimizing the amount of changes to the mobile wireless network.
Reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, and wherein:
Several embodiments of the invention are show in the attached figures and discussed below. Multiple elements that are substantially similar to each other appear with a common reference number, but are distinguished by a differing reference letter suffix (e.g. 1000a, 1000b, etc.). Groups of substantially similar elements are referred to collectively by their common reference number without a suffix.
The mobile wireless network 102 is comprised of various network elements including base stations 109, radio network controllers 106, support nodes 114, at least one gateway node 112, and includes various transmission links 128, 130,132 between the network elements. The gateway node 112 has one or more interfaces that provide the mobile wireless network 102 the ability to connect to other networks and devices not part of the mobile wireless network 102. The gateway node 112 is connected to one more or support nodes 114 via transmission links 128. The support nodes 114 route traffic within the mobile wireless network 102. Each support node 114 is connected to one or more radio network controllers 106 via transmission links 130. Each radio network controller 106 is connected to and controls one or more base stations 109 via transmission links 132. The base stations 109 serve mobile wireless devices 104 associated with the mobile wireless network 102 via radio links 134. Thus, the mobile broadcast service center 100 and the mobile wireless devices 104 may be considered terminal nodes in a video delivery network while portions of the mobile wireless network, such as the radio network controllers 106, have stations 109, gateway node 112 and support nodes 114 may be considered intermediate nodes through which data is routed.
Each mobile wireless devices 104 may be served by one of the base stations 109, usually the base station 109 that the particular mobile wireless device 104 has the best quality radio link 134 with. When one of the mobile wireless devices 104 moves, the quality of the radio link 134 to the serving base station 109 may change. Conventional handoff procedures are used to switch service for the moving mobile wireless device 104 to a different base station 109.
In one embodiment, the mobile wireless network 102 conforms to the Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service (UMTS) standard. In such an embodiment, one of the base stations 109 corresponds to a UMTS Node B, the radio network controllers 106 correspond to UMTS Radio Network Controllers (RNCs), the support nodes 114 correspond to UMTS Serving GPRS Support Nodes (SGSNs)(where GPRS is General Packet Radio Service), the gateway node 112 corresponds to a UMTS GPRS Gateway Support Node (GGSN), and the various transmission links 128, 130, 132 comply with the appropriate UMTS interface standards.
In a first example,
In a second example,
In third example,
In a fourth example,
The mobile broadcast service center 100 is configured to create channel bundles 108. These bundles facilitate routing of broadcast video channels 110 throughout the mobile wireless network 102. In some embodiments the channel bundles 108 comprise one or more broadcast video channels 110 packed into an additional data frame with its own overhead (or header) separate from the overhead of the individual broadcast video channels 110. In these embodiments, the mobile broadcast service center 100 is configured route a channel bundle by placing routing instructions for a destination in the overhead of the channel bundle 108. Elements of the mobile wireless network 102 are configured to forward the channel bundle 108 using the overhead in the channel bundle 108 to make routing decisions, not the overhead of the individual broadcast channels 110.
However, in other embodiments the channel bundles 108 are largely conceptual. That is, each channel bundle 108 comprises a list in the mobile broadcast service center 100 of broadcast video channels 110 to be routed to a common destination. In these embodiments, the mobile broadcast service center 100 is configured route a channel bundle 108 by placing routing instructions for the same destination in the overhead of each broadcast video channel 110 in a particular channel bundle 108. Elements of the mobile wireless network 102 are configured to forward the channel bundle 108 using the overhead in the individual broadcast channels 110 to make routing decisions.
The communications port 116 provides the capability to connect the mobile broadcast service center 100 to a mobile wireless network such as the mobile wireless network 102 shown in
The request processor 118 provides a facility to process broadcast video channels requests. The request processor 118 receives a request for a broadcast video channel 110, examines the request, identifies the requested broadcast video channel 110 and designates one of the mobile wireless devices 104 as a target for delivery of the requested broadcast video channel. In some embodiments, the request may originate from the target mobile wireless device 104. The target mobile wireless device 104 can transmit the request to the one of the base stations 109 that is currently serving the target mobile wireless device 104. This base station 109 can forward the request to the mobile wireless network 102. The mobile wireless network may deliver the request to the mobile broadcast service center 100 through the communications port 116. A person of skill in the art will appreciate that the request may reach the request processor 118 via other paths and from other sources. In some embodiments, a user may submit the request via an internet connection to the mobile broadcast service center 100.
A routing processor 120 in the mobile broadcast service center 100 is configured to designate one of the radio network controllers 106 as a target for delivery of a requested broadband broadcast video channel. The routing processor 120 has logic that will designate one of the radio network controllers 106 that is currently serving the target mobile wireless device 104 as the target radio network controller 106.
As previously discussed, the mobile broadcast service center 100 is configured to create channel bundles 108. The routing processor 120 may function to generate the necessary headers to assure proper routing. In the embodiment where one or more broadcast video channels 110 are packed into channel bundles 108, the routing processor 120 may generate the header data for the bundle of multiple broadcast video channels. Alternatively, the routing processor 120 may generate the necessary headers for the individual ones of the broadcast video channels 110 to be routed to a common destination.
The video channel generator 122 of the mobile broadcast service center 100 has facilities to generate broadcast video channels 110. The methods for the mobile broadcast service center 100 to generate video content are not limited. For example, in some embodiments, the video channel generator 122 generates video channels by accessing storage media where video content for the video channel is stored. The storage media may be a component of the mobile broadcast service center 100. Alternatively, the storage media may be external to and connected with the mobile broadcast service center 100. In other embodiments, the video channel generator 122 generates video channels by receiving a signal carrying video content from outside the mobile broadcast service center 100.
The channel bundler 124 of the mobile broadcast service center 100 is configured to pack broadcast video channels 110 into channel bundles 108. The channel bundles 108 may be sent out the communications port 116. The channel bundler 124 has logic to determine if an existing channel bundle 108 is routed to the target radio network controller 106 and determine if it already includes the requested broadcast video channel 110. The channel bundler 124 has logic to add the requested broadcast video channel 100 to an existing channel bundle 108 routed to the target radio network controller 106 if the existing channel bundle 108 does not already include the requested broadcast video channel 108. The channel bundler 124 has logic to route a new channel bundle 108, to the target radio network controller 106 if no broadcast video channel bundle 108 exists that is routed to the target radio network controller 106. The new channel bundle 108 would include the requested broadcast video channel 110.
In the embodiment described above, the mobile broadcast service center 100 designates one of the radio network controllers 106 as the target radio network controller and destination for one or more of the broadcast video channels 110 in a bundle 108. In this embodiment, intermediate nodes, such as the gateway node 112
and the support node 114 effectively act as routers that simply relay the data frames to the appropriate destination (i.e., the target network controller 106). In this embodiment, the gateway node 112 and the support nodes 114 may operate at the network level in an OSI model to transport and route the message (i.e., the broadcast video channels 110) to their proper destination.
However, in an alternative embodiment, the intermediate nodes (i.e., the gateway node 112 of the support nodes 114) may have additional intelligence. In this embodiment, the intermediate nodes have knowledge of the specific broadcast video channels being processed by the nodes.
This distributed network architecture allows for a different delivery paradigm for the broadcast video channels 110.
In a second example, the channel bundle 108e contains broadcast video channels 110a-110c. The broadcast video channels 110a-110b are routed from the mobile broadcast service center 100 to the radio network controller 106a via the gateway node 112 and the support node 114a. The broadcast video channel 110c is routed from the mobile broadcast service center 100 to the radio network controller 106b via the gateway node 112 and the support node 114a. As described above, the intermediate nodes (i.e., the gateway node 112 and the support node 114a) have application level intelligence that allows it to determine the identity of the broadcast video channels being routed through those intermediate nodes.
In this second example, the mobile wireless device 104d transmits a request for broadcast video channel 110b. The radio network controller 106b relays that request to the support node 114a. In the first embodiment described herein, the support node 114a simply relays the request through the mobile wireless network 102 to the mobile broadcast service center 100. However, in the second embodiment, the support node 114a is configured to operate at an application level and monitors the broadcast video channels being transmitted via the support node 114a. In this example, the mobile wireless device 104d has requested a broadcast video channel (i.e., the broadcast video channel 110b) that is already being processed the support node 114a. In this case, it is unnecessary for the support node 114a to relay the request any farther through the mobile wireless network 102. Instead, the support node 114a is configured to route the requested broadcast video channel 110b to the radio network controller 106b as well as continuing to route the requested broadcast video channel 110b to the radio network controller 106a. In this embodiment, the distributed network architecture only requires that a request for a broadcast video channel be relayed to a point in the mobile wireless network 102 where that requested broadcast video channel already exists.
In step 202, the mobile broadcast service center 100 receives a request to deliver a broadcast video channel 110 to a target mobile wireless device 104. In some embodiments, this request is generated by the target mobile wireless device 104 itself and transmitted to the base station 109 that is currently serving the target mobile wireless device 104. The base station 109 then forwards the request over the mobile wireless network 102. In other embodiments, the mobile network mobile broadcast service center 100 receives the request by other means. In one embodiment, a user may submit the request for a broadcast video channel 110 through a website.
For an example of step 202, presume the mobile wireless device 104d of
In step 204, the mobile broadcast service center 100 designates a target radio network controller 106 for the requested broadcast video channel 110. The mobile broadcast 102 to identify the radio network controller 106 serving the target mobile wireless device 104. In another embodiment, the identity of the target radio network controller 106 serving the target mobile wireless device 104 may be included in or with the received request for the broadcast video channel 110.
Thus, the request itself may include information identifying the target video network controller 106 and/or the target mobile wireless device 104. In yet another alternative embodiment, the mobile broadcast service center 100 and/or the mobile wireless network 102 received periodic update messages from one or more intermediate nodes (e.g., the gateway node 112 and/or the support node 114) serving the target mobile wireless device 104 that identifies itself as such.
For an example of step 204, the previous example from step 202 is continued. The mobile broadcast service center 100 in
In step 206, the mobile broadcast service center 100 determines if there is an existing channel bundle 108 that is routed to the target radio network controller 106 but does not already include the requested broadcast video channel 110. If there is such a channel bundle 108, then step 208 is skipped in the process continues with step 210. If there is no such existing channel bundle 108 routed to the target radio network controller 106, then step 208 is performed wherein the mobile broadcast service center 100 adds the requested broadcast video channel to that existing channel bundle 108.
For an example of step 206, the previous example from step 204 is continued. The mobile broadcast service center 100 determines that an existing channel bundle 108b is routed to the target radio network controller 106b (i.e., the result of step 206 is YES). In that event, the mobile broadcast service center 100 moves to step 210 to determine whether the requested broadcast video channel 110 is currently in the existing channel bundle 108 routed to the target radio network controller 106.
However, if the mobile broadcast service center 100 determines that there is no existing channel bundle to the target radio network controller, the result of step 206 is NO. This is illustrated in
In step 210, the mobile broadcast service center 100 determines if the requested broadcast video channel is currently routed to the identified target radio network controller. If there is such a channel, then the result of step 210 is YES, and the method is terminated. If there is not, then step 212 is performed wherein the mobile broadcast service center 100 routes a new channel bundle to the target radio network controller with the new channel bundle including the requested broadcast video channel.
For an example of steps 210 and 212, assume that mobile wireless device 104e in
Note, the requested broadcast video channel 110b was already packed in channel bundle 108a heading to radio network controller 106a. However, the mobile broadcast service center 100 would not route another copy of channel bundle 108a to the target radio network controller 106c because channel bundle 108a contains an additional broadcast video channel 110a that has not been requested by any mobile device served by the target radio network controller 106c.
In another example, consider the channel bundle 108b. The mobile wireless device 104d requests the video channel 110b. The request for the video channel 110b is routed to the mobile broadcast service center 100 via the base station 109c, the radio network controller 106b, the support node 114a, and the gateway node 112. At the mobile broadcast service center 100, it is determined that a channel bundle (i.e., the channel bundle 108b) already exists with the radio network controller 106b as the target radio network controller (i.e., the result of step 206 is YES). In that event, the mobile wireless network 102 need not create a new channel bundle (i.e., step 208 is skipped). In step 210, the mobile broadcast service center 100 determines that the existing channel bundle 108b does not contain the requested broadcast video channel 110b (i.e., the result of step 210 is NO). In that case, the mobile broadcast service center 110 adds the requested broadcast video channel 110b to the existing channel bundle 108b routed to the target radio network controller 106b.
In the examples described above, the requests for broadcast video channels are routed to the mobile broadcast service center 100 via the mobile wireless network 102. In this embodiment, the intermediate nodes (e.g., the gateway node 112 and the support nodes 114) essentially operate as routers, in the manner described above. However, in the alternative embodiment described above, the intermediate nodes (e.g., the gateway node 112 and the support nodes 114) operate at an application level and have an awareness of the broadcast video channels being routed therethrough. This embodiment, discussed above with respect to
In one example using the distributed network architecture of
Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the flow chart of
The mobile broadcast service center 100 determines that there is an existing channel bundle (i.e., the channel bundle 108f) that exists between the mobile broadcast service center 100 and the support node 114b. Thus, the result of step 206 is YES. In that event, the mobile broadcast service center determines that the requested broadcast video channel (i.e., the broadcast video channel 110b) is not currently in the existing channel bundle (i.e., the channel bundle 108f) routed to the target radio network controller (i.e., the radio network controller 106c). Thus, the result of step 210 is NO and, at step 212, the mobile broadcast service center 100 adds the requested broadcast video channel 110b to the existing channel bundle 108f. Thus, the requested broadcast video channel is relayed from the mobile broadcast service center to the radio network controller 106c via the gateway node 112 and the support node 114b. The requested broadcast video channel is subsequently relayed to the base station 109d for transmission to the mobile wireless device 104e.
In an alternative embodiment, it should be noted that the requested broadcast video channel in the above example (i.e., the broadcast video channel 110b) is present within the gateway node 112. Thus, the gateway node 112 may operate at an application level to receive the request for the broadcast video channel 110b and to route the requested broadcast video channel from the gateway node 112 to the support node 114b. Accordingly, in this embodiment, the request for the broadcast video channel 110b need not be relayed from the gateway node 112 to the mobile broadcast service center. That is, the request for the broadcast video channel 110b terminates at the gateway node 112 because the gateway node is already receiving the requested broadcast video channel 110b.
In another example of the operation of the distributed architecture mobile wireless network, consider the request for the broadcast video channel 110b by the mobile wireless device 104d, shown in
A system and method has been described for the creation of broadcast video channels 110 to be routed through a mobile wireless network 102. The system also has the capability of terminating the broadcasts and deleting the broadcast video channels 110 from the mobile wireless network 102. In some cases, the requested broadcast video channel may have a natural termination time. For example, the requested broadcast video channel could be a broadcast of a sporting event, which may have an indeterminate broadcast termination time. When the sporting event has ended, the broadcast video channel may be terminated by the mobile broadcast service center 100. In another example, the requested broadcast video channel may be a conventional broadcast program, which has a determinate length (e.g., one hour).
When the program has terminated, the mobile broadcast service center 100 may terminate the requested broadcast video channel 110. In yet another example, the user may request a broadcast video channel for a certain length of time. For example, the user may request a broadcast video channel of music video for some user-determined length of time (e.g., one hour, two hours, twenty-four hours, etc.).
Following the completion of the requested time period, the mobile broadcast service center 100 may terminate the broadcast video channel 110. Other conventional techniques may be used to terminate the requested broadcast video channel 110.
The components of described herein may in some embodiments be implemented as a computer processor coupled to a memory, the memory containing instructions that when executed by the computer processor, perform the functions as described above. In other embodiments, the components described herein may be realized as hard-wired circuits.
The foregoing described embodiments depict different components contained within, or connected with, different other components. It is to be understood that such depicted architectures are merely exemplary, and that in fact many other architectures can be implemented which achieve the same functionality. In a conceptual sense, any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality is effectively “associated” such that the desired functionality is achieved. Hence, any two components herein combined to achieve a particular functionality can be seen as “associated with” each other such that the desired functionality is achieved, irrespective of architectures or intermedial components. Likewise, any two components so associated can also be viewed as being “operably connected”, or “operably coupled”, to each other to achieve the desired functionality.
While particular embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that, based upon the teachings herein, changes and modifications may be made without departing from this invention and its broader aspects and, therefore, the appended claims are to encompass within their scope all such changes and modifications as are within the true spirit and scope of this invention. Furthermore, it is to be understood that the invention is solely defined by the appended claims. It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodies of the appended claims) are generally intended as “open” terms (e.g., the term “including” should be interpreted as “including but not limited to,” the term “having” should be interpreted as “having at least,” the term “includes” should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to,” etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of the introductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim recitation to inventions containing only one such recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases “one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or “an” (e.g., “a” and/or “an” should typically be interpreted to mean “at least one” or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should typically be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the bare recitation of “two recitations,” without other modifiers, typically means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations).
Accordingly, the invention is not limited except as by the appended claims.
The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in the foregoing Detailed Description, it can be seen that various features are grouped together in a single embodiment for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separately claimed subject matter.
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/815,070 filed Jul. 31, 2015 by Shen et al., entitled “On-Demand Mobile Wireless Broadcast Video Delivery Mechanism,”, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/251,293 filed Apr. 11, 2014 (now U.S. Pat. No. 9,131,277), which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/936,452 filed Nov. 7, 2007 by Shen et al., (now U.S. Pat. No. 8,732,778). All sections of the aforementioned applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
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| Parent | 14815070 | Jul 2015 | US |
| Child | 14987019 | US | |
| Parent | 14251293 | Apr 2014 | US |
| Child | 14815070 | US | |
| Parent | 11936452 | Nov 2007 | US |
| Child | 14251293 | US |
