Bandwidth aware digital video recording (DVR) scheduling

摘要

A scheduler is used to identify a schedule conflict that affects a client device receiving multiple media programs over a network. The scheduler is associated with the client device or a head-end source from which the programs are received. The scheduler accesses a schedule, which specifies a scheduled time at which multiple media programs are to be received by the client device. The scheduler obtains the actual bitrate to be consumed by each of the media programs as they are to be streamed to the client device. Based at least in part on the bitrates obtained for each of the media programs, the scheduler identifies a conflict that prevents at least one of the media programs from being streamed to the client device over the network. The scheduler enumerates at least one solution to the conflict to thereby resolve the conflict.

主权项

1. A method of identifying a schedule conflict that affects a client device receiving multiple media programs over a network, comprising:
accessing a schedule that specifies a scheduled time at which each of a plurality of media programs are to be received by a client device; at the scheduled times, obtaining an actual bitrate to be consumed by each of the media programs as they are to be streamed to the client device; accessing a profile associated with the client device, the profile specifying a maximum number of the media program streams that can be simultaneously streamed to the client device and a maximum bandwidth available to the client device within which the maximum number of the media program streams are accommodate; comparing a sum of the actual bitrates to be obtained by the client device to the maximum bandwidth available to the client device; based at least in part on the comparison, identifying a conflict between the actual bitrates and a capacity of a communication channel to deliver the actual bitrates to the client device that prevents at least one of the media programs from being recorded by the client device; and enumerating at least one solution to the conflict to thereby resolve the conflict.