Reducing buffer bloat while probing for additional bandwidth in an adaptive bitrate network

摘要

In one embodiment, a device receives data from a network at a TCP buffer at a selected data rate, and copies the data from the TCP buffer to a decoder buffer at a reading rate. Once decreasing the reading rate to decrease a level of the decoder buffer, the device may increase the reading rate to an upshift probe rate, and monitors a TCP buffer level during reading at the upshift probe rate to determine whether the network can support the upshift probe rate. If the TCP buffer level decreases to a lower threshold during the upshift probe rate, the device returns to read data from the TCP buffer by the decoder buffer at the reading rate. If the TCP buffer level stays above the lower threshold during the upshift probe rate, the device may trigger a corresponding upshift in a send rate from a sender of the data.

主权项

1. A method, comprising:
receiving data from a network at a transmission control protocol (TCP) buffer at a selected data rate; copying the data from the TCP buffer to a decoder buffer at a reading rate; decreasing the reading rate to decrease a level of the decoder buffer; in response to the decreased level of the decoder buffer, increasing the reading rate to an upshift probe rate; monitoring a TCP buffer level while reading from the TCP buffer at the upshift probe rate to determine whether the network can support the upshift probe rate based on the TCP buffer receiving the data at an increased data rate; in response to the TCP buffer level decreasing to a lower threshold while reading from the TCP buffer at the upshift probe rate, returning to read data from the TCP buffer by the decoder buffer at the reading rate; and in response to the TCP buffer level staying above the lower threshold while reading from the TCP buffer at the upshift probe rate, triggering a corresponding upshift in a send rate from a sender of the data.