INTELLIGENT BANDWIDTH MANAGEMENT

摘要

With the advances of computer information systems, individuals and businesses around the world regularly exchange digital media files via the Internet by "streaming" them to each other. This method involves "real-time" sending and receiving of data at a certain bit-rate, without downloading the file onto the recipient's hard-drive. The higher is the stream's bit-rate, the higher the quality of the image or sound (Step 1-A). One of the primary needs of a sender of a stream is the ability to detect the speed of the Internet's connection of the stream's recipient and to restrict or reformat the stream accordingly (Step 1-B). Otherwise, a recipient with a slow Internet connection may not be able to view or listen to a high bit-rate stream without interruptions. The present invention provides a method for detecting the maximum bit-rate that can be sustained. Based on this speed, the sender of a data stream can dynamically alter the bit-rate of the transmitted data stream to optimize the quality of reception. The present invention also allows the file format of the data stream to be modified during transmission (Step 2-B).