In a cable television system(10) in accordance with the invention, program materials are made available to subscribers in a neighborhood on an as needed basis. Specifically, when a subscriber at a set-top terminal (128-1) selects a program channel to watch, the selection request is transmitted to a headend (100) of the system. In response to such a request, a controller(112) in the headend determines whether the material of the selected program channel has been made available to the neighborhood. If it has been made available, the controller identifies to the set-top terminal (128-1) the carrier which is carrying the requested program material, and to which the set-top terminal tunes to obtain the requested program material. Otherwise, the controller (112) assigns an unused carrier to carry the requested program material, and informs the set-top terminal of the identity of the newly assigned carrier. The controller(112) also retires those carriers assigned for the program channels which are no longer watched by the subscribers in the neighborhood.

Technique for effectively providing program material in a cable television system

A system, apparatus, and method for transmitting data in a broadcast mode to multiple devices operating in a network. The invention enables the efficient utilization of bandwidth while providing a desired level of quality of service for the applications executing on the devices that utilize the broadcasted data. The invention utilizes a set of bandwidth constraints in combination with a set of heuristics and rules for the allocation and re-allocation of bandwidth among multiple applications in a manner that minimizes the impact on the quality of service metrics of importance to the affected applications when contention exists for the network resources. The present invention implements processes to cause the quality of service provided to each application to degrade smoothly, with certain priorities and guarantees being maintained. The present invention also provides event segmentation and reassembly functions for applications, and includes reliability mechanisms to increase the ability to provide data to client devices that have not been actively receiving for significant periods of time.

Reliable event broadcaster with multiplexing and bandwidth control functions

Methods and apparatus for dynamically adjusting capacity allocation; e.g., to a group of services in a multimedia distribution network. In one embodiment, bandwidth allocation is adjusted by predicting bandwidth utilization of the group of services based on historical bandwidth utilization information. Behavioral templates and statistical models may also be employed for the predictions. The invention provides more efficient use of available bandwidth compared to conventional bandwidth allocation schemes where the overall bandwidth for a group of services is set to a constant value that is not changed frequently. The present invention further provides a bandwidth allocation method in a switched distribution network. The bandwidth allocation method allocates bandwidth such that the bandwidth required by the number of services does not exceed the allocation, i.e., the total usage falls within the allocation.

Methods and apparatus for predictive capacity allocation

A content and traffic managing system operatively associated with and a computer implemented method of managing traffic of a mobile device exhibiting communication functionality. The mobile device is connectable to users and to content providers via communication links. The system tracks various parameters over time, and schedules communication, both in relation to predefined or projected content responsive of the following: users' content related behavior, users' communication behavior, users' external behavior, and parameters of communication links. The method comprises: (i) tracking users' content related behavior, communication behavior and users' external behavior over time; (ii) tracking parameters of communication links over time; (iii) scheduling and initiating communication related to predefined or projected content responsive of the above mentioned criteria at time slots selected such that the communication is performed in view of users' predefined or projected preferences in accordance with the parameters of communication links.

Optimizing content and communication in multiaccess mobile device exhibiting communication functionalities responsive of tempo spatial parameters

A mobile communication system is provided which is capable of preventing a reduction in user throughput and system throughput. In a radio base station, a dataflow control unit controls an Iub dataflow from an RNC, a buffer stores the dataflow for each terminal in each corresponding queue, and a scheduler schedules the dataflow. An HARQ control unit controls retransmission of the dataflow and corrects CQI report values received from a terminal at a corrector. An encoding processor encodes the dataflow, and a demodulator demodulates data received from the terminal. After the demodulation of the data received from the terminal, the demodulator sends CQI information and Ack/Nack information to the HARQ control unit. The corrector in the HARQ control unit then corrects the CQI report value in accordance with these received CQI information and Ack/Nack information.

Radio communication system, base station, method of correcting radio link quality information employed therefor, and its program

A method for providing network access to a shared access communications medium for a plurality of users includes the steps of conducting predictive admission control by arbitrating user requests for access to the shared medium based on predicted aggregate demands, conducting lookahead scheduling for use in making user channel assignments by forecasting schedule transmission opportunities one or more channels of the shared medium, and balancing load by making channel assignments such that a plurality users are each assigned a respective channel of the shared medium based upon a predicted need. Congestion parameters can predicted for each channel of the shared medium and mapped to a congestion measure using a mathematical function that takes into account packet loss rate, packet delay, packet delay jitter, and available capacity.

John Bradford Hart

Papers

Apparatus and Methods for Incorporating Bandwidth Forecasting and Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation into a Broadband Communication System