Patent ID: 9306994
Filing Date: 2016-04-05
CPC Classification: H04L,H04N

Claim Text:
1. A method comprising: identifying a current encoding rate requested by a client device for content received from a content source; based on said current encoding rate, setting at a network device, a rate limit to limit a rate at which said content is received at the client device, wherein the rate limit is set to allow the client device to change said current encoding rate to a next higher available encoding rate; and adjusting the rate limit based on changes in said current encoding rate; wherein the rate limit provides rate stabilization for competing clients by permitting the client device to shift to said next higher available encoding rate while maintaining the rate low enough to maximize overlapping of content transfers among the competing clients and minimize frequent rate changes; wherein said next higher available encoding rate is a rate that is at least as high as a next higher encoding rate that the client device has to detect to be able to upshift; and wherein setting the rate limit comprises calculating a sending limit equal to: wherein: