Patent ID: 9510046
Filing Date: 2016-11-29
CPC Classification: H04L,H04N

Claim Text:
1. A method for a computer for estimating a level of use of a communication network linking a server and at least one client, the method implemented by the at least one client, comprising steps of: obtaining at least one metadata from a data stream transmitted over the communication network at a transmission rate corresponding to a temporal frequency of the data stream, the metadata characterizing a theoretical rate of the data stream based on the transmission rate of the data stream; obtaining the theoretical rate from the data stream metadata; evaluating a first and a second real reception rate of the data stream, the first and second real reception rates corresponding to rates at which the data stream is received by the at least one client over a first and a second time period, respectively; comparing the theoretical rate and the evaluated rates, including analyzing an evolution of a difference between the theoretical rate and each of the evaluated rates, wherein the evolution is determined by computing a derivative representative of a change between the difference of the theoretical rate with the first real reception rate and the difference of the theoretical rate with the second real reception rate, and the evolution of the difference between the theoretical rate and each of the evaluated rates characterizes an adapted level of use of the communication network, under-use of the communication network, or congestion of the communication network; and estimating the level of use of the communication network based on a result obtained in the comparing step, wherein the data stream is a scalable data stream and the theoretical rate is determined according to a theoretical rate associated with each scalability layer of the data stream.