Patent ID: 8995268
Filing Date: 2015-03-31
Classification: H04L,H04N

Abstract:
1. A method for controlling data flow between a sending node and a receiving node over a packet switching network, wherein the data is sent to the receiving node at a current data rate, wherein an application in the receiving node reads the data stored in the buffer at a playback rate and in successive constant-sized portions, said method comprising, at the receiving node: periodically performing a buffer occupancy test of a buffer in the receiving node to determine whether received data occupancy of the buffer is lower than a first threshold or greater than a second threshold, said second threshold being greater than the first threshold; determining, in response to performing the buffer occupancy test, a desired sending rate for the sending node based at least in part on the playback rate; and if the desired sending rate is different from the current data rate by at least a fixed amount, sending the desired sending rate to the sending node, wherein the first threshold and the second threshold are dynamically assigned by the receiving node, wherein the first threshold is calculated based at least on a size of a successive constant-sized portion of data, the current sending rate, and a round trip time, the round trip time being an elapsed time measured between a transmission of a first packet by the sending node to the receiving node and a reception by the sending node of a second packet, said second packet being transmitted by the receiving node in response to reception of said first packet, and wherein the playback rate for determining the desired sending rate is determined by applying a smoothing technique to a series of prior playback rates via a temporal moving average method.