Patent ID: 8848785

Claim:
A method of determining a compact representation of a cumulative bit curve by a node in a video content system, the method comprising: receiving cumulative bit curve data representing the decoding schedule of encoded content to be delivered over a network, the cumulative bit curve data comprising cumulative bit counts with respect to a timebase of the content; for the timebase points in the cumulative bit curve, calculating a respective lower bound point in dependence on a forward delivery rate required to deliver the encoded content over a network such that a delivery schedule is provided which is ahead of the decoding schedule of the content; determining a piecewise approximation to the cumulative bit-curve, the piecewise approximation being such that a value of the approximation corresponding to a timebase point of the content is between the cumulative bit count and the calculated lower bound for the timebase point; and storing data representing the piecewise approximation as the compact representation of the cumulative bit curve.