Patent ID: 8125901

Claim:
A method of controlling the transmission of video clips over a communications network, said method comprising the steps of: i) transmitting over a communications network a first encoded video sequence corresponding to a first video clip and a second encoded video sequence corresponding to a second video clip, wherein the first encoded video sequence is encoded with a first bitrate and the second encoded video sequence is encoded with a second bitrate, and wherein both the first and the second encoded video sequences are encoded at a similar first quality level; ii) controlling the bandwidth allocated to the first and the second encoded video sequences in the network by modifying a congestion control algorithm in the network so that a first bandwidth allocated to the first encoded video sequence is proportional to the first bitrate, and a second bandwidth allocated to the second encoded video sequence is proportional to the second bitrate; and in response to network congestion, iii) transmitting over the communications network a further first encoded video sequence encoded at and a further second encoded video sequence, the first encoded video sequence encoded with a further first bitrate and the second encoded video sequence is encoded with a further second bitrate wherein both the further first and the further second encoded video sequences are encoded at a similar second quality level; and iv) controlling the bandwidth allocated to the further first and the further second encoded video sequences in the network by modifying a congestion control algorithm in the network so that the first bandwidth allocated to the further first encoded video sequence is proportional to the further first bitrate, and a second bandwidth allocated to the second encoded video sequence is proportional to the further second bitrate.