Patent ID: 8806541

Claim:
A system comprising: a mobile wireless network; and a video streaming device in communication with the mobile wireless network, the video streaming device comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the memory stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising: transmitting a video stream across the mobile wireless network to a mobile wireless device, the video stream comprising a plurality of data units encoded at an encoding rate and transmitted at a streaming rate; receiving a request from the mobile wireless device to adjust the video stream, wherein the mobile wireless device comprises a receive buffer having a receive buffer margin sufficient to prevent an overflow of the receive buffer when the video streaming device increases the encoding rate causing a surge, wherein the receive buffer margin is based, at least in part, on a size of the surge, the size of the surge being a product of a time delay and a typical data speed, wherein the time delay is a time required for the mobile wireless network to increase capacities of network resources carrying the video stream in response to the video streaming device increasing the encoding rate, and wherein the typical data speed is the encoding rate during the time delay minus the streaming rate during the time delay; in response to the request, decreasing the encoding rate; and after a period of time subsequent to decreasing the encoding rate, decreasing the streaming rate.