{
  "patent_number": "US 9538220",
  "country": "US",
  "title": "How Networks Keep Video Streams Smooth During Busy Times",
  "original_title": "Video streaming quality of experience degradation control using a video quality metric",
  "summary": "A method for internet providers to automatically balance network resources so that multiple users streaming video simultaneously experience the best possible overall quality.",
  "what_it_does": "This patent describes a system for managing network traffic when many people are streaming video at once. It monitors each individual video stream by looking at data like buffer levels—how much video is pre-loaded—and instances of freezing or skipping. It then calculates a quality score for every user and uses an objective function to decide how to distribute limited network bandwidth. By adjusting scheduling parameters for each stream, the network aims to maximize the total quality across all users, preventing one person's high-definition stream from causing everyone else's video to buffer.",
  "what_it_does_not_cover": [
    "Does not cover methods that rely solely on static bandwidth allocation without considering real-time video quality metrics.",
    "Does not cover client-side video compression algorithms or codecs like H.264 or HEVC.",
    "Does not cover hardware-specific network routing protocols that do not implement a degradation control algorithm.",
    "Does not cover systems that prioritize traffic based only on user subscription tier rather than actual video quality metrics."
  ],
  "filed": "2013-06-28",
  "granted": "2017-01-03",
  "expires": null,
  "status": "active",
  "holder": "WiLAN Labs Inc",
  "holder_url": "https://patentbrief.org/company/wilan-labs-inc",
  "inventors": [
    {
      "name": "Ahmed ElArabawy",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/ahmed-elarabawy"
    },
    {
      "name": "David Gell",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/david-gell"
    },
    {
      "name": "Kenneth L. Stanwood",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/kenneth-l-stanwood"
    }
  ],
  "times_cited": 9,
  "tags": [
    "telecommunications",
    "software",
    "ai_ml"
  ],
  "abstract": "Degradation control management is provided for a plurality of video streams associated with a plurality of user terminals in a communication network, based at least in part on an overall video quality metric, by determining a video quality metric for each video stream based on at least a set of video quality metric input parameters, and calculating an overall video quality metric based on the determined video quality metrics for the video streams, determining, with an objective function, at least one objective parameter based on at least the overall video quality metric, calculating a scheduling parameter for each video stream using a degradation control algorithm based on at least the determined video quality metric for the respective video stream and on the at least one objective parameter, and scheduling network resources for each video stream based on at least the scheduling parameter for the video stream.",
  "url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/9538220/netflix-a-b-testing-framework",
  "markdown_url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/9538220/netflix-a-b-testing-framework/md",
  "google_patents_url": "https://patents.google.com/patent/US9538220",
  "relatedPatents": []
}