Apparatus and method for simulcast over a variable bandwidth channel

Abstract

The present principles provide a method for a personalized mobile broadcast service operator (Service provider) to send content in the form of files with different compression formats in a variable bandwidth channel to one or more users who have access to the same service. Operators providing mobile broadcasts have the option of using residual bandwidth to provide these services. In such services, depending on the amount of bandwidth available for a mobile broadcast, a scheduler can choose to broadcast file content with higher compressed parameters thereby reducing the network footprint of the content file during lower bandwidth situations. A lower compressed format of the same content could then be potentially scheduled to broadcast at a later time when more bandwidth becomes available eventually replacing the highly compressed copy which was received earlier on the client.

1 . A method for providing data over a network comprising the steps of:
 establishing a bandwidth value for providing a data over a communication channel;   providing the bandwidth value to a client device over the communication channel;   providing a version of the data over the communication channel to the client device in response to a comparison of the bandwidth value with a threshold.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the establishing comprises estimating ( 302 ) the available bandwidth in the communication channel. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said establishing comprises setting an initial value for the bandwidth. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising setting the threshold based on the established bandwidth value. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the threshold is set as one half the established bandwidth value. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the providing further comprises transmitting a low compression version of the data when the bandwidth value is higher than the threshold. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the providing further comprises transmitting a high compression version of the data when the bandwidth value is lower than the threshold. 
     
     
         8 . An apparatus comprising:
 a head end scheduler configured to establish a bandwidth value for providing data over a communication channel, provide the bandwidth value to a client device, and provide a version of the data in response to a comparison between the bandwidth value and a threshold   
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 8 , wherein the scheduler is configured with an initial bandwidth value. 
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 8 , wherein the scheduler is configured to estimate the bandwidth of the communication channel to establish the bandwidth value. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 8 , wherein the scheduler establishes the threshold based on half the bandwidth value. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the scheduler provides a low compression version of the data when the bandwidth value is higher than the threshold. 
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the scheduler provides a high compression version of the data when the bandwidth value is lower than the threshold. 
     
     
         14 . An apparatus comprising:
 program code for establishing a bandwidth value for providing data over a communication channel;   program code for providing the bandwidth value to a client device over the communication channel; and   program code for providing a version of the data over the communication channel to the client device in response to a comparison between the established bandwidth value and a threshold.   
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , further comprising program code for setting the threshold based on the established bandwidth. 
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the program code for establishing a bandwidth value further comprises program code for estimating the available bandwidth of the communication channel. 
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , further comprising program code for setting the threshold as one half the established bandwidth. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , further comprising program code for providing a low compression version of the data when the bandwidth is higher than the threshold. 
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , further comprising program code for providing a high compression version of the data when the bandwidth is lower than the threshold.