US 12,445,628 B2
Bandwidth management using dynamic quality factor adjustments
Greg Gillis, Riverton, UT (US)
Assigned to Sling TV L.L.C., Englewood, CO (US)
Filed by Sling TV L.L.C., Englewood, CO (US)
Filed on Jan. 31, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/649,420.
Prior Publication US 2023/0247205 A1, Aug. 3, 2023
Int. Cl. H04N 19/105 (2014.01); H04N 19/124 (2014.01); H04N 19/136 (2014.01); H04N 19/146 (2014.01); H04N 19/154 (2014.01); H04N 19/184 (2014.01); H04N 19/42 (2014.01)
CPC H04N 19/146 (2014.11) [H04N 19/105 (2014.11); H04N 19/124 (2014.11); H04N 19/136 (2014.11); H04N 19/154 (2014.11); H04N 19/184 (2014.11); H04N 19/42 (2014.11)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of encoding media content, the method comprising:
encoding a first portion of the media content using a first value of a quality factor to generate a first encoded portion of the media content, wherein the first encoded portion of the media content is encoded using a first quantization based on the first value for the quality factor;
storing the first encoded portion of the media content in a transmit buffer;
determining a first actual bitrate of the first encoded portion of the media content stored in the transmit buffer is outside a threshold range of a target bitrate, wherein the target bitrate is based on a backhaul bandwidth allocated to the media content between an encoding system and a distribution system;
determining a dynamic adjustment to the quality factor expected to result in the first actual bitrate being within the threshold range of the target bitrate, wherein the dynamic adjustment is determined during the encoding of the media content;
applying the dynamic adjustment to the quality factor to set an adjusted value of quality factor; and
encoding a second portion of the media content using the adjusted value for the quality factor to generate a second encoded portion of the media content at a second actual bitrate within the threshold range of the target bitrate, wherein the second encoded portion of the media content is encoded using a second quantization based on the adjusted value for the quality factor.