Systems and methods for managing available bandwidth in a household are provided. A request to access a first media asset is received. A determination is made as to whether a bandwidth currently available in the household is sufficient for enabling access to the first media asset. When the bandwidth currently available in the household is insufficient for enabling access to the first media asset, a search is performed for a second media asset currently consuming a portion of the household bandwidth needed for enabling access to the first media asset. A third media asset is identified having a remaining duration that is more than a remaining duration of the second media asset. A message is displayed that indicates the bandwidth currently available in the household is insufficient to access the first media asset and that has an option to access the third media asset instead of the first media asset.

Media is selected for video playback through a first device and audio playback through one or more separate devices connected through a wireless network. Different techniques for synchronizing the audio and video can be selected based on one or more factors to improve media playback.

Example methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture (e.g., physical storage media) to control digital video bandwidth utilization with a virtualized communication hub are disclosed. Example methods disclosed herein include monitoring, with a virtual access function of the virtualized communication hub, an aggregate load on a broadband access medium to detect bandwidth utilization events. Disclosed example methods also include sending, from the virtual access function, a first notification message to a virtual set-top box of the virtualized communication hub in response to detecting a first bandwidth utilization event. Disclosed example methods further include adjusting, at the virtual set-top box and based on the first notification message, an output bandwidth for streaming digital media from the virtual set-top box to a physical set-top box via a broadband access medium.

The construction method of NALU (Network Abstraction Layer Unit) for IPv6 label switching and its using algorithms of video encoding, QoS control, and decoding are provided. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the NALU format is composed of the NALH (Network Abstraction Layer Header) including the label and the NAL (Network Ab¬straction Layer) payload. Here, the label is determined based on layer information which is combination of a spatial scalable level, a temporal scalable level, and a quality scalable level of the encoded data. The decoder uses the label to decide which one of multiple decoding modules is used to decode the current NAL payload. Moreover, the label can be included in the packet header so that the MANE (Media Aware Network Element) can use the label to decide whether to forward the packet or drop it. For example, the label in the packet header can be used for QoS control of video service by using the flow label field in IPv6 packet header. The IPv6 router can identify priority of the video packet by using the 20 bit long flow label, into which the label in NALH can be inserted. According to the embodiment, the MANE assumed in the MPEG and JVT (Joint Video Team) can be implemented effectively.

Systems, apparatuses, and methods are described for encoding media content based on an ending delay of first media content and a startup delay of second media content. Second media content may be configured for transmission after first media content in a media content stream. The first media content may be associated with an ending delay corresponding to transmission and/or decoding of frames of the first media content. The second media content may be associated with a starting delay corresponding to transmission and/or decoding of frames of the second media content. The first media content and the second media content may be encoded using different encoding formats. Based on comparing the ending delay and starting delay to a threshold, encoding parameters may be selected, one or more frames may be removed from the first media content and/or the second media content, and/or buffers of one or more devices may be adjusted.

Systems, apparatuses, and methods are described for encoding media content based on an ending delay of first media content and a startup delay of second media content. Second media content may be configured for transmission after first media content in a media content stream. The first media content may be associated with an ending delay corresponding to transmission and/or decoding of frames of the first media content. The second media content may be associated with a starting delay corresponding to transmission and/or decoding of frames of the second media content. The first media content and the second media content may be encoded using different encoding formats. Based on comparing the ending delay and starting delay to a threshold, encoding parameters may be selected, one or more frames may be removed from the first media content and/or the second media content, and/or buffers of one or more devices may be adjusted.

Systems and methods for managing available bandwidth in a household are provided. A request to access a first media asset is received. A determination is made as to whether a bandwidth currently available in the household is sufficient for enabling access to the first media asset. When the bandwidth currently available in the household is insufficient for enabling access to the first media asset, a search is performed for a second media asset currently consuming a portion of the household bandwidth needed for enabling access to the first media asset. A third media asset is identified having a remaining duration that is more than a remaining duration of the second media asset. A message is displayed that indicates the bandwidth currently available in the household is insufficient to access the first media asset and that has an option to access the third media asset instead of the first media asset.

Example implementations involve systems and methods for determining bandwidth savings from a rate-limiting process. A network optimization node can determine a first reference characteristic of a first portion of adaptive bit rate (ABR) media data transmitted from a first content provider to a first user equipment while rate-limiting is disabled and store in an estimation module database associated with the network optimization node, the first reference characteristic in association with the first content provider. The node can determine a first rate-limited characteristic of a second portion of the ABR media data transmitted from the first content provider to at least one of the first user equipment and a second user equipment while rate-limiting is enabled and calculate a first bandwidth savings for the first content provider associated with rate-limiting being enabled based on a difference between the first reference characteristic and the first rate-limited characteristic.

A service data processing method and apparatus is disclosed. A data frame is divided into code blocks with smaller granularity, and service data is mapped to a corresponding quantity of code blocks in the data frame based on a service requirement. In addition, the data frame is used to indicate a location of a code block carrying the service data. In one manner, a code block in a payload area of the data frame is divided into a data code block and an overhead code block, and the overhead code block is used to indicate a location of a data code block carrying the service data. In the another manner, an indication field is configured in an overhead area of the data frame to indicate a location of a code block that carries the service data and that is in the payload area of the data frame.

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a device in which a processing system receives from a multimedia content server a plurality of content streams; each of the content streams includes a portion of an original content stream. The processing system transcodes the plurality of content streams based on a viewport prediction to produce a plurality of viewport streams; the viewport prediction is based at least in part on a visibility map associated with a viewer of the content. The processing system delivers each of the viewport streams to a client device associated with the viewer; each of the viewport streams is buffered at the client device in a separate buffer. Other embodiments are disclosed.