Managed multiplexing of video in an adaptive bit rate environment

A system comprising:

• an HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) proxy for receiving, from each of a plurality of clients, respective requests for fragments of a respective video program selected from a plurality of video programs, each of the plurality of video programs having different bit rates in a fragmented, adaptive bit rate format, each respective request identifying a bit rate for a respective fragment of the respective video program being requested by a respective one of the plurality of clients, wherein the respective requests for at least one client of the plurality clients includes a first request that identifies a first bit rate and a second request that identifies a second bit rate different from the first bit rate;
• an HTTP server for providing the plurality of video programs and providing the respective fragment of the respective video program with a bit rate based on the respective request and predetermined criteria;
• and
• a multiplexer for multiplexing the requested fragments of the respective video program from the plurality of video programs provided by the server for delivery to the plurality of clients in a variable bit rate multiplex over a shared, fixed-bit-rate transmission channel, the respective fragments in the multiplex having different bit rates.

A method comprising:

• receiving, at an HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) proxy, from each of a plurality of clients, a respective first request for a first fragment of a respective video program from a plurality of video programs having different bit rates in a fragmented, adaptive bit rate format, the respective first request identifying a bit rate for the first fragment;
• selecting, at an HTTP server, the first fragment of the respective video program for each of the plurality of clients based on the respective first request and predetermined criteria;
• multiplexing, at the HTTP proxy, selected first fragments of the respective video program for delivery to the plurality of clients in a variable bit rate multiplex over a shared, fixed-bit-rate transmission channel, at least some of the selected first fragments having different bit rates;
• receiving, at the HTTP proxy, from each of the plurality of clients a respective second request for a second fragment of the respective video program, the respective second request identifying a bit rate for the second fragment, wherein the bit rate for the second fragment requested by at least one client of the plurality of clients is different than the bit rate requested by the at least one client for the first fragment;
• selecting, at the HTTP server, the second fragment of the respective video program based on the respective second request and the predetermined criteria, wherein the second fragment selected for the at least one client has a different bit than the bit rate identified in the respective second request for the second fragment;
• and
• multiplexing, at the HTTP proxy, selected second fragments of the respective video program for delivery to the plurality of clients in the variable bit rate multiplex over the shared, fixed-bit-rate transmission channel, at least some of the selected second fragments having different bit rates.

A system comprising;

• a HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) server for providing a plurality of video programs having different bit rates in a fragmented, adaptive bit rate format;
• a HTTP proxy for receiving, from each of a plurality of clients, respective requests for fragments of a respective video program selected from the plurality of video programs, each respective request identifying a bit rate for a respective fragment of the respective video program being requested by a respective one of the plurality of clients, wherein the respective requests for at least one client of the plurality clients includes a first request that identifies a first bit rate and a second request that identifies a second bit rate different from the first bit rate, the HTTP proxy being configured to ignore the second request for the at least one client and select a given fragment of the respective video program having a different bit rate than the bit rate identified by the second request for the respective fragment based on predetermined criteria;
• and
• a multiplexer to receive and multiplex selected respective fragments having different bit rates of the respective video program for delivery to the plurality of clients in a variable bit rate multiplex over a shared, fixed-bit-rate transmission channel, the respective fragments in the multiplex having different bit rates.