System, methods, and computer program products for selecting codec parameters

A network component, comprising:

• a transceiver configured to receive a session invite from a first endpoint directed toward a second endpoint, the session invite identifying a first plurality of codecs available at the first endpoint and configured to transmit call set-up information including an identification of a first codec to the first endpoint and an identification of a second codec to the second endpoint;
• a codec parameter selector configured to select a value for sampling frequency from a plurality of sampling frequencies for the first codec, wherein a selected sampling frequency is selected based on a resource utilization factor of the network component and configured to negotiate use of the first codec and the value for sampling frequency with the first endpoint and negotiate use of the second codec with the second endpoint, wherein the sampling frequency is associated with the first codec, wherein negotiation includes sending a session initiation protocol (SIP) message to the first endpoint, the SIP message including session description protocol (SDP) information identifying the first codec, the value for sampling frequency, and a value for bit rate and receiving a SIP acknowledgment acknowledging the first codec;
• wherein selecting the value for sampling frequency comprises selecting a first sampling frequency and bit rate pair from a plurality of sampling frequency and bit rate pairs, including comparing the resource utilization factor of the network component to a respective and different density value associated with each of the sampling frequency and bit rate pairs;
• and after the comparing, selecting the first sampling frequency and bit rate pair from the plurality of sampling frequency and bit rate pairs in response to identifying a density value of the first sampling frequency and bit rate pair to satisfy an operating constraint of the network component, each respective density value indicating how many communication sessions the network component may handle using a respective sampling frequency and bit rate pair;
• wherein the plurality of sampling frequency and bit rate pairs are stored in a lookup table, further wherein each sampling frequency and bit rate pair is associated with a media quality value;
• and
• wherein selecting the first sampling frequency and bit rate pair comprises parsing the lookup table in accordance with the resource utilization factor;
• and identifying the first sampling frequency and bit rate pair to satisfy a constraint for resource usage and a constraint for media quality, and wherein the lower the value for density, the more resource usage a given bit rate and bandwidth pair would use;
• a transcoder configured to transcode a media stream of a communication session between the first endpoint and the second endpoint according to the first codec and the value for sampling frequency and the second codec;
• and
• one or more processors configured to execute the codec parameter selector and the transcoder.

A computer program product comprising machine-readable instructions on a non-transitory storage medium of a network component for facilitating a communication session between a first endpoint and a second endpoint in a communication network, the computer program product comprising:

• code to determine a resource utilization factor of a transcoding network component;
• code to select a value for sampling frequency based on the resource utilization factor, including selecting a first sampling frequency and bit rate pair for a first codec from a plurality of sampling frequency and bit rate pairs, including comparing the resource utilization factor of the transcoding network component to a respective and different density value associated with each of the sampling frequency and bit rate pairs;
• and after the comparing, selecting the first sampling frequency and bit rate pair from the plurality of sampling frequency and bit rate pairs in response to identifying a density value of the first sampling frequency and bit rate pair to satisfy an operating constraint of the transcoding network component, each respective density value indicating how many communication sessions the transcoding network component may handle using a respective sampling frequency and bit rate pair;
• code to negotiate use of the first codec and the value for sampling frequency with the first endpoint and negotiate use of a second codec with the second endpoint, wherein negotiation includes sending a session initiation protocol (SIP) message to the first endpoint, the SIP message including session description protocol (SDP) information identifying the first codec, the value for sampling frequency, and a value for bit rate and receiving a SIP acknowledgment acknowledging the first codec;
• and
• code to transcode a media stream of a communication session between the first endpoint and the second endpoint according to the first codec and the value for sampling frequency and the second codec;
• wherein the plurality of sampling frequency and bit rate pairs are stored in a lookup table, further wherein each sampling frequency and bit rate pair is associated with a media quality value;
• and
• wherein selecting the first sampling frequency and bit rate pair comprises parsing the lookup table in accordance with the resource utilization factor;
• and identifying the first sampling frequency and bit rate pair to satisfy a constraint for resource usage and a constraint for media quality, and wherein the lower the value for density, the more resource usage a given bit rate and bandwidth pair would use.