Adaptive bit rate admission control of a shared resource

A computer system comprising:

• at least one processor device;
• and
• a hardware storage resource coupled to the at least one processor device, the hardware storage resource storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor device, cause the at least one processor device to perform the operations of:
• tracking identities of multiple clients in a network environment that share use of a communication link to retrieve content at the adaptive bit rates;
• monitoring status information indicating an ability of each of the multiple clients to retrieve content at the adaptive bit rates over the shared communication link;
• and
• controlling use of the shared communication link by new clients based at least in part on the status information.

A method comprising:

• receiving first configuration information indicating addresses assigned to cable modems through which multiple clients have access to content at different adaptive bit rates, the first configuration information also indicating a respective shared network resource assigned to each of the cable modems;
• receiving second configuration information indicating network addresses assigned to the multiple clients, the second configuration information also indicating an address of a respective cable modem through which each of the multiple clients has access to the content;
• and
• producing a map indicating network addresses of the multiple clients and a corresponding shared network resource over which the multiple clients have access to the content.

Computer-readable storage hardware having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when carried out by a processing device, causes the processing device to perform operations of:

• tracking identities of multiple clients in a network environment that share use of a communication link to retrieve content at different adaptive bit rates;
• monitoring status information indicating an ability of each of the multiple clients to retrieve content at the different adaptive bit rates over the shared communication link;
• and
• controlling use of the shared communication link by new clients based at least in part on the status information.

A method comprising:

• receiving first configuration information indicating addresses assigned to communication resources through which multiple clients have access to content, the first configuration information also indicating a respective shared network resource assigned to each of the communication resources;
• receiving second configuration information indicating network addresses assigned to the multiple clients, the second configuration information also indicating an address of a respective communication resource through which each of the multiple clients has access to the content;
• and
• producing a map indicating network addresses of the multiple clients and a corresponding shared network communication resource over which the multiple clients have access to the content.

A method comprising:

• tracking identities of multiple clients in a network environment that share use of a shared communication link to retrieve content, each of the multiple clients independently selecting amongst multiple adaptive bit rates to retrieve the content over the shared communication link;
• monitoring status information indicating an ability of each of the multiple clients to retrieve the content over the shared communication link;
• and
• controlling use of the shared communication link by new clients based at least in part on the status information.