Method and device for sharing bandwidth of a communication network

A method of receiving items of information relative to a plurality of multimedia data streams coming from a plurality of server devices of a communication network, comprising the following steps carried out on a client device capable of simultaneously receiving a plurality of multimedia data streams from the network:

• receiving, from at least one of the server devices at least one item of information relative to the multimedia data stream capable of being sent by said at least one server device, said at least one item of information comprising an item of information on a visual quality of the multimedia data stream, and an item of information making it possible to obtain the bandwidth necessary for sending the stream with that visual quality;
• sending a request to said at least one of the server devices specifying a visual quality called priority visual quality and/or bandwidth for one of the multimedia data streams to be sent therefrom based on the management, by the client device, of the video quality and/or bandwidth of the multimedia video streams simultaneously sent from the plurality of server devices to the client device;
• and
• sharing the bandwidth available on the network between the multimedia data streams capable of being simultaneously received by the client device on the basis of said at least one item of information received,
• wherein the priority visual quality is of a higher visual quality than the quality of the other multimedia video streams, and
• the visual qualities of the plurality of multimedia video streams received by the client device are represented by a metric based on the priority visual quality, the average value of the visual qualities of the other multimedia video streams simultaneously transmitted and the variances of the visual qualities of the other multimedia video streams.

A device for sending at least one item of information relative to a multimedia data stream in a communication network from a server device to a client device that receives a plurality of multimedia data streams from different server devices, and being implemented on one of the server devices capable of sending at least one of the multimedia data streams over the network, said device comprising:

• a processor configured to obtain at least one item of information relative to the at least one of the multimedia data streams, said at least one item of information relative to the at least one of the multimedia data streams comprising an item of information on a visual quality of the multimedia data stream, and an item of information making it possible to obtain the bandwidth necessary for sending the stream with that visual quality;
• and
• a communication interface configured to send said at least one obtained item of information over the communication network to a client device and to receive from the client device a request specifying a visual quality called priority visual quality and/or bandwidth for the multimedia data stream to be sent to the client device based on the management of the video quality and/or bandwidth of the multimedia video streams from the different servers transmitting their multimedia video stream simultaneously to the client device,
• wherein the priority visual quality is of a higher visual quality than the quality of the other multimedia video streams, and
• the visual qualities of the plurality of multimedia video streams received by the client device are represented by a metric based on the priority visual quality, the average value of the visual qualities of the other multimedia video streams simultaneously transmitted and the variances of the visual qualities of the other multimedia video streams.

A device for receiving items of information relative to a plurality of multimedia data streams coming from a plurality of server devices of a communication network, implemented on a client device capable of simultaneously receiving a plurality of multimedia data streams from the network, said device comprising:

• a communication interface configured to receive, from at least one of the server devices at least one item of information relative to the multimedia data stream capable of being sent by said at least one of the server devices, said at least one item of information comprising an item of information on a visual quality of the multimedia data stream, and an item of information making it possible to obtain the bandwidth necessary for sending the stream with that visual quality, and configured to send a request to said at least one of the server devices specifying a visual quality called priority visual quality and/or bandwidth for one of the multimedia data streams to be sent therefrom based on the management, by the client device, of the video quality and/or bandwidth of the multimedia video streams simultaneously sent from the plurality of server devices to the client device;
• and
• a processor configured to share the bandwidth available on the network between the multimedia data streams capable of being simultaneously received by the client device on the basis of said at least one item of information received,
• wherein the priority visual quality is of a higher visual quality than the quality of the other multimedia video streams, and
• the visual qualities of the plurality of multimedia video streams received by the client device are represented by a metric based on the priority visual quality, the average value of the visual qualities of the other multimedia video streams simultaneously transmitted and the variances of the visual qualities of the other multimedia video streams.