Service rate change method and apparatus

1. A method of allocating bandwidth within a bandwidth-constrained interactive information distribution system, comprising:

(a) determining by a computing device, the computing device comprising a processor and an associated memory, within the information distribution system, for at least one received data request, an available bandwidth of an information distribution system adapted to deliver the requested data, the requested data being encoded to utilize either an appropriate bandwidth or a minimum bandwidth;

(b) in the case of sufficient bandwidth being available to support appropriate bandwidth encoded data, providing, by the computing device, the appropriate bandwidth encoded data to the information distribution system;

(c) in the case of sufficient bandwidth being available to support only minimum bandwidth encoded data, providing, b the computing device, the minimum bandwidth encoded data to the information distribution system; and

(d) in the case of sufficient bandwidth not being available to support minimum bandwidth encoded data, denying, by the computing device, access to the requested data and providing only an access denial message to the information distribution system, wherein the access denial message is provided instead of providing severely degraded program data in the absence of a minimal amount of bandwidth for providing the minimum bandwidth encoded data.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein step (d) comprises:

(d1) waiting for a predetermined period of time;

(d2) repeating steps (a) through (c) for each unfulfilled data request; and (

d3) in the event of a final determination that less than a minimum bandwidth is available, providing the access denial message to the information distribution system.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

(e) dynamically adapting a subscriber bandwidth allocation in response to subscriber data requests.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step (a) of determining comprises:

determining an expected loading level associated with each of a plurality of bandwidth constraining system components, the expected loading levels being adapted in response to a type of content requested.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the bandwidth constraining system components include one or more of a video switch, a storage device, a digital video modulator and a transport processor.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step (a) of determining an available bandwidth uses a bandwidth utilization model which aggregates the bandwidth requirements of data requested by each of a plurality of subscribers.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

(e) dynamically adapting a subscriber bandwidth allocation in response to changes in available bandwidth as indicated by the bandwidth utilization model.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein each of the plurality of subscribers is allocated a level of bandwidth sufficient to support a navigation function.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the appropriate bandwidth level represents a bandwidth level sufficient to provide the requested data to without qualitatively degrading the requested data, and the minimum bandwidth level represents a bandwidth level sufficient to provide the requested data where the requested data is qualitatively degraded.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step (a) of determining is based upon expected component loading levels of at least one of a video server bandwidth, a video switch bandwidth, a transport processor bandwidth and a digital video modulator bandwidth.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the step (a) of determining comprises determining component loading levels with respect to the type of information requested.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the information type comprises one of a video, audio, audiovisual and data type.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the information types comprise video formats having differing quality levels.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein data requests from each of a plurality of subscribers are used to provide type information for modeling the component loading levels, the subscriber requests for data being aggregated to control bandwidth utilization levels such that information degradation is managed in an orderly fashion.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein each program to be provided to requesting subscribers is stored at each of an appropriate encoded bitrate and a minimal encoded bitrate.

16. A method of allocating bandwidth within a bandwidth-constrained interactive information distribution system, comprising:

(a) determining, by a computing device, the computing device comprising a processor and an associated memory, within the information distribution system for each of a plurality of received content requests, an available bandwidth of an information distribution system adapted to deliver the requested content, the requested content being encoded to utilize either an appropriate bandwidth or a minimum bandwidth;

(b) in the case of sufficient bandwidth being available to support appropriate bandwidth encoded content, providing, by the computing device, the appropriate bandwidth encoded content to the information distribution system;

(c) in the case of sufficient bandwidth being available to support only minimum bandwidth encoded content, providing, by the computing device, the minimum bandwidth encoded content to the information distribution system; and

(d) in the case of sufficient bandwidth not being available to support minimum bandwidth encoded content, performing, by the computing device, the steps of:

(d1) waiting for a predetermined period of time;

(d2) repeating steps (a) through (c) for each unfulfilled content request; and

(d3) in the event of a final determination that less than a minimum bandwidth is available, denying access to the requested content and providing only an access denial message to the information distribution system, wherein the access denial message is provided instead of providing severely degraded program data in the absence of a minimal amount of bandwidth for providing the minimum bandwidth encoded content.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein requested content is stored at each of an appropriate encoded bitrate and a minimal encoded bitrate.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the step (a) of determining comprises:

determining an expected loading level associated with each of a plurality of bandwidth constraining system components, the expected loading levels being adapted in response to differing quality levels of video formats used for the requested content.

19. A method of allocating bandwidth within a bandwidth-constrained interactive information distribution system, comprising:

storing, by a computing device, the computing device comprising a processor and an associated memory, within the information distribution system, content encoded according to both an appropriate encoded bitrate and a minimal encoded bitrate, wherein content encoded according to the appropriate encoded bitrate having an appropriate quality level, and content encoded according to the minimum encoded bitrate having an minimum quality level;

determining, by the computing device, an available bandwidth of an information distribution system adapted to deliver the content using an expected bandwidth loading level associated with each of a plurality of bandwidth constraining system components, the expected loading levels being adapted in response content requests;

in the case of sufficient bandwidth being available to support appropriate bitrate encoded content, providing, by the computing device, the appropriate bitrate encoded content to a requesting subscriber;

in the case of sufficient bandwidth being available to support only minimum bitrate encoded content, providing, by the computing device, the minimum bitrate encoded content to the requesting subscriber; and

in the case of sufficient bandwidth not being available to support minimum bitrate encoded content, denying, by the computing device, access to the content and providing only an access denial message to the requesting subscriber, wherein the access denial message is provided instead of providing severely degraded program data in the absence of a minimal amount of bandwidth for providing the minimum bitrate encoded content.

20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising:

dynamically adapting a subscriber bandwidth allocation in response to subscriber data requests and changes in available bandwidth as indicated by a bandwidth utilization model.