Multi-rate statistical multiplexing

1. A multi-rate statistical multiplexing system comprising:

a congestion-state determination module configured to:

for a subscriber-line providing a plurality of requested channels, receive congestion information of the subscriber-line and determine a congestion-state of the subscriber-line based on a total bandwidth of the subscriber-line and a combined bit-rate of the plurality of requested channels, and for each requested channel provided by the subscriber-line, receive an indicator of quality of a viewing experience;

a channel bit-rate selection module configured to:

select among different versions of each of the plurality of requested channels, each version of a channel having a different bit-rate, wherein the selection is based on a balance of a quality of each of the plurality of requested channels and the congestion information of the subscriber-line; and

a channel forwarding switch-control module configured to control a switch to forward the selected version of each channel based on timing information of each of the plurality of requested channels.

2. A multi-rate statistical multiplexing system according to claim 1 , wherein the channel forwarding switch-control unit is configured to control channel forwarding over time in response to the channel bit-rate selection unit selecting among different versions of each channel over time.

3. A multi-rate statistical multiplexing system according to claim 1 , wherein the channel bit-rate selection unit is configured to select a lower bit-rate of a first requested channel to maintain a perceived quality of viewing experience of a second requested channel, wherein the quality of viewing experience of the first channel is maintained after the selection.

4. A multi-rate statistical multiplexing system according to claim 1 , further comprising:

a switch configured to receive switch control signaling and all versions of each requested channel and to switch among different versions of each requested channel based on the switch control signaling.

5. A method of multi-rate statistical multiplexing comprising:

receiving different versions of a plurality of channels requested on a subscriber-line, each version having a different bit-rate and a corresponding indicator of quality of a perceived viewing experience;

determining a level of congestion of the subscriber-line based on a total bandwidth of the subscriber-line and a combined bit-rate of the plurality of channels requested on the subscriber-line; and

selecting among the different versions of each of the plurality of requested channels based on the level of congestion and one or more indicators of perceived quality of each of the plurality of requested channels,

wherein the selection is based on a balance of the perceived quality of each of the plurality of requested channels with the level of congestion of the subscriber-line.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the plurality of channels requested on the subscriber-line comprise a first channel and a second channel, the method further comprising:

forwarding the selected version of the first channel and the selected version of the second channel to a subscriber on the subscriber-line.

7. The method according to claim 6 , further comprising:

asynchronously forwarding each requested channel with respect to each other.

8. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the plurality of channels requested on the subscriber-line comprise a first channel and a second channel, the method further comprising:

switching to a lower bit-rate version of the first channel to maintain a perceived quality of viewing experience of the second channel based on the selecting, wherein a perceived quality of viewing experience of the first channel is maintained after switching to the lower-bit rate.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the plurality of channels requested on the subscriber-line comprise a first channel and a second channel, the method further comprising:

switching to a higher bit-rate version of the first channel and a lower bit-rate version of the second channel to maintain a perceived quality of viewing experience of the first channel, wherein the perceived quality of viewing experience of the second channel is maintained after switching to a lower bit-rate.

10. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the plurality of channels requested on the subscriber-line comprise a first channel and a second channel, the method further comprising:

receiving a first order indicator of a perceived quality of viewing experience of the first channel and a first order indicator of perceived quality of viewing experience of the second channel; and

controlling the forwarding of each selected version of each requested channel based on the first order indicator of the first channel and the first order indicator of the second channel.

11. The method according to claim 10 , further comprising:

embedding the first order indicator of the first channel into a version of the first channel, wherein the embedded first order indicator of the first channel is an indicator of perceived quality of viewing experience of the version of the first channel; and

embedding the first order indicator of the second channel into the second channel, wherein the embedded first order indicator of the second channel is a perceived quality of viewing experience of the second channel.

12. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the plurality of channels requested on the subscriber-line comprise a first channel and a second channel, the method further comprising:

receiving a first and second order indicator of perceived quality of viewing experience of the first channel and a first and second order indicator of perceived quality of viewing experience of the second channel; and

controlling the forwarding of each selected version of each requested channel based on the first and second order indicator of the first channel and the first and second order indicator of the second channel.

13. The method according to claim 5 , further comprising:

determining the congestion of the subscriber-line on an encoded-group of pictures (GOP)-by-encoded-GOP basis.

14. The method according to claim 5 , further comprising:

receiving different versions of a current encoded group of pictures (GOP), wherein one or more versions of the current encoded GOP contains a first order indicator of a perceived quality of viewing experience of the current encoded GOP and a second order indicator of a perceived quality of viewing experience of different encoded GOP.

15. The method according to claim 14 , further comprising:

selecting a lower bit-rate version of the current encoded GOP based on the first and second order indicators; and

forwarding the selected version of the current encoded GOP, wherein a perceived quality of viewing experience of the forwarded encoded GOP is maintained after forwarding.

16. The method according to claim 5 , further comprising:

asynchronously switching among different bit-rates of each requested channel at a next switching opportunity of each requested channel based on the selecting, wherein a viewing experience of each requested channel is maintained after asynchronously switching.

17. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

assessing an indicator of video quality of a perceived viewing experience of each version of each requested channel.

18. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium on which is embedded one or more computer programs, the one or more computer programs implementing a method for multi-rate statistical multiplexing, the one or more computer programs comprising computer readable code for:

receiving different versions of a plurality of channels requested on a subscriber-line each version having a different bit-rate and a corresponding indicator of quality of a perceived viewing experience;

determining a level of congestion of the subscriber-line based on a total bandwidth of the subscriber-line and a combined bit-rate of the plurality of channels requested on the subscriber-line; and

selecting among the different versions of each of the plurality of requested channels based on the level of congestion and one or more indicators of perceived quality of each of the plurality of requested channels,

wherein the selection is based on a balance of the perceived quality of each of the plurality of requested channels with the level of congestion of the subscriber-line.

19. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 18 wherein the plurality of channels requested on the subscriber-line comprise a first channel and a second channel, the one or more computer programs further comprising computer readable code for:

forwarding the selected version of the first channel and the selected version of the second channel to a subscriber on the subscriber-line.

20. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 18 wherein the multiple channels requested on the subscriber-line comprise a first channel and a second channel, the one or more computer programs further comprising computer readable code for:

switching to a lower bit-rate version of the first channel to maintain a perceived quality of viewing experience of the second channel based on the selecting, wherein a perceived quality of viewing experience of the first channel is maintained after switching to the lower-bit rate.