Adaptive data rate streaming in a peer-to-peer network delivering video content

1. A method for adaptively increasing bit-rate consumed by a consumer node in a real-time peer-to-peer (P2P) network delivering real-time multimedia content, comprising:

determining desirability to switch to a higher bit-rate consumption respective of a current bit-rate consumption provided by a first resource node;

sending requests to resource nodes of the P2P network for supply of additional bandwidth to support only a difference in bandwidth between the higher bit-rate consumption and a current bit-rate consumption;

connecting to at least one resource node of the P2P network that can supply the requested additional bandwidth, thereby increasing bit-rate consumption through connections to the at least one resource node providing the requested additional bandwidth and the first resource node, wherein the at least one resource node and the first resource node deliver a same content of the real-time multimedia at different bit rates;

determining whether there are connection problems due to the increase in bit-rate consumption; and

consuming, by the consumer node, from the at least one resource node the current bit-rate in addition to the requested additional bandwidth when no connection problems occur and it is established that the consumer node is capable of handling the higher bit-rate consumption of the real-time multimedia content.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

disconnecting from the first resource node providing the current bit-rate consumption when no connection problems occur and it is established that the consumer node is capable of handling the higher bit-rate consumption; and

synchronizing to the higher bit-rate consumption based on at least a timing cue in the real-time multimedia content.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

disconnecting from the at least one resource node when connection problems occur and it is established that the consumer node is incapable of sustaining the higher bit-rate consumption.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the at least one resource node is configured to provide the higher bit-rate consumption.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the requests are sent to the at least one resource node that supports the higher bit-rate consumption.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the at least one resource node is a demi-resource node.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the demi-resource node is a node connected to the P2P network that simulates to the consumer node the higher bit-rate consumption.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein consumption from the at least one resource node is at the higher bit-rate, further comprising:

connecting to the at least one resource node that supports the higher bit-rate consumption; and

disconnecting from the demi-resource and the first resource node providing the current bit-rate consumption.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein switching to the higher bit-rate consumption is initiated upon at least one of: determination that no quality problems occur during the consumption of lower bit-rate multimedia content and the at least one resource node supports the higher bit-rate consumption, and a user request to view the multimedia content at higher quality and the at least one resource node supports the higher bit-rate consumption.

10. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions for causing one or more processing units to execute the method according to claim 1 .

11. A real-time peer-to-peer (P2P) network for delivery of real-time multimedia content, comprising:

a plurality of resource nodes for delivering real-time multimedia content; and

a plurality of consumer nodes for receiving the real-time multimedia content distributed by the plurality of resource nodes over a network, the plurality of consumer nodes are grouped in at least a first group consuming the real-time multimedia content at a first bit-rate and a second group consuming the real-time multimedia content at a second bit-rate, the second bit-rate is higher than the first bit-rate;

wherein each consumer node of the plurality of consumer nodes is configured to initiate a check and perform a transition from the first group to the second group without being required to handle a bit-rate that is above that of the second bit-rate while maintaining a stream of the real-time multimedia content at the first bit-rate until it is determined that the at least one consumer node can sustain the second bit-rate, wherein the initiated check includes sending requests to the plurality of resource nodes of the P2P network for supply of additional bandwidth to support only a difference in bandwidth between the higher bit-rate consumption and a current bit-rate consumption and connecting to at least one resource node of the P2P network that can supply the requested additional bandwidth to determine whether there are connection problems due to the increase in bit-rate consumption, wherein the at least one resource node providing the requested additional bandwidth and a at least one resource node providing the current bit-rate consumption deliver the same content of the real-time multimedia at different bit rates.

12. The P2P network of claim 11 , wherein the at least one consumer node is configured to initiate the transition from the first group to the second group upon at least one of: determination that no quality problems occur during the consumption of the real-time multimedia content at the first bit-rate and the at least one resource node supports the second bit-rate, and a user request to view the multimedia content at a higher quality and the at least one resource node supports the second bit-rate.

13. The P2P network of claim 11 , wherein the real-time multimedia content further comprises timing cues to allow for synchronized transition from the first group to the second group.

14. A consumer node operable in a real-time peer-to-peer (P2P) network, comprising:

an interface to at least one resource node, the at least one resource node supplies real-time multimedia content in at least a first bit-rate and a second bit-rate, the second bit-rate is higher than the first bit-rate; and

a processor configured to initiate a check to perform a transition from the first bit-rate to the second bit-rate without being required to handle a bit-rate that is above that of the second bit-rate while maintaining a stream of the multimedia content at the first bit-rate until it is determined that the consumer node can sustain the second bit-rate, wherein the initiated check includes sending requests to the plurality of resource nodes of the P2P network for supply of additional bandwidth to support only a difference in bandwidth between the higher bit-rate consumption and a current bit-rate consumption and connecting to at least one resource node of the P2P network that can supply the requested additional bandwidth to determine whether there are connection problems due to the increase in bit-rate consumption, wherein the at least one resource node providing the requested additional bandwidth and a at least one resource node providing the current bit-rate consumption deliver the same content of the real-time multimedia at different bit rates.

15. The consumer node of claim 14 , wherein the processor is further configured to initiate the transition from the first group to the second group upon at least one of: determination that no quality problems occur during consumption of the real-time multimedia content at a first bit-rate and the at least one resource node supports the second bit-rate, and a user request to view the multimedia content at a higher quality and the at least one resource node supports the second bit-rate.

16. The consumer node of claim 14 , wherein the processor is configured to synchronize to the higher bit-rate consumption based on at least a timing cue in the real-time multimedia content.