Systems for media policy decision and control and methods for use therewith

1. A system for use in a network connected to the Internet that provides streaming media in a plurality of media sessions between a media source connected to the Internet and a corresponding plurality of client devices connected to network, the system comprising:

at least one computer processor;

at least one network interface under the control of the at least one computer processor; and

at least one memory, comprising:

computer-executable instructions for implementing a policy repository, wherein the instructions for implementing the policy repository, when executed by the at least one computer processor, cause the at least one computer processor to store a plurality of media-centric policies;

computer-executable instructions for implementing a media policy decision point, coupled to the network and the policy repository, wherein the instructions for implementing the media policy decision point, when executed by the at least one computer processor, cause the at least one computer processor to:

receive media session data corresponding to one of the plurality of media sessions;

determine a plurality of media session and non-media session attributes, based on the media session data;

evaluate a plurality of media-centric policies;

determine, based on evaluation of the plurality of media-centric policies, a proper subset of the plurality of media-centric policies that apply to the one of the plurality of media sessions, wherein each of the plurality of media-centric policies include a rule that includes a logical expression that defines when the rule is satisfied and an action, associated with the rule; and

distinguish between attributes of the plurality of media session attributes that include a plurality of session-static attributes versus attributes of the plurality of media session attributes that include a plurality of session-dynamic attributes; and

computer-executable instructions for implementing a media policy enforcement point, coupled to the network and to the media policy decision point, wherein the instructions for implementing the media policy enforcement point, when executed by the at least one computer processor, cause the at least one computer processor to enforce the proper subset of the plurality of media-centric policies to control the one of the plurality of media sessions based on changes in the at least one of the media session attributes and the outcome of the distinguishing between the attributes.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computer-executable instructions for implementing the media policy enforcement point, when executed by the at least one computer processor, cause the at least one computer processor to enforce each of the proper subset of the plurality of media-centric policies by:

evaluating the logical expression to determine when the rule is satisfied;

performing the action associated with the rule when the rule is satisfied.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of media-centric policies further include a priority associated with the rule, and wherein the media policy enforcement point enforces each of the proper subset of the plurality of media-centric policies by:

evaluating the logical expression to determine when the rule is satisfied;

performing the action associated with the rule when the rule is satisfied, based on the priority associated with the rule.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computer-executable instructions for implementing the media policy decision point, when executed by the at least one computer processor, further cause the at least one computer processor to:

monitor the media session data to determine a change in at least one of the plurality of media session attributes during the one of the plurality of media sessions.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein computer-executable instructions for monitoring the media session data to determine the change in the at least one of the plurality of media session attributes further include computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one computer processor, cause the at least one computer processor to determine when at least one of the plurality of media session-static attributes has changed during the one of the plurality of media sessions.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein at least one of the plurality of session-static attributes has changed during one of the plurality of media sessions, the media policy decision point further includes computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one computer processor, cause the at least one computer processor to:

re-evaluate the plurality of media-centric policies to determine a new proper subset of the plurality of media-centric policies that apply to the one of the plurality of media sessions;

wherein the media policy enforcement point controls the one of the plurality of media sessions based on the changes in the at least one of the media session attributes by enforcing the new proper subset of the plurality of media-centric policies.

7. The system of claim 5 , wherein at least one of the plurality of session-static attributes has not changed and wherein at least one of the plurality of session-dynamic attributes has changed during the one of the plurality of media sessions, the media policy enforcement point includes computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one computer processor, cause the at least one computer processor to control the plurality of media sessions based on the changes in at least one of the media session attributes by:

evaluating an impact of the change in the at least one of the session-dynamic attributes on the proper subset of the plurality of media-centric policies; and

enforcing the proper subset of the plurality of media-centric policies based on the impact.

8. A method for use in a network connected to the Internet that provides streaming media in a plurality of media sessions between a media source connected to the Internet and a corresponding plurality of client devices connected to the network, the method comprising:

at least one computer processor receiving media session data corresponding to one of the plurality of media sessions:

the at least one computer processor determining a plurality of media session and non-media session attributes, based on the indication of the media session data;

the at least one computer processor evaluating a plurality of media-centric policies;

the at least one computer processor determining, based on evaluation of the plurality of media-centric policies, a proper subset of the plurality of media-centric policies that apply to the one of the plurality of media sessions;

distinguishing between attributes of the plurality of media session attributes that include a plurality of session-static attributes versus attributes of the plurality of media session attributes that include a plurality of session-dynamic attributes; and

enforcing the proper subset of the plurality of media-centric policies to control the one of the plurality of media sessions based on changes in the at least one of the media session attributes and the outcome of the distinguishing between the attributes.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

the at least one computer processor monitoring the media session data to determine a change in at least one of the plurality of media session attributes during the one of the plurality of media sessions.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the monitoring of the media session data to determine the change in at least one of the plurality of media session attributes further includes the at least one computer processor monitoring when the at least one of the plurality of session-static attributes has changed during the one of the plurality of media sessions.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein when the at least one of the plurality of session-static attributes has changed during the one of the plurality of media sessions, the method further comprises:

the at least one computer processor re-evaluating the plurality of media-centric policies to determine a new proper subset of the plurality of media-centric policies that apply to the one of the plurality of media sessions;

wherein controlling the one of the plurality of media sessions based on the changes in the at least one of the media session attributes includes enforcing the new proper subset of the plurality of media-centric policies.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein when the at least one of the plurality of session-static attributes has not changed and at least one of the plurality of session-dynamic attributes has changed during the one of the plurality of media sessions, controlling the one of the plurality of media sessions based on the changes in the at least one of the media session attributes includes:

the at least one computer processor evaluating an impact of the change in the at least one of the plurality of session-dynamic attributes on the proper subset of the plurality of media-centric policies; and

the at least one computer processor enforcing the proper subset of the plurality of media-centric policies based on the impact.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein each of the plurality of media-centric policies include:

a rule that includes a logical expression that defines when the rule is satisfied; and

an action, associated with the rule.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein each of the plurality of media-centric policies further include a priority associated with the rule, and wherein enforcing the proper subset of the plurality of media-centric policies includes, for each media-centric policy in the proper subset of the plurality of media-centric policies:

the at least one computer processor evaluating the logical expression to determine when the rule is satisfied; and

the at least one computer processor performing the action associated with the rule when the rule is satisfied, based on the priority associated with the rule.

15. A system for use in a network that provides streaming media in a plurality of media sessions between a media source and a corresponding plurality of client devices, the system comprising:

at least one computer processor;

at least one network interface under the control of the at least one computer processor; and

at least one memory, comprising computer-executable instructions to:

store a plurality of media-centric policies;

distinguish between attributes of the plurality of media session attributes of the streaming media that include a plurality of session-static attributes versus attributes of the plurality of media session attributes of the streaming media that include a plurality of session-dynamic attributes; and

enforce a proper subset of the plurality of media-centric policies to control the one of the plurality of media sessions based on changes in the at least one of the media session attributes and the outcome of the distinguishing between the attributes;

wherein the plurality of media-centric policies is evaluated, and the proper subset of the plurality of media-centric policies that apply to the one or the plurality of media sessions is determined based on evaluation of the plurality of media-centric policies as applied to media session data corresponding to the one of the plurality of media sessions,

wherein each of the plurality of media-centric policies includes:

a rule that includes a logical expression that defines when the rule is satisfied; and

an action, associated with the rule.