Method for adapting the downloading behavior of a client terminal configured, to receive multimedia content, and corresponding terminal

1. A method for adapting downloading behavior of a client terminal configured to receive a multimedia content from at least one server, at least one representation of said multimedia content being available, said method comprising, at said client terminal:

requesting a first part of said multimedia content with a given representation;

detecting whether a cache is located along a transmission path between the client terminal and a server, from the request of said first part; and

when the cache is detected, requesting a second part of said multimedia content with a representation depending on at least one performance criterion.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

estimating bandwidth of the transmission path between the client terminal and the detected cache.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein, according to said performance criterion, the requested second part of said multimedia content is defined by:

either the same representation as the first part stored in said detected cache, based on a result of the bandwidth estimation;

or an alternative representation taking into account the estimated bandwidth, said alternative representation being different from the representation of the first part.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the request of said second part comprises a piece of information understandable by said detected cache, so that, when said second part is not stored in the detected cache, the client terminal receives a message specifying that said second part is unavailable from said cache.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:

in case a downloading of said multimedia content from the detected cache meets at least one downloading criterion, requesting a further part of said multimedia content with a new representation, which differs from the representation of said first part.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein detecting the cache further comprises:

determining a round trip time for a connection establishment request from the client terminal to the server.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein detecting the cache further comprises:

measuring a reception delay between an emission of the request for the first part of the multimedia content and a beginning of reception of said requested first part.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein detecting the cache further comprises:

comparing the determined round trip time of the connection establishment request and the measured reception delay.

9. The method according to claim 7 , wherein detecting the cache further comprises:

measuring a response time between an emission of an echo request from the client terminal to the server and a reception of a response to said echo request; and

comparing the determined round trip time of the connection establishment request with the response time.

10. A client terminal configured to adapt a downloading behavior for receiving a multimedia content from at least one server, at least one representation of said multimedia content being available, comprising:

a processor communicatively coupled to a memory module and configured to receive multimedia content from at least one server;

a communication module for requesting a first part of said multimedia content with a given representation;

a cache detector for detecting when a cache is located along a transmission path between the client terminal and a server, from the request of said first part; and

a decision module for requesting, in case the cache is detected, a second part of said multimedia content with a representation depending on at least one performance criterion.

11. The client terminal according to claim 10 , further comprising a bandwidth estimator for estimating bandwidth of the transmission path between said client terminal and the detected cache.

12. The client terminal according to claim 10 , wherein, according to said performance criterion, the requested second part of said multimedia content is defined by:

either the same representation as the one of the first part stored in said detected cache, based on a result of the bandwidth estimation;

or an alternative representation taking into account the estimated bandwidth, said alternative representation being different from the representation of the first part.

13. The client terminal according to claim 10 , wherein the request of said second part comprises a piece of information understandable by said detected cache, so that, in case said second part is not stored in the detected cache, the client terminal receives a message specifying that said second part is unavailable from said cache.

14. The client terminal according to claim 10 , wherein the terminal is further configured to request a further part of said multimedia content with a new representation, which differs from the representation of said first part, in case the downloading of said multimedia content from the detected cache meets at least one downloading criterion.