US Patent 7558869 Rate adaptation method and device in multimedia streaming

A method for the client in a multimedia streaming network to control the receiver buffer fullness by way of effectively shifting the transmission clock in the server who provides streaming data to the client. In order to avoid buffer underflow or overflow, the client sends a message to the server requesting the shift of the transmission clock either forward or backward depending on whether the client wants to increase or decrease the receiver buffer. Based on the message, the server adjusts the data transmission amount by effectively shifting its transmission clock. The request from the client can be sent through RTCP or RTSP.