GB2600400A - A system controller for supporting media delivered into a telecommunications network from wearable devices - Google Patents

Abstract

A system controller to support media delivered from a wearable device over a network. The system controller 101 able to select a set of virtualised resources for compute, network and storage from a physical infrastructure 103 and to dynamically generate a slice containing virtualised functions 113-119. The functions include a gateway function, a switching function, an application manager and a measurement function. The system controller may also comprise a machine learning component that interprets a received media stream and delivers it to a user equipment, 105. The measurement function may be used to measure traffic capacity from a user equipment to a network and to indicate preferred meta parameters for encoding of media. The invention may be used for media streaming in the field of medicine. For example, the wearable device may be a head-mounted camera worn by a paramedic and used to capture a video stream of a patient being treated. The video stream may then be delivered in real-time to a remote medical expert for consultation and assistance.

Description

"A system controller for supporting media delivered into a telecommunications network from wearable devices"

Introduction

This invention relates to a system controller, a computer-implemented method and a computer program product for supporting media delivered into a telecommunications network from wearable devices.

Wearable devices such as body cams and the like have a plethora of practical applications in numerous disparate fields. For example, one area that has exciting possibilities for the application of wearable devices is the field of medicine and the provision of medical care remotely. A wearable device may be worn by a paramedic during the course of their activities and used to capture a video stream of a patient that they are treating. That video stream may be delivered, in real time, to an expert in medical trauma care, located remotely, who may then assist the paramedic in the appropriate treatment of the patient. Alternatively, a patient may be able to have a consultation with their general practitioner (GP) using their mobile telephone to convey images, video, audio and data to their GP. These are only two non-limiting examples of applications of wearable devices in the field of medicine and it will be understood that there are many other applications in this and other areas.

There is however a problem with the current methods and systems for supporting media delivered into a telecommunications network from wearable devices. First of all, the content, often high-resolution video content, requires a significant amount of bandwidth to convey from the wearable device to the recipient in real time. The existing telecommunications networks have difficulty keeping up with the bandwidth requirement, bottlenecks form in the radio access network, and the result is an unreliable or unsatisfactory service with picture outages, glitches and in the worst cases, signal failure or inability to provide the service.

Various solutions have been proposed to these problems. For example, one solution is to provide a dedicated portion of the available network bandwidth for these services. However, this results in redundancy and a poor use of the available network resources. -2 -

Furthermore, the proposed solutions are expensive and are still rigidly bound by the bandwidth available to them, with no room to prioritise certain feeds over others or to dynamically allocate resources. Finally, the proposed solutions are prone to attack from eavesdroppers and there are significant security concerns regarding the transmission of sensitive content over these offerings.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a system controller, a computer implemented method and a computer program product that overcome at least some of these difficulties. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a useful alternative choice for the consumer.

Statements of Invention

According to the invention there is provided a system controller for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network, the system controller comprising: means to select a set of virtualized resources for one or more of network, compute and storage resources from a physical infrastructure; means to dynamically generate a slice containing a virtualized set of one or more of a compute, a network and a storage function; and in which the functions include one or more of a gateway function, a switching function, an application manager and a measurement function.

By having such a system controller, the system controller can create a slice including the supporting infrastructure for managing the media stream of the wearable device dynamically, in real time, per conversation. This will lead to a more secure offering with enhanced privacy. Furthermore, this will allow the scheduler to aggregate the available resources, guarantee the availability of resources and to prioritize certain media feeds if desired. Redundancy is avoided and costs of providing the service are decreased.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a system controller for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network in which the system controller comprises a machine learning component and means to apply a -3 -machine learning technique to a received media stream, interpret the received media stream and deliver the interpreted media stream to a UE.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a system controller for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network in which the functions include an encryption function. This will further enhance the security of the service and will provide the desired level of privacy that one would require for sensitive information.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a system controller for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network in which the application manager comprises a set of software services including one or more of: (i) port assignment service; (ii) authentication service; (Hi) inventory management service; (iv) stream management service; and (v) event dispatching service. This configuration will enable the service to be delivered in a simple yet effective manner. The system controller will have a global view of the available resources and will be able to route communications efficiently through the network.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a system controller for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network in which the functions include a media server function. In this way, the media server can deliver the content from a wearable device to multiple end user devices. This may be useful in the case of a situation that requires multiple disciplines and the input of many different individuals. Furthermore, this will allow the feed to be delivered to multiple addresses so that one of the addresses will have an expert available to attend to the media feed.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a system controller for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network in which the functions include a storage function. In certain embodiments, it may be desirable to store the content of the wearable media stream. For example, (in a medical field application example), the content could be an electrocardiograph (ECG), a video/picture of a wound, a rash or other condition, or indeed other health data from a wearable device monitoring one or more physical properties of a patient. That data can be stored by the storage function in a medical record of the patient. Similarly, the storage function could store the -4 -physician's notes on the condition. The content could be made available for a second opinion by storing the content for subsequent review by another medical professional.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a system controller for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network in which the functions include a resource request function. The resource request function will allow the resources to be apportioned as required and for the resources to be managed more effectively.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a system controller for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network in which the application manager stores a digital identification mark associated with each of a plurality of user devices.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a system controller for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network in which there is provided means to establish an encrypted tunnel with identified end point addresses.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a system controller for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network in which the system controller is provided with means to augment a media stream to or from a user equipment (UE) device.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a system controller for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network in which the measurement function is provided with means to measure the traffic capacity from a UE to the network and indicate preferred meta parameters for the encoding of the media. This is seen as a useful embodiment of the invention. By measuring the traffic capacity from a UE to the network, it is possible to determine the preferred parameters for encoding the media so that the best available format may be used. Furthermore, this will provide a more robust offering that is less prone to glitches and failure. It will further provide a more effective use of network resources. -5 -

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a system controller for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network in which the system controller has means to select a preferred network from a plurality of networks available to a UE based on a network evaluation carried out by the UE. This is also seen as a useful collaborative approach that may be used to provide the most effective and robust transmission of content between the end users. The UE can evaluate the available networks as they experience them, and the network that offers the best possible service to the UE can be used.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a system controller for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network in which the system controller comprises an artificial intelligence component and means to apply the artificial intelligence component to a received media stream.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network comprising the steps of: selecting a set of virtualized resources for one or more of network, compute and storage resources from a physical infrastructure: dynamically generating a slice containing a virtualized set of one or more of a compute, a network and a storage functions, in which the functions include one or more of a gateway function, a switching function, an application manager and a measurement function.

Again, by having such a computer implemented method, the method can create a slice including the supporting infrastructure for managing the media stream of the wearable device dynamically, in real time, per conversation. This will lead to a more secure offering with enhanced privacy. Furthermore, this will allow the method to aggregate the available resources, guarantee the availability of resources and to prioritize certain media feeds if desired. Redundancy is avoided and costs of providing the service are decreased.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network in which the method comprises the step of applying a machine learning -6 -technique to a received media stream, interpreting the received media stream and delivering the interpreted media stream to a UE.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network in which the gateway function is operable to receive data packets from a set of UE sources.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network in which the method comprises the step of an encryption function encrypting data packets coming from and going to UE.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network in which the switching function is operable to forward data packet traffic between tunnel endpoints.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network in which the application manager is operable to assign port numbers whereby media is sent and/or received and correlated to source and destination addresses.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network in which the application manager is operable to authenticate UE.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network in which the application manager is operable to manage inventory by correlating UE to resources.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications -7 -network in which the application manager is operable to manage the media stream to or from a UE In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network in which the application manager is operable to perform event dispatching.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network in which the method comprises the step of a media server function receiving media from a UE and distributing that media to a plurality of endpoints.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network in which the method comprises the step of a storage function storing the media.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network in which the method comprises the step of a resource request function requesting a quantum of network resources.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network in which the measurement function is operable to measure traffic capacity from the UE to the network.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network in which the measurement function is operable to indicate meta parameters for the encoding of media.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications -8 -network in which the measurement function is operable to report the measured traffic capacity as perceived slice condition.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network in which the method comprises the step of defining a digital identification (ID) mark for a wearable UE device and storing that ID in the UE and in the application manager function.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network in which encryption keys are exchanged over a data communications network with a remote device capable of presenting visual and or audio media, and correlated with a specific ID and encryption software function.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network in which an encryption tunnel is established with identified endpoint addresses.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network in which the method comprises the step of selecting a preferred network from a plurality of networks available to a UE based on a network evaluation carried out by the UE.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network in which the method comprises the step of augmenting a media stream to or from a user equipment (UE) device.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network in which the method comprises the initial step of receiving metadata from a UE. -9 -

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network in which the method comprises the step of applying a artificial intelligence technique to a received media stream, and interpreting the received media stream.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a computer program product having program instructions that when loaded on a computing device, cause the computing device to perform one or more of the steps of the method.

Detailed Description of the Invention

The invention will now be more clearly understood from the following description of some embodiments thereof given by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:-Figure 1 is a diagrammatic representation of the system controller and computer implemented method according to the invention; Figure 2 is a more detailed diagrammatic representation of the system controller according to the invention; Figure 3 is a diagrammatic representation of the transfer of encryption keys; Figure 4 is a diagrammatic representation of the provision of digital IDs; Figure 5 is a diagrammatic representation of the transfer of media; Figure 6 is a diagrammatic representation of network selection; Figure 7 is a diagrammatic representation of apparatus for use with the method; Figure 8 is a diagrammatic representation of the processing of the received media; and -10 -Figure 9 is a diagrammatic representation of the manner in which artificial intelligence may be incorporated into the system controller and computer implemented method according to the invention.

Referring to Figure 1, there is shown a diagrammatic representation of the system controller and components for the computer implemented method according to the invention, indicated generally by the reference numeral 100. There is provided a data communications systems controller 101 for dynamically virtually deploying functions into a telecommunications network 103, to support media delivered from wearable devices 105 (only one of which, user equipment (UE), is shown). The virtually deployed functions are illustrated by way of a slice 107. The user devices initiate the request by sending metadata 109 to the system controller 101.

In use, in an initial set-up step, a requestor UE 105 signals to an orchestrator, in this case the systems controller 101, that it would like a virtualised configuration of computer network and storage functions. The UE 105 provides meta data 109 to enable the building thereof The signal controller 101 dynamically selects a set of virtualised resources for network, compute and storage from a physical infrastructure 103 consisting of compute, network and storage functions and creates/produces a slice 107.

The slice 107 is a virtualized set of compute, network and storage functions.

In a variant of the initial step, the UE 105 may signal to the system controller 101 a different meta data set which modifies the virtualised resources for one or more of a network, a compute and a storage requirement producing a modified slice 107. In another variant, the UE 105 may signal to the system controller 101 to terminate a slice 107 that is already in existence.

Referring now to Figure 2, in a first step, a number of software functions 111, 113, 115, 117, 119, 121, 123, 125 are deployed in a physical or virtualised system 103. A first gateway function 123 has the function to receive data packets from a set of sources (user equipment) 105(a), 105(b) whereby the end points can be identified by addresses. An encryption function (not shown) exists to encrypt data packets coming from and going to the user equipment. The encryption may be implemented at the session level dynamically per event or based on tunnels which can operate over multiple sessions on a longer time cycle.

A second software function, a switching function 121 forwards data packet traffic between the tunnel endpoints and other software control functions. Additional switching functions are concatenated together to make a network. This function may be provided as native by the implementation of the slice in the initialization step, or via dedicated physical hardware or software switching functions, or via a combination of both.

A third software function, an application manager 113, is composed by a set of software services including: (i) a service that has a function which assigns port numbers whereby media is sent/received and corelates them to source and destination address where media is sent and received and meta data describing the media; (ii) a service that has a function for Authentication of users and/or user equipment to obtain access to resources in the slice; (iii) a service that has a function for Inventory management, corelating user identifications to resources; (iv) a service that has a function for Stream Management; and (v) a service that has a function for Event dispatching.

A fourth software control function, a Media Server 115 has the function to receive media from one endpoint 105(a) and distributes it to multiple endpoints. A fifth software control function, a storage function 117, has the function to store the media in a permanent storage. This is optional if desired. A sixth software function control, a resource request 111 has the function to request a quantum of network resources. Again, this is optional. A seventh software control function, a measurement function 125 measures the traffic capacity from the UE (105(a)) to the network and indicates preferred meta parameters for the encoding of the media for a particular measurement. This function optionally reports to the slice framework the current measured data as perceived slice conditions.

Referring generally to Figures 3 to 5 inclusive, in other steps, a digital identification (ID) mark 201 is defined and stored in a wearable device 105 with attached media sensors 203 and packet radio functions 205 and which is attached to the body of person. The same digital identification mark is stored in the application manager software function 113. In a variant of the second step a digital identification (ID) mark 201 is defined and stored in a device (non-wearable) with media sensors and packet radio functions and which is not attached to the body of person. The same digital identification mark is stored -12 -in the application software function 113. In a fourth step (as illustrated in Figure 3), keys 301, 303 are exchanged over a data communications network with a device 105(b) with the capability to present visual or acoustic media and correlated with a specific digital identification mark and an encryption software function in order to establish encrypted data and media. In a fifth step keys 301, 303 are exchanged over a data communications network between the device in the previous step, with a specific digital identification mark and the encryption software function in order to establish an encrypted tunnel with identified endpoint addresses.

In a sixth step a stimulus is received from a device 105(a) and media is sent to any function or device 105(b) with an address in the slice via the switching functions 121. In one sub part of this step the media is sent to a device 105(b) with a presentation capability for visual or acoustic media. In another one sub part of this step the media is sent to the media server 115 with multiparty distribution. The multiparty distribution function distributes the media to any requesting function or device 105(b). In another one sub part of this step any media from the media server can be sent to a wearable display device 105(a) enabling the wearable to have their reality augmented with the media from the media server. In another one sub part of this step the media is sent to the storage function 117 with storage capability and stored. In another one sub part of this step the measurement function 125 suggests a preferred set of encoding values for media. In another optional sub part of this step the resource request function 111 requests, based on meta data for the media a requested quantum of resources. In another one sub part of this step the characteristics of the media are based on the settings of the meta data in the applications function 115. In a seventh step, a stimulus is received from a device or function which terminates any process initiated by the previous sixth step.

Referring now to Figure 6, in an optional variation step, in a network 600 there is a choice of two or more radio access networks 601, 603. In a first step, a process in UE 105 checks the radio conditions to network 1. This may include checking one or more of: the SINR -signal-to-noise ratio; the RSRP -average power received from a single Reference signal; the RSRQ -Indicates quality of the received signal; the PCI -Physical cell identity; and generates meta data with thresholds to indicate whether the measure value for each is considered good or bad. It will be understood that other radio network -13 -performance data that is available may also be used in the analysis of the preferred network if desired In the following step, the UE checks the radio conditions of network 2 (a check of a 3rd network and any other networks, if available, is carried out). In the next step, a process in UE 105 determines the best signal and the preferred network and in the following step, a process in UE (105) signals to "resource request mother" 605, the preferred network. In the following step, a process in the resource request mother 605 selects the resource request engine 111 for the preferred network (network 1, network 2 or other).

Alternatively, the Resource Request may be sent to the system controller 101. In a following step, a process in Resource Request engine 111 selects a traffic treatment indicator and quantum for the bandwidth from the UE 105 to the network.

Referring now to Figure 7, in one embodiment, a camera 701 is mechanically attached using attachment 703 (which may be a hat, headband or like device) to the head 711 of a user, enabling the captured image to follow the orientation of the head of the user and be optimally positioned to observe the same scene as the person wearing the camera. In one embodiment, the camera 701 fixed into the UE is an internal smartphone camera of a smartphone 705. This can be used if the video image from the head mounted camera is not available or simply as an alternative to a head mounted camera. In another embodiment, a camera mounted on a different part of the body may be included. In one embodiment, a microphone 707 and a speaker 709 may be mounted on the user's head to receive audio signal from the user and digitise it in order to send to a distant receiver.

In another embodiment, the audio is connected to a radio gateway to a terrestrial radio network for interoperation with devices that have a terrestrial radio network audio. In a further embodiment, software functions are automatically deployed to the virtual slice or to the physical infrastructure. Various modifications may be made to the embodiments hereinbefore described without departing from the invention as claimed. It is envisaged that distribution of visual information from an Android camera, a smartphone camera, a head-mounted camera, a chest-mounted camera, a thermal camera and/or an ultrasound sensor may be useful embodiments.

-14 -Referring now to Figure 8, in one embodiment, machine learning algorithms 800 are applied to the received media 801 and interpreted. The interpretation 803 is made available to a user (not shown).

The machine learning may be applied to the received media in a number of different ways, to a number of different formats including (i) Audio; (ii) Video; and (iii) Audio and Video together.

For audio, the machine learning algorithms and techniques will listen to audio from 999 voice channels and/or paramedic voice channels and will carry out one or more of the following steps: (1) look for key words and key word sequences which have a pattern; (2) check keywords and patterns based on training data with associated learning function; (3) provide one or more of: advance Information; patient record data; and recommendations.

For video, the machine learning algorithms and techniques will look for video segments which have an image pattern that is highly corelated with training data and will carry out one or more of the steps of: (1) check image pattern based on training data with associated learning function. Blending of audio key words into the image pattern to further qualify the relevance of the image. Select patterns which have highest correlation to training data; (2) based on selected patterns and data, advance signal to hospital the expected arriving conditions; (3) provide one or more of Advance Information; Patient Record data; and Recommendations.

For video and audio together, the machine learning algorithms and techniques will carry out blending of audio key words and video salience to categorise/clarify further the situation and conduct advance signalling to the parties of the emergency situation; and thereafter will provide one or more of: Advance Information; Patient Record data; and Recommendations.

The outcomes of the machine learning algorithm applications are as follows: (1) Advance information -Based on data, provide advance information to hospital, or other clinical department the expected arriving conditions (e.g. type, severe, (severity type and grade), medium, mild, null);and/or to provide guidance for medical system resource allocation to -15 -fast track patient to the appropriate facility and preparation of said facility to receive patient. Be ready to provide treatment with optimum efficiency based on advance information. (e.g. type, severe, (severity type and grade), medium, mild, null). (2) Patient Record data -Select image/audio transcript data for patient record and other storage; and/or Select patterns which have highest correlation to training data as candidates to store in the patient record. (3) Recommendations -based on learned outcome suggest one or more of (i) guidance to the operator; (ii) diagnosis to the operator; and (iii) treatment to the operator.

This invention integrates the necessary functions of data encryption, data packet switching, application control, mulfipoint distribution, storage, resource request and measurement into a virtualised system. The virtualised system, consisting of a virtualised network, compute and storage functions is called slice. This slice has all the necessary ingredients to support multimedia service delivery from wearable devices over packet networks to users at an end point in a connected network. One benefit of this integration is economy of scale in supporting groups of customers. In essence, the physical infrastructure provided by the telecommunications network provider is used optimally. It is envisaged that there will be an application programming interface (API) for the end users that will allow them to share and receive content and manage that content in a secure, reliable manner.

The system controller is able to implement a dynamic slice either on a network mesh/node basis or on a point to point basis whereby network resources are dynamically allocated for an event. One example application would entail a wearable device, worn by a medical professional or other person serving at a medical emergency, may arrive and request service at any geographic location and this is a driving force for the dynamic nature of the system. The slices are set up dynamically at any instant in time and they can be removed at any point in time.

In order to allocate resources in a wired network, a number of different techniques may be used including: (i) using a selection of expedited forwarding wherein all packets marked for expedited forwarding are scheduled before other packets; (i) using weighted scheduling whereby a scheduler will service one queue or packets of a certain class type according to a weight compared to packets of a different class type; (Hi) using typical -16 -class definition methods in wired networks are diffserv code points (DSCP) which define how a packet should be treated; (iv) in a wired network the system can select a quantum of bandwidth, implemented in a scheduler necessary to service the data traffic target.

In order to allocate resources in a radio network, a number of alternative techniques may be used including: (i) in a radio network, a Quality of service (QoS) Class Identifier (QC!) determine how a bearer resource should be treated; (ii) resource blocks are available in a radio network. The quantum of resources in a block is determined by the underlying radio physics (e.g. width of spectrum in MHz, modulation type, noise levels, power levels); (iii) different QC! traffic classes can receive different quantum of resource blocks according to a determined scheduling algorithm; (iv) in a radio network, the system can select a quantum of resource blocks, implemented in a scheduler necessary to service the data traffic target.

The above paragraphs describe the method in which resources may be allocated. The method according to the present invention is to signal to a network controller, or a network manager (e.g. EPC:-evolved packet core) which manages the network controller. In an open loop control method, the method is to define a bearer, (or a path from the User Equipment to the packet gateway) and then allocate a quantum of resources to the bearer. In a closed loop control method, the method is to define a bearer and then, based on radio conditions and/or measured service performance, allocate a quantum of resource such that the service receives the target set point bitrate. A ranking would be applied (e.g. using QC! method or similar) to differentiate this priority emergency service from other services. In both the open loop method and closed loop method, resources would be acquired from a pool of unused resources or from a lower ranking user's resource allocation.

There are a number of shortcomings with the existing offerings that prevent them from creating slices dynamically in the manner described above. The existing offerings are also not linked to user equipment that is worn, whereby the equipment can automatically ask the network to provide the resources necessary for the service. For example, the method could ask for service levels to match the service level of, for example, a 4K video. This "ask" would be on a per connection, and/or a per event, basis.

-17 -Referring now to Figure 9, there is shown a diagrammatic representation of the manner in which artificial intelligence may be incorporated into the system controller and computer implemented method according to the present invention. The system is operable to use an audio video (media) salience engine, indicated by the reference numeral 900, coupled with a triage algorithm 901 to provide advance signaling information 903 to the heathcare system. Alternatively or in addition, the system is operable to use the audio video (media) salience engine 900 coupled with the triage algorithm 901 to provide a selection of media options 905 which a health care professional can incorporate into a patient record 907.

As inputs, the salience engine 900 may receive one or more of audio from a 999/112 or similar emergency call, video from a 999/112 or similar emergency call, audio/video from a paramedic video, and other audio/video sources related to an emergency scene. In order to provide the advance signalling to the healthcare system, the salience engine may garner key words and/or still or moving images which indicate the nature of the event. In order to populate the patient record, the salience engine will garner triage words and/or still or moving image segments which describe the event and should be retained in the patient records. It is envisaged that there will be provided means 99 to allow reviewing, selecting and adding data to selected media for storage in the patient record.

In this specification the terms "comprise, comprises, comprised and comprising" and the terms "include, includes, included and including" are all deemed interchangeable and should be afforded the widest possible interpretation.

The invention is not solely limited to the embodiments hereinbefore described but may be varied in both construction and detail within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims (1)

1. -18 -Claims: (1) A system controller for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network, the system controller comprising: means to select a set of virtualized resources for one or more of network, compute and storage resources from a physical infrastructure; means to dynamically generate a slice containing a virtualized set of one or more of a compute, a network, and a storage function; and in which the functions include one or more of a gateway function, a switching function, an application manager and a measurement function.(2) A system controller for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network as claimed in claim 1 in which the system controller comprises a machine learning component and means to apply a machine learning technique to a received media stream, interpret the received media stream and deliver the interpreted media stream to a UE.(3) A system controller for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network as claimed in claim 1 or 2 in which the functions include an encryption function.(4) A system controller for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network as claimed in any preceding claim in which the application manager comprises a set of software services including one or more of: (i) port assignment service; (ii) authentication service; (iii) inventory management service; (iv) stream management service; and (v) event dispatching service.(5) A system controller for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network as claimed in any preceding claim in which the functions include a media server function.-19 -(6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) A system controller for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network as claimed in any preceding claim in which the functions include a storage function.A system controller for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network as claimed in any preceding claim in which the functions include a resource request function.A system controller for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network as claimed in any preceding claim in which the application manager stores a digital identification mark associated with each of a plurality of user devices.A system controller for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network as claimed in any preceding claim in which there is provided means to establish an encrypted tunnel with identified end point addresses.A system controller for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network as claimed in any preceding claim in which the system controller is provided with means to augment a media stream to or from a user equipment (UE) device.A system controller for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network as claimed in any preceding claim in which the measurement function is provided with means to measure the traffic capacity from a UE to the network and indicate preferred meta parameters for the encoding of the media.A system controller for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network as claimed in any preceding claim in which the system controller has means to select a preferred network from a plurality of networks available to a UE based on a network evaluation carried out by the UE.-20 -(13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (18) A system controller for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network as claimed in any preceding claim in which the system controller comprises an artificial intelligence component and means to apply the artificial intelligence component to a received media stream.A computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network comprising the steps of: selecting a set of virtualized resources for one or more of network, compute and storage resources from a physical infrastructure; dynamically generating a slice containing a virtualized set of one or more of a compute, a network and a storage function, in which the functions include one or more of a gateway function, a switching function, an application manager and a measurement function.A computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network as claimed in claim 14 in which the method comprises the step of applying a machine learning technique to a received media stream, interpreting the received media stream and delivering the interpreted media stream to a UE.A computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network as claimed in claim 14 or 15 in which the gateway function is operable to receive data packets from a set of UE sources.A computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network as claimed in any one of claims 14 to 16 in which the method comprises the step of an encryption function encrypting data packets coming from and going to UE.A computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network as claimed in any one of claims 14 to 17 in which the switching function is operable to forward data packet traffic between tunnel endpoints. -21 -(19) A computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network as claimed in any one of claims 14 to 18 in which the application manager is operable to assign port numbers whereby media is sent and/or received and correlated to source and destination addresses.A computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network as claimed in any one of claims 14 to 19 in which the application manager is operable to authenticate UE.A computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network in any one of claims 14 to 20 in which the application manager is operable to manage inventory by correlating UE to resources.A computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network as claimed in any one of claims 14 to 21 in which the application manager is operable to manage the media stream to or from a UE.A computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network as claimed in any one of claims 14 to 22 in which the application manager is operable to perform event dispatching.A computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network as claimed in any one of claims 14 to 23 in which the method comprises the step of a media server function receiving media from a UE and distributing that media to a plurality of endpoints.A computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network as claimed in any one of claims 14 to 24 in which the method comprises the step of a storage function storing the media. (20) (21) (22) (23) (24) (25)-22 -(26) (27) (28) (29) (30) (31) A computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network as claimed in any one of claims 14 to in which the method comprises the step of a resource request function requesting a quantum of network resources.A computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network as claimed in any one of claims 14 to 26 in which the measurement function is operable to measure traffic capacity from the UE to the network.A computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network as claimed in claim 27 in which the measurement function is operable to indicate meta parameters for the encoding of media.A computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network as claimed in claim 27 or 28 in which the measurement function is operable to report the measured traffic capacity as perceived slice condition.A computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network as claimed in any one of claims 14 to 28 in which the method comprises the step of defining a digital identification (ID) mark for a wearable UE device and storing that ID in the UE and in the application manager function.A computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network as claimed in any one of claims 14 to 30 in which encryption keys are exchanged over a data communications network with a remote device capable of presenting visual and or audio media, and correlated with a specific ID and encryption software function.-23 -(32) (33) (34) (35) (36) (37) A computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network as claimed claim 31 in which an encryption tunnel is established with identified endpoint addresses.A computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network as claimed in any one of claims 14 to 32 in which the method comprises the step of selecting a preferred network from a plurality of networks available to a UL based on a network evaluation carried out by the UE.A computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network as claimed in any one of claims 14 to 33 in which the method comprises the step of augmenting a media stream to or from a user equipment (UE) device.A computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network as claimed in any one of claims 14 to 34 in which the method comprises the initial step of receiving metadata from a UE.A computer implemented method for supporting media delivered from a wearable device over a telecommunications network as claimed in any one of claims 14 to in which the method comprises the step of applying a artificial intelligence technique to a received media stream, and interpreting the received media stream.A computer program product having program instructions that when loaded on a computing device, cause the computing device to perform one or more of the steps of claims 14 to 36.