Smoothing and buffering for delivery of prerecorded compressed video

摘要

Abstract: The transportation of compressed video data generally requires the network to adapt to large fluctuations in bandwidth requirements if the quality of video is to remain constant. Techniques that use averaging for smoothing video data, such as those found in video conferences, allows for some smoothing at the expense of delay. With video-on-demand systems on the horizon, smoothing techniques for prerecorded video data are necessary for the efficient use of network resources. Simply extending algorithms that smooth via averaging for use in video playback cannot smooth the burstiness in bandwidth requirements without using large amounts of buffering. In this paper, we introduce the notion of critical bandwidth allocation which allows for the most effective use of buffering while allowing for long durations between bandwidth increase requests. A comparison between critical bandwidth allocation algorithms and other smoothing algorithms is presented.!8