FLOW-RATE ADAPTATION FOR A CONNECTION OF TIME-VARYING CAPACITY

摘要

A system and methods for adapting streaming data for transmission over aconnection of time-varying capacity are disclosed. A streaming serverindividuallyadapts transmission rates of signals directed to subtending clients accordingtomeasurements characterizing connections from the streaming server to theclients.The measurements may relate to characteristics such as transfer delay, data-lossfraction, and occupancy level of a buffer at a client's receiver. A flowcontrollerassociated with the streaming server derives metrics from measurements takenoverselected time windows to determine a permissible transmission rate from theserver toeach active client. Metrics related to a specific characteristic may include ameanvalue over a moving window as well as short and long term tendencies ofrespectivemeasurements. An adaptable encoder at the streaming server encodes signals tomeet permissible transmission rates.