An integrated source transcoding and congestion control paradigm for video streaming in the Internet

Abstract

In this work we present an end-to-end optimized video streaming system comprising of synergistic interaction between a source packetization strategy and an efficient and responsive, TCP-friendly congestion control protocol [Linear Increase Multiplicative Decrease with History (LIMD/H)]. The proposed source packetization scheme transforms a scalable/layered video bitstream so as to provide graceful resilience to network packet drops. The congestion control mechanism provides low variation in transmission rate in steady state and at the same time is reactive and provably TCP-friendly. While the two constituent algorithms identified above are novel in their own right, a key aspect of this work is the integration of these algorithms in a simple yet effective framework. This "application-transport" layer interaction approach is used to maximize the expected delivered video quality at the receiver. The integrated framework allows our system to gracefully tolerate and quickly react to sudden changes in the available connection capacity due to the onset of congestion, as verified in our simulations.