Resource Allocation for Stored Video Delivery with Rate Availability Function

Abstract

Resource allocation for serving real-time video data with a significant multiple-time-scale bit-rate variability is complicated. In past years, different approaches were proposed to shape VBR (variable-bit-rate) video streams as smooth transmission schedules for efficient delivery. In [1], a linear-time method was proposed to construct transmission schedules with not only minimal client buffer and delay but also maximal bandwidth utilization. However, as many previous methods, it only considered the peak rate of schedule in resource allocation. In a real network, its available rate is time-varying and usually represented by a piecewise-linear function called rate availability function (RAF). Previous methods those base on peak rate, instead of RAF, to construct transmission schedules would waste system resources in allocation. In this paper, we extend the algorithm proposed in [1] to consider RAF and explore how the available bandwidth can be used most effectively toward minimizing playback delay and client buffer requirements. The optimality of our approach is formally established.