A survey of schemes for Internet-based video delivery

Abstract

This survey looks at how traditional networking techniques (e.g., caching, traffic shaping, path diversity, and load balancing) have been adapted to address the needs of Internet-based video delivery. The stringent timing and relatively high bandwidth requirements of video traffic are taxing on best-effort networks and many video specific protocols and delivery methods have emerged over time in an attempt to mitigate network limitations. Video quality is directly tied to the underlying networks' ability to deliver data in time for playout. This paper surveys three classes of techniques which have been proposed for improving the quality of Internet delivered video: network load reduction, network interruption mitigation, and network load distribution. We discuss how each of these paradigms is applied within the different segments of the end-to-end video delivery system: by the server, in the network, or at the client, with a focus on how the underlying network conditions affect video quality optimization.