Mitigation of the Effects of Network Outage on Video QoE Using a Sender Buffer

Tahir Nawaz Minhas,Markus Fiedler

doi:10.3390/electronics10101209

Abstract

With the growth of multimedia applications and the mobile Internet, quality sense and quality expectation of the end-user are rising rapidly. A small notable distortion in the multimedia applications may degrade the degree of delight of the user, who is very considerate of the video Quality of Experience (QoE). During live streaming, a network outage may result in video freezes and video jumps. To dampen the impact of a network outage on the video QoE, we propose the use of a well-sized sender buffer. We present the concept, derive key analytical relations, and perform a set of subjective tests. Based on those, we report a significant enhancement of user ratings due to the proposed sender buffer in the presence of network outages.

Highlights

The use of multimedia applications is tremendously increasing with the rapid growth of wireless and mobile wireless Internet
We propose a solution by using a sender buffer for the live video stream to diminish the impact of the network outages, which may be the result of the delay, hand-off, or any other network interruption, on video Quality of Experience (QoE)
Subjective Results We performed a subjective test to study the impact of the sender buffer on the video

Summary

Introduction

The use of multimedia applications is tremendously increasing with the rapid growth of wireless and mobile wireless Internet. Mobile devices, such as smartphones, pads, and laptops, are capable of connecting to the Internet via mobile (e.g., 3G, 4G, or 5G) and wireless (Wi-Fi) interfaces. Mobile devices are continuously improving in terms of computing capabilities and power, data speed, and screen resolution. This exposure strengthens the quality sense of the user, and she expects a good Quality of Experience (QoE), describing the degree of delight or annoyance of a user’s experience with a service [1]. Live video transmission may undergo QoE degradation due to interruptions such as video freezes, jumps, and misses

Results

Discussion

Conclusion