Rate-constrained bandwidth smoothing for the delivery of stored video

Bandwidth smoothing techniques for the delivery of compressed prerecorded video have been shown effective in removing the burstiness required for the continuous playback of stored video. Given a fixed client-side buffer, several bandwidth smoothing algorithms have been introduced that are provably optimal under certain constraints. These algorithms, however, may be too aggressive in the amount of data that they prefetch, making it more difficult to support VCR functions that are required for interactive video-on-demand systems. In this paper, we introduce a rate-constrained bandwidth smoothing algorithm for the delivery of stored video that, given a fixed maximum bandwidth rate minimizes both the smoothing buffer requirement as well as the buffer residency requirements. By minimizing the buffer residency times, the clients and servers can remain more tightly coupled making VCR functions easier to support. A comparison between the rate-constrained bandwidth smoothing algorithm and other bandwidth smoothing algorithms is presented using a compressed full-length movie.