Rate-Adaptive Merging as a Technique for Efficient Resource Utilization in Video-on-Demand Servers

To improve resource utilization, the concept of “virtual channels” has been suggested by Venkatesh and Little [1]. Under this model each user has a virtual channel, and one or more virtual channels are mapped to one physical channel. If two users are watching the same movie, they will be occupying two virtual channels. However, if they are at the same point in the movie, their virtual channels can be mapped onto a single physical channel, thereby releasing the resources associated with the other physical channel.