Single - loop packet merging for receiver - oriented

For the transport of multicast video, the use of multi-layered coding is one of the most promising techniques. To avoid feedback implosion at the source due to the control packets returned by the receivers, the network has to implement packet merging at intermediate nodes. We propose in this paper the direct algorithm that performs the merging procedure in only one loop. This algorithm is optimized to achieve better video quality at heterogeneous receivers and results in less bandwidth requirements. We also propose the direct algorithm with virtual number of layers. In this case, the intermediate nodes consider that the source can transmit more than the actual number of layers. The results show that these algorithms lead to greater global \level of satisfaction" at the destinations.