Abstract
We introduce a specific transport and transmission scheme for video-on-demand (VoD) called constant-rate transmission and transport (CRTT). CRTT establishes a constant bit-rate (CBR) virtual channel between the video provider and the viewer's set-top box (STB) and then transmits cells from the provider into this channel at a constant rate. Since we assume that the number of cells in a frame is variable, CRTT requires that some number of cells be built up in an STB buffer before the commencement of playback. The build up, cell transmission rate, and the set-top memory size must be chosen so that there is no starvation or overflow at the STB. We develop fundamental relationships between these parameters for viable CRTT. We then apply the theory to an MPEG encoding of Star Wars and find that the minimal STB memory for CRTT is 23 Mbytes. We also consider varying the constant rate over a small number of intervals. We find, for example, that for Star Wars approximately 2 Mbytes of set-top memory suffices with 32 constant-rate intervals.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1087-1098 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 1996 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Computer Networks and Communications
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering