19 research outputs found
Streaming Video over HTTP with Consistent Quality
In conventional HTTP-based adaptive streaming (HAS), a video source is
encoded at multiple levels of constant bitrate representations, and a client
makes its representation selections according to the measured network
bandwidth. While greatly simplifying adaptation to the varying network
conditions, this strategy is not the best for optimizing the video quality
experienced by end users. Quality fluctuation can be reduced if the natural
variability of video content is taken into consideration. In this work, we
study the design of a client rate adaptation algorithm to yield consistent
video quality. We assume that clients have visibility into incoming video
within a finite horizon. We also take advantage of the client-side video
buffer, by using it as a breathing room for not only network bandwidth
variability, but also video bitrate variability. The challenge, however, lies
in how to balance these two variabilities to yield consistent video quality
without risking a buffer underrun. We propose an optimization solution that
uses an online algorithm to adapt the video bitrate step-by-step, while
applying dynamic programming at each step. We incorporate our solution into
PANDA -- a practical rate adaptation algorithm designed for HAS deployment at
scale.Comment: Refined version submitted to ACM Multimedia Systems Conference
(MMSys), 201
Optimized Adaptive Streaming Representations based on System Dynamics
Adaptive streaming addresses the increasing and heterogenous demand of
multimedia content over the Internet by offering several encoded versions for
each video sequence. Each version (or representation) has a different
resolution and bit rate, aimed at a specific set of users, like TV or mobile
phone clients. While most existing works on adaptive streaming deal with
effective playout-control strategies at the client side, we take in this paper
a providers' perspective and propose solutions to improve user satisfaction by
optimizing the encoding rates of the video sequences. We formulate an integer
linear program that maximizes users' average satisfaction, taking into account
the network dynamics, the video content information, and the user population
characteristics. The solution of the optimization is a set of encoding
parameters that permit to create different streams to robustly satisfy users'
requests over time. We simulate multiple adaptive streaming sessions
characterized by realistic network connections models, where the proposed
solution outperforms commonly used vendor recommendations, in terms of user
satisfaction but also in terms of fairness and outage probability. The
simulation results further show that video content information as well as
network constraints and users' statistics play a crucial role in selecting
proper encoding parameters to provide fairness a mong users and to reduce
network resource usage. We finally propose a few practical guidelines that can
be used to choose the encoding parameters based on the user base
characteristics, the network capacity and the type of video content
Improved DASH Architecture for Quality Cloud Video Streaming in Automated Systems
In modern times, multimedia streaming systems that transmit video across a channel primarily use HTTP services as a delivery component. Encoding the video for all quality levels is avoided thanks to fuzzy based encoders' ability to react to network changes. Additionally, the system frequently uses packet priority assignment utilising a linear error model to enhance the dynamic nature of DASH without buffering. Based on a fuzzy encoder, the decision of video quality is made in consideration of the bandwidth available. This is a component of the MPEG DASH encoder. The Fuzzy DASH system seeks to increase the scalability of online video streaming, making it suitable for live video broadcasts through mobile and other devices
Optimized Packet Scheduling in Multiview Video Navigation Systems
In multiview video systems, multiple cameras generally acquire the same scene
from different perspectives, such that users have the possibility to select
their preferred viewpoint. This results in large amounts of highly redundant
data, which needs to be properly handled during encoding and transmission over
resource-constrained channels. In this work, we study coding and transmission
strategies in multicamera systems, where correlated sources send data through a
bottleneck channel to a central server, which eventually transmits views to
different interactive users. We propose a dynamic correlation-aware packet
scheduling optimization under delay, bandwidth, and interactivity constraints.
The optimization relies both on a novel rate-distortion model, which captures
the importance of each view in the 3D scene reconstruction, and on an objective
function that optimizes resources based on a client navigation model. The
latter takes into account the distortion experienced by interactive clients as
well as the distortion variations that might be observed by clients during
multiview navigation. We solve the scheduling problem with a novel
trellis-based solution, which permits to formally decompose the multivariate
optimization problem thereby significantly reducing the computation complexity.
Simulation results show the gain of the proposed algorithm compared to baseline
scheduling policies. More in details, we show the gain offered by our dynamic
scheduling policy compared to static camera allocation strategies and to
schemes with constant coding strategies. Finally, we show that the best
scheduling policy consistently adapts to the most likely user navigation path
and that it minimizes distortion variations that can be very disturbing for
users in traditional navigation systems
Online Learning Adaptation Strategy for DASH Clients
In this work, we propose an online adaptation logic for Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH) clients, where each client selects the representation that maximize the long term expected reward. The latter is defined as a combination of the decoded quality, the quality fluctuations and the rebuffering events experienced by the user during the playback. To solve this problem, we cast a Markov Decision Process (MDP) optimization for the selection of the optimal representations. System dynamics required in the MDP model are a priori unknown and are therefore learned through a Reinforcement Learning (RL) technique. The developed learning process exploits a parallel learning technique that improves the learning rate and limits sub-optimal choices, leading to a fast and yet accurate learning process that quickly converges to high and stable rewards. Therefore, the efficiency of our controller is not sacrificed for fast convergence. Simulation results show that our algorithm achieves a higher QoE than existing RL algorithms in the literature as well as heuristic solutions, as it is able to increase average QoE and reduce quality fluctuations
A Survey of Machine Learning Techniques for Video Quality Prediction from Quality of Delivery Metrics
A growing number of video streaming networks are incorporating machine learning (ML) applications. The growth of video streaming services places enormous pressure on network and video content providers who need to proactively maintain high levels of video quality. ML has been applied to predict the quality of video streams. Quality of delivery (QoD) measurements, which capture the end-to-end performances of network services, have been leveraged in video quality prediction. The drive for end-to-end encryption, for privacy and digital rights management, has brought about a lack of visibility for operators who desire insights from video quality metrics. In response, numerous solutions have been proposed to tackle the challenge of video quality prediction from QoD-derived metrics. This survey provides a review of studies that focus on ML techniques for predicting the QoD metrics in video streaming services. In the context of video quality measurements, we focus on QoD metrics, which are not tied to a particular type of video streaming service. Unlike previous reviews in the area, this contribution considers papers published between 2016 and 2021. Approaches for predicting QoD for video are grouped under the following headings: (1) video quality prediction under QoD impairments, (2) prediction of video quality from encrypted video streaming traffic, (3) predicting the video quality in HAS applications, (4) predicting the video quality in SDN applications, (5) predicting the video quality in wireless settings, and (6) predicting the video quality in WebRTC applications. Throughout the survey, some research challenges and directions in this area are discussed, including (1) machine learning over deep learning; (2) adaptive deep learning for improved video delivery; (3) computational cost and interpretability; (4) self-healing networks and failure recovery. The survey findings reveal that traditional ML algorithms are the most widely adopted models for solving video quality prediction problems. This family of algorithms has a lot of potential because they are well understood, easy to deploy, and have lower computational requirements than deep learning techniques
Delay-Power-Rate-Distortion Optimization of Video Representations for Dynamic Adaptive Streaming
Dynamic adaptive streaming addresses user heterogeneity by providing multiple encoded representations at different rates and/or resolutions for the same video content. For delay-sensitive applications, such as live streaming, there is however a stringent requirement on the encoding delay, and usually the encoding power (or rate) budget is also limited by the computational (or storage) capacity of the server. It is therefore important, yet challenging, to optimally select the source coding parameters for each encoded representation in order to minimize the resource consumption while maintaining a high quality of experience for the users. To address this, we propose an optimization framework with an optimal representation selection problem for delay, power, and rate constrained adaptive video streaming. Then, by the optimal selection of source coding parameters for each selected representation, we maximize the overall expected user satisfaction, subject not only to the encoding rate constraint, but also to the delay and power constraints at the server. We formulate the proposed optimization problem as an integer linear program formulation to provide the performance upper bound, and as a submodular maximization problem with two knapsack constraints to develop a practically feasible algorithm. Simulation results show that the proposed weighted rate and power cost benefit greedy algorithm is able to achieve a near-optimal performance with very low time complexity. In addition, it can strike the best tradeoff both between the rate and power cost, and between the algorithm's performance and the delay requirements proposed by delay sensitive applications