Abstract
A critical component in the delivery of VBR streaming video over packet-based networks, is the playout buffer at the receiver side. As packets will incur a variable delay within the network, a mechanism is needed to dejitter the stream and assure that packets are played out at exactly the same rate at which they were generated by the sender.
Packet loss at the playout buffer can be induced by either underflow or overflow, and we first identify the general conditions under which these events occur. These general rules require some knowledge on the network delay characteristics of an arbitrary packet, and are then further developed and refined, by taking a closer look at the case where a single delay bottleneck exists within the network.
This analysis allows us to derive useful design rules, where we consider two cases, depending on whether or not the receiver has knowledge about the delay the first packet of the stream has incurred. We conclude by demonstrating that the traditional playout paradigm can be enhanced to guard against large initial delays.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bruneel, H., & Kim, B. G. (1993). Discrete-time models for communication systems including ATM. Boston: Kluwer Academic (ISBN:0-7923-9292-2).
Izquierdo, M. R., & Reeves, D. S. (1993). A survey of statistical source models for variable-bit-rate compressed video. Multimedia Systems, 7, 199–213.
Kalman, M., Steinbach, E., & Girod, B. (2004). Adaptive media playout for low delay video streaming over error-prone channels. IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, 14(6), 841–851.
Lakshman, T. V., Ortega, A., & Reibman, A. R. (1998). Variable bit-rate (VBR) video: tradeoffs and potentials. Proceedings of the IEEE, 86(5), 952–973.
Laoutaris, N., & Stavrakakis, I. (2001). Adaptive playout strategies for packet video receivers with finite buffer capacity. In: Proc. of IEEE international conference on communications (IEEE ICC), Helsinki, Finland.
Laoutaris, N., & Stavrakakis, I. (2002). Intrastream synchronization for continuous media streams: a survey of playout schedulers. IEEE Network Magazine, 16(3), 30–40.
Steyaert, B., Inghelbrecht, V., De Vleeschauwer, D., & Bruneel, H. (2005), Some results on a versatile queueing model with heterogeneous sources. In: Proceedings of the 5th St. Petersburg workshop on simulation, SIMULATION 2005 (pp. 665–670), St. Petersburg.
Yuang, M. C., Liang, S. T., & Chen, Y. G. (1998). Dynamic video playout smoothing method for multimedia applications. Multimedia Tools and Applications, 6, 47–59.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Steyaert, B., Laevens, K., De Vleeschauwer, D. et al. Analysis and design of a playout buffer for VBR streaming video. Ann Oper Res 162, 159–169 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-008-0322-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-008-0322-5