Streaming Coded Video in P2P Networks

Abstract

This chapter discusses the state of the art in dealing with the resource optimization problem for smooth delivery of video across a peer to peer (P2P) network. It further discusses the properties of using different video coding techniques such as Scalable Video Coding (SVC) and Multiple Descriptive Coding (MDC) to overcome the playback latency in multimedia streaming and maintains an adequate quality of service (QoS) among the users. The problem can be summarized as follows; Given that a video is requested by a peer in the network, what properties of SVC and MDC can be exploited to deliver the video with the highest quality, least upload bandwidth and least delay from all participating peers. However, the solution to these problems is known to be NP hard. Hence, this chapter presents the state of the art in approximation algorithms or techniques that have been proposed to overcome these issues.