A novel method for video-on-demand via digital broadcast

Abstract

We propose a new method for the on-demand delivery of streaming media over a small number of multicast channels to large numbers of receivers called Truncated Exponential Partitioning (TEP). Objects delivered using TEP are consumed from the beginning to the end in a linear fashion. This allows their data to be segmented and carried in different channels that are scheduled so that each can arrive just in time for presentation. As a consequence, the amount of storage required in the receiver, access latency, and bandwidth required for a desired level of performance are minimized. Quantitative expressions for these metrics are derived for TEP and compared to a similar scheme skyscraper broadcasting (SB) scheme from which the design of TEP was based. Simulations show that TEP offers superior performance to the SE scheme. Finally, an architecture for delivering movies over cable networks using TEP is proposed.