EVCCM: An Efficient VOIP Congestion Control Mechanism

Abstract

Voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) technology has been widely adopted in communication middleware systems that allow service providers to construct web based applications, such as Web conference systems (WebEx, Gotomeeting), IP based call centers and Web chatting. VOIP is vulnerable to network congestion if too many users access the Web service based VOIP at the same time, especially the services that coordinate with video transmission. VOIP signaling is usually implemented in User Datagram Protocol (UDP). Since UDP cannot verify the packets arrival, the congested network causes IP packets to be lost, delayed or even denial of service and greatly damages the service providers' reputation. We apply mechanism design, an application of game theory, to VOIP middleware management to defend such congested phone calls. Using the proposed model, users play their best options (ex: voice quality and price) to connect to the service. Service providers will provide users' service based on the users' options to maximize service providers' benefits, such as the number of active online users, service fee and system resource usage, to defend the congestion in the network and improve the network performance. In particular, our proposed model is a win-win solution in the way that maximizes both users and service providers' benefits. Finally, empirical results are provided to support our solution.