Multiple sender distributed video streaming

With the explosive growth of video applications over the Internet, many approaches have been proposed to stream video effectively over packet switched, best-effort networks. In this paper, we propose a receiver-driven protocol for simultaneous video streaming from multiple senders to a single receiver in order to achieve higher throughput, and to increase tolerance to packet loss and delay due to network congestion. Our receiver-driven protocol employs a novel rate allocation algorithm (RAA) and a packet partition algorithm (PPA). The RAA, run at the receiver, determines the sending rate for each sender by taking into account available network bandwidth, channel characteristics, and a prespecified, fixed level of forward error correction, in such a way as to minimize the probability of packet loss. The PPA, run at the senders based on a set of parameters estimated by the receiver, ensures that every packet is sent by one and only one sender, and at the same time, minimizes the startup delay. Using both simulations and Internet experiments, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our protocol in reducing packet loss.