An Efficient Storage Utilization for High-Quality Content Distribution in a PVR-Based Community

High-quality content can be distributed and shared efficiently in community networks by the advantages of the geographical coverage and the connected community members. Recently, we have proposed a Personal video recorder (PVR)-based community network employing the multiple-loop fiber channel arbitration loop (FC-AL) connection, which can provide the scalability without using expensive FC-AL switches. As a community network size grows, however, popular programs tend to be stored redundantly in many PVRs, thereby wasting the storage space that could otherwise be used to store additional TV programs. We therefore propose how to extend program storage hours in a community network by presenting storage saving algorithms for both PVRs and network disks. Through extensive simulations, we finally reveals that our schemes significantly extend program storage hours by an average of 69.7%.