Push-pull techniques in peer-to-peer video streaming systems with tree/forest topology

Peer-to-peer video streaming systems are overlay networks used to distribute, among other types of content, live video content to large sets of users by relying on computing and network resources directly provided by users that are receiving video streaming services. Peer-to-peer video streaming systems with tree or forest topology are typically push-based, since the video content is provided by parent peers with no need for periodical requests. In this paper we analyze the impact of two complementing pull-based mechanisms aiming at improving the overall performance of the overlay network. Results show that the proposed hybrid push-pull approaches can be beneficial when the stability of the system is low, i.e., the average permanence time of peers is short.