Title :
IP TV Bandwidth Demand: Multicast and Channel Surfing
Author :
Smith, Donald E.
Author_Institution :
Verizon Lab., Walfham
Abstract :
IP networks may soon become a delivery mechanism for broadcast television content. Multicast can reduce the steady state bandwidth demand on network links from one stream per viewer to one stream per watched program. However, channel surfing at commercial breaks can periodically increase the bandwidth demand. In the channel change mechanism we study, surfers leave multicast groups and receive unicast streams at higher than usual bandwidth. This paper builds a mathematical model to determine the net bandwidth demand of multicast and surfing during commercial breaks. In one example, we find that the peak demand during a commercial break is twice the steady state multicast demand.
Keywords :
IP networks; multicast communication; telecommunication links; television broadcasting; IP TV bandwidth demand; IP networks; broadcast television content; channel change mechanism; channel surfing; commercial break; delivery mechanism; mathematical model; multicast surfing; network links; steady state bandwidth demand; steady state multicast demand; stream per viewer; stream per watched program; unicast streams; Bandwidth; IP networks; Optical fiber networks; Passive optical networks; Peer to peer computing; Steady-state; Streaming media; TV broadcasting; Telecommunication traffic; Video sharing;
Conference_Titel :
INFOCOM 2007. 26th IEEE International Conference on Computer Communications. IEEE
Conference_Location :
Anchorage, AK
Print_ISBN :
1-4244-1047-9
DOI :
10.1109/INFCOM.2007.318
