An adaptive weighted TDM scheduler for video transport in ATM networks

Describes a technique for exploiting scene level variations for multiplexing heterogeneous video streams into a video bundle to be transported by ATM under a CBR contract. The method combines a dynamic bandwidth allocation scheme operating at the time-scale of scene changes, with a weighted time division multiplexing (WTDM) scheduling discipline operating at the time scale of cell arrivals. The TDM weights are adapted at the time scale of scene changes according to the bandwidth requirements of each stream: measured backlogs and estimated traffic loads. Adaptation has the objective of equalizing the queue solutions of the multiplexed streams at the time scale of scene changes. The adaptive WTDM operates as a “piecewise” TDM scheduler, resulting in low computational cost