A Survey on Peer-assisted Video Distribution

PhD Qualifying Examination


Title: "A Survey on Peer-assisted Video Distribution"

Mr. Jie DAI


Abstract:

Nowadays video distribution systems in the public Internet that provide 
live video streaming service or video-on-demand video service are capable 
of handling hundreds of media channels and millions of end-users each day, 
in which peer-assistance is commonly utilized. The fundamental advantage 
of peer-assisted video distribution is to leverage peer upload capacities 
to help scaling the system. With users not only downloading data but also 
uploading video content to other users, the system can spontaneously 
achieve excellent scalability and robustness against network dynamics. 
However, due to heterogeneous capacities of participating peers and 
dynamic environments existed in real world systems, there exist several 
inefficiencies and fundamental limitations in the current peer-assisted 
video distribution systems. One feasible solution is to integrate server 
resource provisioning. Specifically, the deployment of dedicated servers 
often at the edges of the network provides faster startup and better video 
playback continuity.

In this survey, we discuss the design and inherent characteristics of 
several widely deployed peer-assisted video distribution systems, 
including live video streaming and Video-on-Demand. We examine the 
important challenges and research issues on both peer and server aspects 
of seamless hybrid design. We also compare the different real-world 
applications and investigate the open research problems that would benefit 
for achieving better system performance in the future.


Date:     		Wednesday, 27 January 2010

Time:                   2:00pm - 4:00pm

Venue:                  Room 3501
 			lifts 25/26

Committee Members:      Dr. Bo Li (Supervisor)
 			Dr. Lin Gu (Chairperson)
 			Dr. Lei Chen
 			Dr. Qian Zhang


**** ALL are Welcome ****