MULTIMEDIA INFORMATION CACHING FOR PERSONALIZED VIDEO ON DEMAND

The synergy between computing and information systems promises to hera ld a new epoch in which users have access to an entirely new variety o f entertainment services that are customized to suit their individual needs. In this paper, we explore the architectural considerations that underlie the efficient realization of personalized video-on-demand en tertainment services over metropolitan area broadband networks. To del iver video programmes to users' homes at attractive costs, we present intelligent caching strategies that judiciously store media informatio n at strategic locations in the network. For information caching in a metropolitan area network, we devise a simple, yet effective caching s trategy that uses a Greedy heuristic to determine when, where and for how long programs must be cached, so as to minimize the cumulative sto rage and network costs borne by users. Preliminary simulations demonst rate that the Greedy caching strategy performs exceptionally, in most cases providing near-optimal solutions.