AN MPEG2-TO-ATM CONVERTER TO OPTIMIZE PERFORMANCE OF VBR VIDEO BROADCAST OVER ATM NETWORKS

This paper presents a novel MPEG2-to-ATM converter for VER video broad cast over ATM networks. It functions as an external post-coding source rate controller between any MPEG2 source and an ATM network. Dynamic break points are employed to shape and partition the video data into h igh priority ATM cells which conform to the prevailing usage parameter control contract with the network, and nonconforming low priority cel ls which minimize the effects of cell loss due to network congestion o n the subjective quality of the received video. Both high and low prio rity cells are transmitted over a common ATM virtual connection. Perfo rmance evaluations of actual VER MPEG2 streams transmitted over a simu lated converter and ATM network are presented to demonstrate the effec tiveness of the proposed method.