A survey of application layer techniques for adaptive streaming of multimedia

Though the integrated services model and resource reservation protocol (RSV P) provide T support for quality of service, in the current Internet only b est-effort traffic is widely supported. New high-speed technologies such as ATM (asynchronous transfer mode), gigabit Ethernet, fast Ethernet, and fra me relay, have spurred higher user expectations. These technologies are exp ected to support real-time applications such as video-on-demand, Internet t elephony, distance education and video-broadcasting. Towards this end, netw orking methods such as service classes and quality of service models are be ing developed. Today's Internet is a heterogeneous networking environment. In such an environment, resources available to multimedia applications vary . To adapt to the changes in network conditions, both networking techniques and application layer techniques have been proposed. In this paper, we foc us on the application level techniques, including methods based on compress ion algorithm features, layered encoding, rate shaping, adaptive error cont rol, and bandwidth smoothing. We also discuss operating system methods to s upport adaptive multimedia. Throughout the paper, we discuss how feedback f rom lower networking layers can be used by these application-level adaptati on schemes to deliver the highest quality content. (C) 2001 Academic Press.