On the design of a scalable multimedia streaming system based on receiver-driven flow and congestion awareness

In this position paper we present the design of an end-to-end scalable content streaming system that optimizes the quality of experience of the end-user by allowing each client to retrieve a customized multimedia stream, based on both network and client states. By taking advantage of multimedia scalability, our proposed receiver-driven architecture performs a multilayered streaming, where each client is responsible for controlling the number of multimedia layers it demands from the server. Furthermore, the streaming system proposed herein implements both congestion and flow control mechanisms, which are also delegated to the receiver. In order to properly address both network and client states and restrictions, a set of specific metrics (Buffer State, Interarrival Jitter and Loss Event Rate) are utilized, which have been specifically designed to match the miscellaneous characteristics of heterogeneous networks and end devices. Built upon such metrics, we present a decision algorithm that jointly performs congestion and flow control, while maximizing inter-session fairness and end-user quality of experience. The proposed architecture combines different standard protocols while guaranteeing independence between components of the streaming system.