Range patching: A novel scheme for video stream scheduling based on overlay multicast

Patching is a effective multicast video scheduling scheme for VOD service. However, the video server bandwidth requirement will increase greatly when client request rate is high. On the other hand, IP multicast can only be implemented in a relatively small area nowadays. Aiming at these problems, we present a novel video stream scheduling scheme: Range Patching based on overlay multicast technology which is a very good alternative technology for IP multicast implemented on application layer. In Range Patching, the patching operation is transferred from the server to overlay nodes using the fixed and temporary cache of overlay node. Simulation results show that Range Patching can significantly reduce the bandwidth consumption when the segment number is small. In addition, when client´s request rate is relatively low, the Range Patching scheme can get better performance than Standard Patching, Double Patching and Batched Patching.