A Channel Switching Scheme for IPTV Systems

One of the main challenges in IPTV systems is the reduction of startup delays, especially in channel switchings. While this problem does not exist in traditional television, in IPTV systems it is relevant, due to bandwidth limitation as well as the employment of buffers and overlay structures. Since the possibility of switching channels quickly is appreciated by users, the reduction of startup delays is an important issue to be addressed in IPTV systems. This paper proposes a novel scheme for fast channel switching that reduces the occurrences of latencies caused by buffers and overlay structures.