Hybrid P2P Client-Server Data Transmission Using Dynamic Peer Grouping and Switching

For Internet applications, e.g., video streaming and file download, bandwidth and end-to-end propagation delay are two significant parameters that affect quality of service. The merit of Client-Server data transmission is able to reduce unnecessary end-to-end propagation delay, but additional upload bandwidth is required at the server (original source) side. However, in peer-to-peer (P2P) data transmission, less upload bandwidth is required, but longer end-to-end propagation delay might be resulted due to complicated network topology. In this paper, we will design hybrid P2P Client-Server data transmission (denoted as HPCS), in which the original source is able to determine the method of data transmission for each connected peer, and further separate connected peers into P2P and Client-Server groups. In our experiments, the number of connected peers and proper upload bandwidth can be determined for P2P and Client-Server groups based on end-to-end propagation delay, upload bandwidth and system loading, and thus a traded-off performance can be achieved.