Scheduling video stream transmissions for distributed playback over mobile cellular networks

In this paper, we present the Buffer Sensitive Rate-Based (BSRB) algorithm, which provides a fair scheduling scheme to serve video playback requests, while maximizing the performance of individual playback. In BSRB, the amount of bandwidth allocated to serve a video request depends on the buffer level of the requesting client, and the expected and minimum bandwidth requirements of the video. By maintaining a high video buffer level at a client, the quality of the playbacks can be maintained and its performance will be more adaptive to the changing playback conditions. By employing the rate-based policy in BSRB, the performance of the requests is less affected by the poor performance of a single client and hence fair services can be provided to the clients.