Paper Review:
Quality Adaptation for Congestion Control Video Playback over the Internet
Reviewer: Robert Dugas
Problem
This paper addresses the problem of adapting streaming media protocols to
become TCP friendly while preserving as much quality as possible.
Contribution
The primary contribution is an algorithm for smoothly adjusting the video
quality in order to compensate for congestion control-based rate changes.
Main Ideas
- Proposes incompatibility of streaming media applications with current
TCP as a serious chalenge to internet stability
- Identifies layered media storage on server as optimal playback scheme
- Provides algorithmic description of interplay between number of layers
transmitted and buffering strategies
Critique
Significance:3
Although the idea of heirarchically storing media for adjustable transmission
is not novel, this paper represents a comprehensive guide to effectively
deploying such a mechanism. The buffering strategies and stability enhancements
further extend the idea.
Methodology:
This paper is largely theoretical and often it is unclear where how the
authors arrived at certain equations or heuristics. Towards the end, some
experimental results are presented but the focus of the paper is primarily
on explaining the transmission scheme.
Limitation:
The primary limitation of this scheme is that it is unclear why users would
opt for clients that provided poorer overall quality media. Some effort should
be made to explain how this technology could viably be deployed in today's
streaming media market.
Lessons:
This paper demonstrates that relatively stable streaming media can be compatible
with current internet congestion control protocols.