Peer-to-peer streaming of scalable video in future Internet applications

Scalable video delivery over peer-to-peer networks appears to be key for efficient streaming in emerging and future Internet applications. Contrasting the conventional server-client approach, here, video is delivered to a user in a fully distributed fashion. This is, for instance, beneficial in cases where a high demand for a particular video content is imposed, as different users can receive the same data from different peers. Furthermore, due to the heterogeneous nature of Internet connectivity, the content needs to be delivered to a user through networks with highly varying bandwidths. Moreover, content needs to be displayed on a variety of devices featuring different sizes, resolutions, and computational capabilities. If video is encoded in a scalable way, it can be adapted to any required spatio-temporal resolution and quality in the compressed domain, according to a peer bandwidth and other peers¿ context requirements. This enables efficient low-complexity content adaptation and interoperability for improved peer-to-peer streaming in future Internet applications. An efficient piece picking and peer selection policy enables high quality of service in such a streaming system.