Pricing-based decentralized rate allocation for multiple video streams

We consider rate allocation for multiple video users sharing a constant bitrate channel. Previously, overall quality of multiple users was improved by exploiting relative complexity. Users with high complexity video benefit at the expense of video quality reduction for other users with simpler videos. The quality of all users can be improved by collectively allocating the bitrate which requires sharing video information with a central controller. In this paper, we present an informationally decentralized rate allocation for multiple users where a user only needs to inform its demand to an allocator based on its video complexity and bitrate price. Simulation results show that all users improve their quality by our pricing-based decentralized rate allocation method compared to their allocation when acting individually and the results are comparable to the centralized rate allocation.