Traffic characteristics and smoothness criteria in VBR video traffic smoothing

Due to the inherent burstiness in variable bit rate (VBR) videos, traffic smoothing is often necessary to improve network utilization and reduce connection costs in VBR video transmission. In order to measure the effectiveness of smoothing methods, it is essential that smoothness criteria be first defined on the smoothing output traffic. In this paper, we introduce two simple, yet practical types of traffic for VBR video transmission. For each type, we define three sets of parameters to characterize the traffic smoothness and connection cost, and we show that, in each case, an algorithm exists to optimize all three parameters, given buffer and delay constraints. Further, we establish the relationship between these algorithms and show their effectiveness by applying them to an MPEG video stream.