Intra-stream traffic differentiation and resource allocation for video teleconferencing in LTE systems

This paper considers a downlink LTE system where a basestation (eNodeB) is serving video traffic (generated possibly due to video teleconferencing applications) to many users in a cell. The video traffic is separated into multiple sub-streams (logical channels) based on the coding structure or priority of video packets. The objective is to maximize video quality by servicing appropriate video sub-streams and users while taking into account the resource constrained wireless channel. It is shown that one can obtain significant gains in video quality by determining the quality of service (QoS) parameters on a per sub-stream basis, rather than in `user-based' approach where all the sub-streams are lumped into one single stream. Motivated by video teleconferencing applications, we provide simulation results for the case where video traffic is separated into logical channels based on a Hierarchical-P encoding structure. Furthermore, we demonstrate the gains in video quality that can be obtained by allocating resources across logical channels. With the exploding growth in mobile video traffic expected to happen in 4G systems, this study suggests potential benefits of a logical channel based approach as compared to conventional user-based schemes.