A lossless smoothing algorithm for compressed video

Interframe coding techniques, such as those used in MPEG video, give rise to a sequence of encoded pictures whose sizes (in number of bits) differ by a factor of ten or more. Buffering is needed to reduce fluctuations in the rate at which video packets are sent to a network connection. We design and specify a lossless smoothing algorithm, characterized by three parameters: D (delay bound), X (number of pictures with known sizes), and H (lookahead interval). We prove a theorem which guarantees that, if K/spl ges/1, the algorithm finds a solution that satisfies the delay bound. We present the algorithm's performance from a large number of experiments conducted using MPEG video traces. Lastly, we discuss algorithm implementation.