P2TSS: Time-shifted and live streaming of video in peer-to-peer systems

In this study, we propose P2TSS, a novel peer-to-peer streaming system which can provide live and time-shifted streams. To achieve time-shifting in a peer-to-peer system, video contents are segmented and spread out in the local caches of participating peers. We present two lightweight distributed cache algorithms: initial play-out position caching and live stream position caching. These algorithms enable peers to locally decide which video blocks to cache for sharing with other peers. We provide an extensive analysis of these cache algorithms to derive the availability of video blocks and the average number of available peers for a certain video block at a given time. Our simulations show that P2TSS achieves low server stress by fully utilizing peerspsila local cache and uplink bandwidth.