Memory management for receive-side enhancement of continuous media QoS

Layering and conventional packet buffering in user-level continuous media receivers can increase end-to-end delay and packet loss. These QoS metrics and delay jitter can also deteriorate when general-purpose memory allocators are used in buffering. Here, we discuss the emergence of these conditions and present a memory manager to address them. Integration of the manager with a prototypical receiver and subsequent experimentation on combinations of set-top box platforms and operating systems confirmed decline of end-to-end delay, packet loss, and jitter.