Packet transmission control of preventing the perceptual video quality deterioration in all IP-based network

Streaming media distribution services has been spreading rapidly, in which users view movies and music programs delivered over IP-based networks. In IP-based networks where resources are shared but cannot be reserved, it is difficult to prevent temporary congestion from occurring. Therefore, when temporary network congestion occurs, some packets will be discarded, resulting in the deterioration in the user's perceptual video quality. This paper first evaluates the relationship between packet discarding patterns and perceptual video quality is evaluated, assuming the delivery of UDP-based MPEG2 streaming videos. Based on the evaluation, this paper proposes the optimal packet discarding patterns which do not lead to any deterioration in the perceptual video quality and indicates that the perceptual video quality deterioration can be avoided by selecting an appropriate packet discarding pattern, if the total number of discarding packets is less than several percent of all packets being generated. The practical applicability of the proposed method is also examined.