A unified fast channel change framework for IPTV networks

In this paper we introduce a distributed channel change framework that utilizes a dedicated server and session peers to support the fast channel change process. Support peers represent the prior choice to deliver the channel change packets to the zapping users. The dedicated server, which we refer to as the Channel Switch Coordinator (CSC), is essentially responsible for the coordination of the channel change requests. To minimize the average channel change delay for all the users connected to the same CSC server, CSC server is also responsible for the delivery of channel change and proactive repair packets, whenever peer-based delivery fails to achieve the desired performance results in terms of channel change latency. Because of the increased scalability offered by the use of support peers during the channel change process, the proposed approach allows the use of longer group-of-picture (GOP) sizes for the transmission of the IPTV content.