Optimized Joint Unicast-Multicast Panoramic Video Streaming in Cellular Networks

In this paper we present Joint Unicast-Multicat Panoramic Streaming (JUMPS) over the cellular network. JUMPS optimizes the resource allocation for a group of eMBMS (evolved Multicast Broadcast Multimedia Systems) users to enhance their experience while leveraging the inherent diversity in both users' network conditions and field of view (FoV). The key intuition is combining unicast and multicast, for tiled panoramic content, would enable facilitate using the right amount of resources for every tile considering the tile popularity and receiving user link quality. We compare JUMPS performance to state-of-the-art solutions and show that it significantly improves users' received FoV bitrate and reduces their battery by reducing the number of resource blocks that users have to listen to. These results are consistent across various scenarios that vary across user group link conditions, FoV diversity, and available network resources.