This paper addresses the optimal rate control in a communication network consisting of multiple users, transmitting video. We suggest that rate control in the Internet should take the signal properties into account. An optimal distribution of rates should maximise the aggregate quality of the received signals. This paper addresses video sequences specifically, but the results are expected to hold for more generalized signals as well. The optimal transmission rate of a user will vary in time. This is due to its dependence on time-varying parameters such as the traffic routing, network topology and the demands of other users. Moreover, the optimal transmission rate is dependent on the metric selected to describe the video quality. We show that when congestion is controlled `correctly' the optimal distribution of rates is an attractor. Using the proposed rate control mechanisms, the transmission rates will then converge weakly towards this attractor. The algorithm for rate control mechanisms for video transmission is then given. The proposed control mechanisms are directly implementable in the Internet without requiring intelligent feedback from the Internet gateways. Simulations using the proposed congestion control mechanisms have been conducted using different metrics to describe the video quality.

Date Published: 23 June 2003
PDF: 11 pages
Proc. SPIE 5150, Visual Communications and Image Processing 2003, (23 June 2003); doi: 10.1117/12.503123

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 5150:
Visual Communications and Image Processing 2003
Touradj Ebrahimi; Thomas Sikora, Editor(s)