A priority feedback mechanism for distributed MPEG video player systems

Abstract

In this paper, a priority feedback mechanism is proposed for adjusting the priorities of the processes dynamically in a video server according to the current status of thae clients - the status can be reflected by the number of frames being dropped in a period of time. The priority feedback mechanism is implemented in a distributed MPEG video player system. Different priority mapping functions are suggested for the priority feedback mechanism to cater for different service requirements of the clients, especially when the clients are demanding different quality of services. Experiment results have shown that when the video server is serving several clients where every client may demand a play speed of their own, the use of the priority feedback mechanism can effectively improve the whole system performance.