Seamless Video Streaming for Video on Demand Services in Vertical Handoff

Vertical handoff is required to achieve anywhere and anytime internet access in the fourth generation (4G) network providing interoperability between universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) and wireless LAN (WLAN). However, video data can be lost due to latency caused by vertical handoff. To solve this problem, in this paper, we propose a video streaming method for video on demand (VOD) services that provides seamless playout at the client in vertical handoff. In the proposed method, the streaming server first predicts the network status by using both the channel modelling and the client buffer status and then selects a proper video transmission method for vertical handoff among pre-transmission, post-transmission, and frame-skipping transmission. Performance evaluations are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

[1]  Eric Dubois,et al.  Low bit-rate video transmission over fading channels for wireless microcellular systems , 1996, IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. Video Technol..

[2]  Victor C. M. Leung,et al.  A new method to support UMTS/WLAN vertical handover using SCTP , 2004, IEEE Wirel. Commun..

[3]  Sungkwan Jung,et al.  QoS based vertical handoff method between UMTS systems and wireless LAN networks , 2004, IEEE 60th Vehicular Technology Conference, 2004. VTC2004-Fall. 2004.

[4]  Randy H. Katz,et al.  Vertical handoffs in wireless overlay networks , 1998, Mob. Networks Appl..

[5]  Janise McNair,et al.  Vertical handoffs in fourth-generation multinetwork environments , 2004, IEEE Wireless Communications.

[6]  M. Salamah,et al.  Buffering requirements for lossless vertical handoffs in wireless overlay networks , 2003, The 57th IEEE Semiannual Vehicular Technology Conference, 2003. VTC 2003-Spring..

[7]  Upkar Varshney,et al.  Issues in Emerging 4G Wireless Networks , 2001, Computer.

[8]  Savo Glisic.  Advanced Wireless Communications: 4G Technologies , 2004 .

[9]  Haitao Wu,et al.  Design study for multimedia transport protocol in heterogeneous networks , 2003, IEEE International Conference on Communications, 2003. ICC '03..

[10]  Markus Kampmann,et al.  RTCP feedback based transmission rate control for 3G wireless multimedia streaming , 2004, 2004 IEEE 15th International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications (IEEE Cat. No.04TH8754).

[11]  P. Mermelstein,et al.  Robust low bit-rate video transmission over wireless access systems , 1994, Proceedings of ICC/SUPERCOMM'94 - 1994 International Conference on Communications.