Streaming Live Media over a Peer-to-Peer Network

Abstract

The high bandwidth required by live streaming video greatly limits the number of clients that can be served by a source. In this work, we discuss and evaluate an architecture, called {\em SpreadIt}, for streaming live media over a network of clients, using the resources of the clients themselves. Using SpreadIt, we can distribute bandwidth requirements over the network. The key challenge is to allow an application level multicast tree to be easily maintained over a network of transient peers, while ensuring that quality of service does not degrade. We propose a basic peering infrastructure layer for streaming applications, which uses a redirect primitive to meet the challenge successfully. Through empirical and simulation studies, we show that SpreadIt provides a good quality of service, which degrades gracefully with increasing number of clients. Perhaps more significantly, existing applications can be made to work with SpreadIt, without any change to their code base.

Available Versions of this Item

• Streaming Live Media over a Peer-to-Peer Network. (deposited 01 Aug 2001 17:00) [Currently Displayed]
  • Streaming Live Media over Peers. (deposited 19 Mar 2002 16:00)