Large-Scale Time-Shifted Streaming Delivery

TL;DR

This paper introduces scalable systems for large-scale time-shifted streaming, enabling efficient access to past TV content with reduced server load and guaranteed availability, suitable for different TV operator needs.

Contribution

It presents two novel architectures, PACUS and turntable, tailored for different TV operators, addressing unique challenges of time-shifted streaming not handled by existing systems.

Findings

PACUS reduces server traffic by up to 75%.

Turntable guarantees 100% content availability.

Simulations validate the effectiveness of both systems.

Abstract

An attractive new feature of connected TV systems consists in allowing users to access past portions of the TV channel. This feature, called time-shifted streaming, is now used by millions of TV viewers. We address in this paper the design of a large-scale delivery system for time-shifted streaming. We highlight the characteristics of time-shifted streaming that prevent known video delivery systems to be used. Then, we present two proposals that meet the demand for two radically different types of TV operator. First, the Peer-Assisted Catch-Up Streaming system, namely PACUS, aims at reducing the load on the server of a large TV broadcasters without losing the control of the TV delivery. Second, the turntable structure, is an overlay of nodes that allow an independent content delivery network or a small independent TV broadcaster to ensure that all past TV programs are stored and as available as possible. We show through extensive simulations that our objectives are reached, with a reduction of up to three quarters of the traffic for PACUS and a 100\% guaranteed availability for the turntable structure. We also compare our proposals to the main previous works in the area.