Abstract
In this study, we propose a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Video-on-Demand (VoD) streaming method which adjusts the receiving rate of pieces by considering the playback deadline of the pieces to reduce interrupted playback. P2P VoD streaming methods based on BitTorrent, such as BitTorrent Streaming (BiToS) and BiToS + Immediacy and Scarcity (BIS), have been proposed to support streaming. In the piece selection strategies of these two methods, a peer probabilistically selects a piece considering immediacy and/or scarcity (i.e., rarity) and receives the selected piece to reduce interrupted playback. However, the piece selection mechanisms still cause interrupted playback owing to probabilistic piece selection. In our proposed P2P VoD streaming method, a peer sequentially selects a piece, starting from the first piece and receives the selected piece at a transfer rate in time for predicted playback start time. As a result, the interrupted playback can be reduced further. In evaluation simulations, we show that the proposed streaming method outperforms previous streaming methods in terms of media playback continuity.
