360BroadView: Viewer Management for Viewport Prediction in 360-Degree Video Live Broadcast

Qian Zhou

Abstract: 360-degree video is becoming an integral part of our content consumption through both video on demand and live broadcast services. However, live broadcast is still challenging due to the huge network bandwidth cost if all 360-degree views are delivered to a large viewer population over diverse networks. In this paper, we present 360BroadView, a viewer management approach to viewport prediction in 360-degree video live broadcast. We make some high-bandwidth network viewers be leading viewers to help the others (lagging viewers) predict viewports during 360-degree video viewing and save bandwidth. Our viewer management maintains the leading viewer population despite viewer churns during live broadcast, so that the system keeps functioning properly. Our evaluation shows that 360BroadView maintains the leading viewer population at a minimal yet necessary level for 97 percent of the time.