Maximizing QoS for interactive DTV clients

Edward Y. Chang

Abstract: In this study we present a client-based architecture that supports interactive DTV features (i.e. pause, replay and fast-forward) using the client's local disk and an Internet back-channel, together with the broadcast channels. Our study focuses on devising effective techniques for managing the client's local resources to maximize QoS. For individual video streams, we present an error concealment scheme that reconstructs video key frames suffering from channel errors. For the client as a whole, we propose a resource-scheduling policy that maximizes the client's QoS adaptively based on the viewer's preference under local resource constraints. We show that many interactive DTV applications can be supported under this client-based architecture more effectively than by the traditional server-based approaches.