On buffering with stochastic guarantees in resource-constrained media players

Abstract

Playout delay or buffering are commonly used in the case of streaming multimedia to ensure smooth playout. A large delay, however, is required for promising a high quality in display. Such significant delays consume huge on-chip memory. We show that when the constraints on output are slightly relaxed, the playout delay needed can be reduced to a negligible value with no perceivable loss in video quality. We propose a mathematical framework that precisely estimates that minimal playout delay value. Perhaps more importantly, unlike existing analytical models, our framework allows to specify loss and provides guarantees that the desired display quality is achieved with the chosen delay. We present simulation results to validate the minimum delay value obtained from the analytical framework. Using the reduced delay value enormously saves the on-chip memory requirement. Copyright 2011 ACM.