Delay-Sensitive Statistical Multiplexing of Multimedia Contents With Time-Varying Channel Conditions

Statistical multiplexing of video content aims at transmitting several variable bit rate (VBR) encoded video streams over a band-limited channel. A predictive joint rate controller accounting for maximum distortion, fairness, and smoothness constraints is considered. Additionally, all buffers are controlled simultaneously to regulate the encoder buffer delays. This delay is adjusted according to a reference delay constraint. The main idea is to update the encoding rate for each encoding unit according to the average buffering delay to maximize the quality of each program and effectively utilize the bandwidth. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme yields a smooth and fair video quality among programs thanks to the predictive control. An equal encoder buffer delay for all programs and an efficient use of the available bandwidth are ensured in variable channel rate condition.