Abstract
The huge changes in multimedia and video consumption styles are leading to different challenges for the current Internet architecture in order to support the required quality of experience. A comprehensive solution to these would help the service providers and over-the-top players (OTT) to differentiate their services and the network operators to handle ever growing demands on network resources in an era of slower growth in revenues. This chapter discusses the requirements for and approaches to enhanced content delivery architectures, video delivery standards and current and future content transport mechanisms. The chapter also discusses the Quality of Experience (QoE) metrics and management for video content and introduces context-awareness in the video delivery chain. It also provides several examples for context-aware content delivery and personalized services.
TopBackground On Video Delivery Architectures, Protocols, And Standards
Video traffic is dominating in the Internet, and is expected to continue growing (as much as 79% of global Internet traffic by 2018 (Cisco, 2014). Video traffic takes several forms including streaming premium content from content providers (e.g. NetFlix), web video (e.g. YouTube) and P2P video through various applications mainly for mobile devices. At the same time, a revolution is taking place in terms of how video and TV contents are consumed. While broadcast TV is still dominant for news and live events, there is a continuing tremendous growth of video on demand (VOD) and video streaming. Moreover, consumers are viewing this content on a much more diverse set of platforms than in the past – from big screen TVs, to PCs, tablets and smartphones, over fixed and mobile networks, and either managed or unmanaged service offerings. The growing sophistication of consumers’ viewing habits is shown in data (Accenture,2014) that correlates the type of content being watched with the type of device. For example, full-length movies are mostly watched on TV, while user generated content (UGC) and short video clips are mostly associated with mobile devices. Tablets show the greatest growth in video viewing for all types of content, and also are associated with multi-screen viewing experiences, where viewers switch between screens, or view related content on one screen while watching video on another screen. It is therefore important for service and content providers to follow consumers across different devices, and offer a consistent user experience while the offering must be relevant to the device and the user exact needs. In addition, there are new opportunities for content and service providers to sustain and develop customer’s fidelity by means of personalized services while exploring new monetization models, including target advertising.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Quality of Experience (QoE): The perceived quality by the user for a certain service (e.g. video service).
Multi-Screen Experience: The ability to access the same service on multiple devices (screens) by the same user or by different users.
User-Centric: The consideration of the user requirements, needs, profile and preferences during service provision.
Context-Awareness: Is the continuous knowledge of context information during the service access.
Battery Experience: The ability to enhance the battery life for the user during the service access (longer battery experience indicates more battery life).
Context: Is the information about the user and his environment (including his device, network and service).
Multi-SIM: The usage of multiple SIM-cards by the same cellular user to have data access on several devices or by multiple users sharing the data plan among their devices.