An H.264/SVC-based adaptation proxy on a WiFi router

ABSTRACT

Recent advances in video coding technology like the scalable extension of the MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 video coding standard pave the way for computationally cheap adaptation of video content. In this paper we present our work on a lightweight RTSP/RTP proxy that enables in-network stream processing. Based on an off-the-shelf wireless router that runs a Linux-based firmware we demonstrate that the video adaptation can be performed on-the-fly directly on a network device. The paper covers design and implementation details of the proxy as well as a discussion about the actual adaptation of the SVC stream. Based on experimental evaluations we show that our approach can handle a reasonable number of concurrent sessions for a typical home deployment scenario. Furthermore, the paper covers possible applications in which adaptation on the network device can be beneficial.

REFERENCES

• 1: T. Wiegand, J. Ohm, G. Sullivan, and A. Luthra. Special Issue on Scalable Video Coding -- Standardization and Beyond. IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, 17(9), September 2007.
• 2: S. Wenger et al. RTP Payload Format for H.264 Video, RFC 3984. February 2005.
• 3: S. Wenger et al. RTP Payload Format for SVC Video, Internet Draft. January 2008.
• 4: NAT/Firewall NSIS Signaling Layer Protocol (NSLP). 2007. NSIS Working Group Internet Draft, version 14.
• 5: UPnP Forum. Internet Gateway Device (IGD) Standardized Device Control Protocol. November 2001. version 1.0.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.2 COMPUTER-COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
      C.2.6 Internetworking

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.4 INFORMATION SYSTEMS APPLICATIONS
      H.4.3 Communications Applications
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.1 Multimedia Information Systems

Keywords:
H.264, RTP, RTSP, in-network adaptation, multimedia adaptation, scalable video coding