SBIR Phase I: Implementation, Testing and Refinement of a Hybrid Distributed / Traditional System for Broadcasting Live and Pre-Recorded Content to Large Online Audiences

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的重点是实施，测试和改进混合分布式/传统系统，以低成本向大量在线观众直播和预录制内容。 传统的在线流媒体方法不太适合向大量观众提供电视风格的“线性”馈送。主要的限制是，广播公司承担的带宽成本随着观众规模的增加而同步增加-观看的人越多，广播公司的成本就越高。点对点系统可以将内容分发成本从发布者转移到有兴趣获得该内容副本的最终消费者。 该建议直接解决了向最终用户保证特定服务质量（特定流比特率）的问题，而不管他们重复广播的能力。通过将广播流分割成多个组件，并使用传统的在线广播解决方案增强广播系统，可以消除带宽瓶颈，为消费者提供高质量的观看体验，同时继续大幅降低广播公司的带宽成本。该项目的商业潜力巨大。通过实现独特的“增强服务器”体系结构来传递广播信号中不能以分布式方式有效传输的那些部分，所得到的混合分布式/传统在线广播解决方案将联合收割机较低的成本与提高的质量相结合。一旦得到证实，这种功能的组合很可能对正在寻找有效利用互联网向更多受众传播的方法的广播公司具有吸引力。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project focuses on the implementation, testing, and refinement of a hybrid distributed / traditional system for broadcasting live and pre-recorded content to large online audiences at low cost. Traditional approaches to streaming media online are not well suited for delivering television-style "linear" feeds to large audiences. The primary constraint is that the bandwidth costs shouldered by the broadcaster increase in lock step with increasing audience size -- the more people who watch; the more it costs the broadcaster. Peer-to-peer systems can shift content distribution costs from publishers to end-consumers interested in obtaining a copy of that content. This proposal directly addresses the issue of guaranteeing a specific quality of service (a particular streaming bit rate) to end-users, regardless of their ability to repeat the broadcast. By segmenting the broadcast stream into components and augmenting the broadcast system with a traditional online broadcast solution, the bandwidth bottleneck can be removed, providing consumers with a high quality viewing experience, while continuing to significantly reduce broadcaster bandwidth costs.The commercial potential of this project is significant. By implementing a unique "augmentation server" architecture to deliver those portions of a broadcast signal that can not be effectively transmitted in a distributed manner, the resulting hybrid distributed / traditional online broadcast solution will combine lower cost with increased quality. Once proven, this combination of features is likely to prove attractive to broadcasters who are searching for ways to effectively utilize the Internet to reach larger audiences.