SBIR Phase I: Micro-Cloud Managed Web-based Peer-to-Peer Video Streaming

提出并发展了基于微云的点对点视频流管理新技术。该技术有望实现高度可扩展、健壮和安全的互联网视频流（包括实时视频和视频点播），成本仅为传统内容交付网络（cdn）的十分之一。视频流量正以每年52%的速度爆发式增长。与此同时，观众对体验质量（QoE）的要求也越来越高，要求实时高清无缝接入。为了应对即将到来的互联网视频流量浪潮，该创新提供了五个独特的优势：(1)微云管理的点对点流使用一套新颖的算法来实时持续优化每个观众的QoE，并且可以显著优于传统的非管理点对点流解决方案（特别是在压力下）。(2)与传统cdn相比，带宽和服务器资源消耗降低了10倍。(3)该解决方案提供实时查看器分析，可以快速定位并从性能瓶颈中恢复。(4)与传统的点对点软件不同，解决方案客户端库完全是基于web的。因此，它不需要安装软件/插件，并且可以跨多个平台无缝工作。(5)该技术为内容保护和数字版权管理提供了强有力的支持。更广泛的/商业影响包括以下两个主要方面。(1)商业影响。该解决方案旨在将一项颠覆性技术引入到年增长率达40.6%的互联网视频发行市场。这项技术可以使广泛的客户群受益，包括内容分销商、社交媒体网站、企业和互联网服务提供商。(2)社会影响。在互联网上以低成本获得高质量的视频可能会产生重大的社会影响。那些负担不起传统的基于cdn的视频传输系统的消费者现在可以在广泛的社会活动中利用这项创新，包括教育和合作。

The innovation proposes and develops the novel technology of micro-cloud managed Web-based peer-to-peer video streaming. The technology promises to enable highly scalable, robust and secure Internet video streaming (including both live video and video-on-demand) at only one tenth of the cost of traditional content delivery networks (CDNs). Video traffic is growing explosively at an annual rate of 52%. Meanwhile, viewers place increasingly stringent requirements on their quality of experience (QoE), demanding seamless access in real time with high definition. To handle the coming wave of Internet video traffic, the innovation offers five distinctive advantages: (1) The micro-cloud managed peer-to-peer streaming uses a set of novel algorithms to continuously optimize the per-viewer QoE in real time and can significantly outperform traditional unmanaged peer-to-peer streaming solutions (especially under stress). (2) The technology achieves a 10x reduction in bandwidth and server resource consumption over traditional CDNs. (3) The solution provides real-time viewer analytics and can quickly pinpoint and recover from performance bottlenecks. (4) Unlike conventional peer-to-peer software, the solutions client library is completely Web-based. Hence it requires no software/plugin installation and works seamlessly across multiple platforms. (5) The technology provides strong support for content protection and digital right management.The broader/commercial impact consists of the following two main aspects. (1) Commercial impacts. The solution aims to introduce a disruptive technology in the Internet video distribution market, which is growing rapidly at an annual rate of 40.6% on revenue. The technology can benefit a broad customer base, including content distributors, social media sites, enterprises and Internet service providers. (2) Societal impacts. The availability of high-quality videos on the Internet at low cost can potentially generate significant societal impacts. Consumers who otherwise cannot afford the traditional CDN-based video delivery systems can now utilize the innovation in a wide range of societal activities including education and collaboration.