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

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.