A Cache-Aware Approach For Dynamic Adaptive Video Streaming Over Http

More and more CDN (Content Delivery Network) or video content providers are deploying their cache nodes at the edge of networks in order to improve user perceived QoE (Quality of Experience). However, state-of-the-art ABR (Adaptive Bitrate) algorithms do not take into account the presence of a cache on video delivery path. In this paper, we firstly investigate how these ABR algorithms behave in the context of edge caching system and how caching factors such as hit ratio and access bandwidth impact on the performance of ABR algorithms. Extensive analysis results show introducing an edge cache on video delivery path cannot necessarily improve the performance of ABR algorithms in terms of average QoE. Furthermore, we propose a cache-aware ABR approach taking into account caching information including a cache hit indicator for the past chunks and the availability of the next video chunk on the cache. Experimental results validate the significant benefits of the approach which helps to make a more accurate throughput estimation and is more likely to select the video chunks stored in the cache to increase cache utilization.