Coordinated en-route multimedia object caching in transcoding proxies for tree networks

Abstract

Transcoding is a promising technology that allows systems to effect a quality-versus-size tradeoff on multimedia objects. As audio and video applications have proliferated on the Internet, caching in transcoding proxies has become an important technique for improving network performance, especially in mobile networks. This article addresses the problem of coordinated enroute multimedia object caching in transcoding proxies for tree networks. We formulate this problem as an optimization problem based on our proposed model, in which multimedia object caching decisions are made on all enroute caches along the routing path by integrating both object placement and replacement policies and cache status information along the routing path of a request is used to determine the optimal locations for caching multiple versions of the same multimedia object. We propose an optimal solution using dynamic programming to compute the optimal locations. We also extend this solution to solve the same problem for several constrained cases, including constraints on the cost gain per node and on the number of versions to be placed. Our model is evaluated on different performance metrics through extensive simulation experiments. The implementation results show that our model significantly outperforms existing models that consider Web caching in transcoding proxies either on a single path or at individual nodes.