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.
