ABSTRACT
With recent developments in computing technology, such as high-capacity storage devices, high-speed wired and wireless networks, and compression and transmission technologies, more and more users expect to enjoy high-quality multimedia services over the Internet [21-23]. Typically, there are two approaches to providing multimedia services on-demand: offline downloading and online streaming. Since the streaming approach enables users to experience a multimedia presentation on the fly while it is being downloaded from the Internet, it has prevailed in both academia and industry circles. In virtue of the streaming technology, users no longer have to suffer from long and even unacceptable transmission time for full downloads.
