ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on technologies that enable mobile video-on-demand (VOD) services. A VOD system is an interactive multimedia system working like cable television, the difference being that the client can select a movie from a large video database stored at a distant video server. A VOD system is therefore a realization of the video rental shop brought into the home. A mobile wireless VOD system has many practical applications. VOD services are already available on the Internet. The designs for VOD systems can be categorized into three main approaches: client/ server, peer-to-peer (P2P), and periodic broadcast. The chapter reviews existing periodic broadcasting techniques for VOD on the Internet and their potential for deployment in a mobile wireless network. It introduces MobiVOD, a mobile VOD technique that combines the strength of periodic broadcast and P2P approaches. The chapter explores periodic broadcast techniques for VOD services in a wireless networking environment.
