Buffer management for video database systems

Future multimedia information systems are likely to manage thousands of videos with various lengths and display requirements. Mismatch of playback and delivery rates of compressed video data requires sophisticated buffer management algorithms to guarantee smooth playback of video data. In this paper, we address some of the many design and operational issues including buffer size requirements, refreshing policies, and support of multiple access points to the same video object. Three different buffer management strategies are proposed and analyzed to minimize the average waiting time while ensuring display without jerkiness. We also evaluate the effectiveness these buffer management strategies with a simulation study.