Two-tier On-demand Streaming

We propose an innovative chunk-based streaming framework, featuring two-tier video coding and delivery: the base tier prefetches chunks covering 360-degree view at low quality using a long buffer, while the enhancement tier requests chunks covering the predicted user view window at high quality. We study optimal rate allocation between the two tiers to strike the desired balance between the rendered video quality and streaming robustness to bandwidth and FoV dynamics. We develop chunk-based video rate selection and view-span adaptation algorithms using both model-based feedback control loops and model-free reinforcement learning.