Importance

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Abstract

Disclosed is a technique for distribution of multimedia files from file servers (110) over arbitrary telecommunication networks (150) to consumers (160) where those networks offer connections of a certain bandwidth for transmission. The consumers deliver requests for presentation of multimedia files, and the file servers deliver those files with respect to said requests for presentation. According to the proposed method, the transmission rates of the multimedia files are smoothed by spreading the transmission over time leading to additional delays in the delivery of said information. Minimum transmission rates for maximum values of the delays are calculated, and these values are provided as control data for the transmission. These control data are appended to the respective multimedia files, and the multimedia files are delivered to the receivers with respective additional delays between the requests for presentation and the presentation of the files, corresponding to the maximum delays. By the proposed method, time critical files being encoded with a variable amount of data over time, like video-on-demand files, can be transmitted with constant quality despite given fluctuations in the amount of coded data, and without any interaction of the user, and thus a continuous play-back of a demanded video is provided.

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First Claim