Resource allocation for mobile video conferencing

We consider resource allocation for mobile video-conferencing applications. We represent the performance of a session by a sigmoid utility function of the average bit rate over one or more groups of pictures, subject to an outage constraint. The goal is to maximize the total expected utility of all active video-conferencing users. We propose that resources can be allocated if the base station chooses a price per unit rate based on total demand and the users respond by choosing rates. Since video-conferencing is interactive, an outage constraint requires that resources be assigned based on a user's channel. We suggest that prices should be set to statistically guarantee a minimum rate for users with poor combined pathloss and shadowing.