An overview of network coding for multimedia streaming

The objective of this paper is to survey recent developments of network coding, with specific focus on multimedia streaming. Network coding allows nodes to create and forward "combinations" of incoming messages, which has been shown to increase throughput. While network coding has been invented in the information theory field, its potential benefits are spurring new research on its multimedia applications. We first review the concept of network coding, and briefly describe its potential benefits from a multimedia communication perspective. Then, we discuss the specific issues imposed by media delay constraints on network coding algorithms. Finally, we review some recent works that develop network coding principles in media streaming applications.