Adaptive Receiver-Side Scheduling for Smooth Interactive Delivery

2025-11-20

AI Summary

Interactive applications—such as cloud gaming, XR streaming, and real-time inference—require data to arrive at a steady pace; however, network latency fluctuations and receiver-side recovery dynamics often cause irregular arrivals, inducing jitter and stalling. This paper proposes a lightweight, receiver-only adaptive scheduling method: leveraging a unilateral clock, it employs an asymmetric timing adjustment mechanism to dynamically track the upper envelope of path delay, enabling feedback-free, cross-layer-synchronization-free smooth data release. The design is modular and seamlessly integrates into BitRipple Tunnel, supporting diverse transport stacks including TCP, QUIC, WebRTC, and UDP/RTP. Experiments under cloud gaming workloads demonstrate near-elimination of severe jitter, a 92% reduction in release interval standard deviation, significantly improved visual smoothness, and zero added end-to-end latency.

Technology Category

• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Scheduling under Uncertainty
• Machine Learning: Time-Series/Data Streams
• Multiagent Systems: Agent Communication

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Data management and stream processing for Web, mobile and wireless applications
• Responsible Web: Data and user privacy-enhancing technologies for the Web
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Incentives in network design for Web infrastructures and ecosystems

Abstract

Interactive applications such as cloud gaming, XR streaming, and real-time inference depend on data objects arriving at a steady cadence. In practice, network delay variation and recovery dynamics at the receiver distort this cadence even when transports deliver all packets correctly, which produces visible jitter, stalls, and unstable playback. We present a lightweight receiver-side scheduling approach that regularizes release timing after recovery. The scheduler maintains an adaptive estimate of effective path delay and adjusts release times asymmetrically, responding quickly to late arrivals and only gradually to early ones. This upper-envelope behavior keeps release aligned with recent delay peaks and maintains smooth playback with minimal added latency. The scheduler runs entirely on the receiver clock and requires no feedback or synchronization. As a concrete example, we integrate receiver-side scheduling into the BitRipple Tunnel (BRT) overlay, an application-layer software system that forwards traffic without altering the underlying transport protocol. Within BRT, the scheduler functions as an independent module that regulates delivery timing for forwarded objects. Evaluating BRT with receiver-side scheduling on a cloud-gaming workload shows that the scheduler removes virtually all large jitter excursions and yields tightly clustered release intervals that improve visible smoothness. Broader latency improvements arise from the behavior of the full BRT overlay. Receiver-side scheduling can also be integrated modularly into transport stacks such as TCP, QUIC, WebRTC, UDP, or RTP, which are natural deployment points for future work.

Problem

• Addresses network delay variation disrupting steady data delivery cadence
• Mitigates visible jitter and stalls in interactive applications playback
• Regulates object release timing without sender synchronization requirements

Innovation

• Lightweight receiver-side scheduling regulates release timing
• Adaptive path delay estimate adjusts release times asymmetrically
• Independent module integrates into various transport protocols