Under random linear coding (RLC) scheme, we present a simple expression of the probability distribution p(D=K) for decoding delay D incurred by the lossy channel, where K is a positive integer. In contrast with the previous contribution, our focus is firstly on deriving the cumulative distribution function of the discrete random variable D over a perfect channel. One benefit of such dispose is that, from the overall viewpoint, computing the cumulative distribution function of delay D can be related with calculating the cardinalities of sets of some special matrices, so that the former can be obtained from the latter. Moreover, our expression of the probability distribution is an explicit form, and is valid for any number of packets M, freewill field size q and arbitrary channel loss rate ε.

In packet networks including the Internet and commercial 3G wireless bearers, the network states that a streaming media application experiences are not known a priori and exhibit time-varying characteristics. For such dynamic environments, network-adaptive techniques are essential to efficiently deliver video data. In this paper, we propose a frame-based optimal scheduling algorithm which incorporates a MAP (Maximum A Posteriori) framework for adapting to varying network loss rate. The optimal transmission schedule is determined such that effective frame-rate is maximized at playback. Also, for multiple packets per frame, frame-based selection of delivery order greatly reduces computational complexity for a server scheduler when compared with packet-based scheduling techniques. In addition, by dynamically estimating instantaneous packet loss probability, the proposed scheduler performs network-adaptive transmission for streaming video over time-varying packet networks. Simulation results for test video sequence show that the proposed scheduling algorithm outperforms conventional ARQ-based schemes from a view point of reconstructed video quality as well as playable frame-rate. In particular, the proposed scheduling algorithm exhibits significant improvements of frame-rate over highly lossy channels.