Definition of QoE Fairness in Shared Systems

Abstract

Abstract-User-centric service and application management focuses on the Quality of Experience (QoE) as perceived by the end user. Thereby, the goal is to maximize QoE while ensuring fairness among users, e.g., for resource allocation and scheduling in shared systems. Although the literature suggests to consider consequently QoE fairness, there is currently no accepted definition of QoE fairness. The contribution of this paper is the definition of a generic QoE fairness index F which has desirable key properties as well as the rationale behind it. By using examples and a measurement study involving multiple users downloading web content over a bottleneck link, we differentiate the proposed index from QoS fairness and the widely used Jain's fairness index. Based on results, we argue that neither QoS fairness nor Jain's fairness index meet all of the desirable QoE-relevant properties which are met by F . Consequently, the proposed index F may be used to compare QoE fairness across systems and applications, thus serving as a benchmark for QoE management mechanisms and system optimization.

A new QoE fairness index for QoE management

“…We also note that in Hoßfeld et al [15], we demanded additional properties (deviation symmetry and validity for multi-applications) for a QoE fairness metric. However, after receiving feedback from the reviewers of this, we carefully analyzed those properties and revised them.…”

“…We have proposed a QoE fairness index [15], F(Y), which enables us to assess the fairness of a provided service, for which we assume that we have a set of QoE values (Y) produced by a QoE model (about whose particulars we need not worry) mapping a set of QoS parameters x to a unique QoE estimate y. In resource management, network and service providers already use a notion of fairness at the QoS level, striving to allocate a fair share of resources (e.g., bandwidth) to each segment/session/user.…”

“…An issue common to all those efforts is that of dividing the available resources among users so as to maintain a satisfied customer base. In this paper, we explore (in depth) a notion of QoE fairness, first introduced in our previous work [15], to quantify the degree to which the users sharing a network, and using a variety of services on it, achieve commensurate QoE. In this paper, we expound upon both the concept of QoE fairness and the proposed QoE fairness index.…”

“…The properties of Jain's index are further elaborated in "Issues with Jain's index for QoE fairness". "Defining a QoE fairness index" presents the QoE fairness index we proposed [15], and the rationale behind it. We provide an example of its application for web QoE and video streaming QoE to demonstrate its relevance for benchmarking and system design in "Application of the QoE fairness index".…”

Quantitative comparison of application–network interaction: a case study of adaptive video streaming

“…By fairness we assume that each client-independent of its device resolutionperceives a similar displayed quality, measured with SSIM. To investigate the video quality fairness, we use the QoEfairness index for shared systems introduced by Hossfeld et al [32] and adjust it for the usage with SSIM, resulting in the following formula:…”