VoD folding in networks

In the setting of wireless but also wired networks, we describe a basic software solution –- installed at the VoD data source and the receiver-side caches -- that reduces the traffic volumes by a factor of more than 3x, without any further compression, and with no reduction in the QoS. The key principle is that properly cached data at the receivers can dramatically boost the performance of multi-rank networks, which includes modern wired as well as modern multi-user multiple input, multiple output (MU-MIMO) wireless networks. We show how, under relatively realistic assumptions, we can essentially fold data streams into much shorter streams, thus substantially reducing the volumes of VoD data that we must communicate, without altering a single bit consumed at any of the receiving nodes (consumers).