Data streaming through time-varying transport media

A system for data streaming comprising:

• a plurality of client devices, each client device having a client processor and a decoding device;
• and
• a streaming server in communication with said plurality of client devices through a communication network, said streaming server comprising at least one server processor, an encoder, and a flow controller configured to:
• associate an encoding coefficient with a time-varying connection between said streaming server and a selected client device, said encoding coefficient determining a flow rate of an output of said encoder;
• acquire multiple sets of performance measurements of said time-varying connection over a time window, each set of performance measurements corresponding to one of predefined multiple performance characteristics of said time-varying connection;
• determine a set of current values of performance metrics, having a one-to-one correspondence to said multiple performance characteristics, using a corresponding set of performance measurements;
• determine a preferred encoding coefficient according to said current values;
• maintain a set of acceptance intervals, each acceptance interval corresponding to a respective performance metric and having a respective lower bound and a respective upper bound;
• and
• increasing a current encoding coefficient to produce said preferred encoding coefficient subject to a determination that each element in said set of current values is lower than a lower bound of a corresponding acceptance interval;
• and
• decreasing said current encoding coefficient to produce said preferred encoding coefficient subject to a determination that at least one element in said set of current values exceeds an upper bound of a corresponding acceptance interval.