Fragment 46 of 72 · drawer 04
Three-clock buffer diagram
An original systems diagram derived from standards descriptions of transport, buffer, and media consumption.
- Accession
- MW-F-046
- Representative period
- Interpretive streaming model
- Drawer
- Diagrams & specimens
- Certainty
- high
Three-clock buffer diagram
Interpretive streaming model
Observed surface
ARRIVAL CLOCK → packets or segments enter storage unevenly.
RESERVE CLOCK → playable future grows or shrinks.
PLAYBACK CLOCK → present is consumed at a deliberately steady rate.
Implied procedure
If arrival temporarily slows, reserve pays the difference.
If reserve reaches zero, playback must pause, alter quality, or skip.
Interpretive residue
The viewer experiences one timeline produced by the negotiation of three.
Buffering is an attempt to hide network variation by moving waiting earlier and holding it privately.
Accountability record
Evidence beneath the reconstruction.
These institutional sources support the mechanism or historical practice interpreted above. They do not contain this reconstructed record, its wording, or its invented values.
- RFC Editor / IETF · 2022 RFC 9317: Operational Considerations for Streaming Media Models a media player as a consumer, a buffer and a transport mechanism, and explains underruns and adaptive delivery. Open institutional record ↗
- RFC Editor / IETF · 2013 RFC 7005: De-Jitter Buffer Metric Reporting Explains why receivers deliberately hold media before playout to absorb variation in packet arrival time. Open institutional record ↗