分布式多媒体系统通信平台及若干相关技术的探讨

近十年来，分布式多媒体系统得到了很快发展，在很多关键技术领域取得了重大进展，同时也面临着不断出现的新型应用提出了新的挑战，本文控制分布式多媒体系统通信平台及相关技术并展望今后的研究方向。     

Seamless Content Delivery over Mobile 3G+/4G Networks

Widespread and affordable mobile broadband access opens up opportunities for delivery of new streaming services everywhere and anytime. However, what is expected to fundamentally change the way how people use the network is the ability to produce, and seamlessly deliver and share their own multimedia content. In this paper we describe the content distribution and adaptation architecture that we have implemented and tested, the results utilising new coding formats of video coding (e.g. SVC, MVC) and new methods for increasing the robustness of video delivery.     

A CORBA-based quality of service management framework fordistributed multimedia services and applications

For distributed multimedia services, it is essential that quality of service be guaranteed system-wide, including end systems, communication systems, and networks. Although many researchers have addressed issues of QoS management, little attention has so far been paid to the QoS management services in distributed multimedia services and applications. To address this deficiency, we have designed a layered model for end-to-end QoS management called the QoS management framework. Our framework, which is CORBA-based, includes a generic QoS MIB for the QoS parameterization of various multimedia services and the services needed to perform various QoS functions. A key component of this framework is the QoS management service object (QMSO), which orchestrates resources at endpoints, coordinating resource management across layer boundaries. Services such as translation, monitoring, admission, and negotiation are provided by the QMSO. To validate this concept, we have developed a QoS management system for managing and controlling the QoS of a distributed multimedia system called MAESTRO. The QoS management system has been implemented through CORBA objects and provides an interface to multimedia applications, which can be dynamic negotiation and renegotiation of QoS by users. Some performance results in QoS negotiation and renegotiation are also presented     

Multimedia communication

Multimedia communication deals with the transfer, protocols, services, and mechanisms of discrete media data (such as text and graphics) and continuous media data (like audio and video) in/over digital networks. Such a communication requires all involved components to be capable of handling a well-defined quality of service (QoS). The most important QoS parameters are used to request: (1) the required capacities of the involved resources, (2) compliance to end-to-end delay and jitter as timing restrictions, and (3) restriction of the loss characteristics. In this paper, we describe the necessary issues and study the ability of current networks and communication systems to support distributed multimedia applications. Further, we discuss upcoming approaches and systems that promise to provide the necessary mechanisms and consider which issues are missing for a complete multimedia communication infrastructure     

The AROUND Architecture for Dynamic Location-Based Services

This paper presents a generic concept of location-based service as an abstraction for supporting the association between computational resources and location. The objective is to extend the advantages of service-based architectures to the development of location-based systems, thus providing a more open and extensible alternative to the vertical approaches typically used in this type of system. The novel AROUND architecture is proposed as an approach for supporting location-based services in the Internet environment. AROUND provides a service location infrastructure that allows applications to select services that are specifically associated with their current location. The architecture includes a flexible scope model that defines the association between services and location, and a service location infrastructure organised by spatial criteria and optimised for location-based queries. Based on a prototype implementation of this architecture, we have developed two case studies that illustrate the use of this approach for developing location-based systems. The overall results provide a valuable insight into the applicability of the architecture, and suggest that this model of location-based services can provide a useful approach for the development of a wide range of location-based applications.     

Cross-Layer Design for Data Accessibility in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

Mobile ad hoc networks (MANET) are becoming an integral part of the ubiquitouscomputing and communication environment, providing new infrastructure formultimedia applications such as video phone, multimedia-on-demand, and others.In order to access multimedia information in MANET, Quality of Service (QoS)needs to be considered, such as high success rate to access multimedia data,bounded end-to-end delay, and others. In this paper, we present a dataaccessibility service for a group of mobile users to access desired data withhigh success rate. This accessibility service is only possible if we utilizeadvanced data advertising, lookup and replication services, as well as a novelpredictive location-based QoS routing protocol in an integrated fashion. Usingcross-layer design, we illustrate how the QoS routing protocol assists dataadvertising, lookup and replication services to achieve high data accesssuccess rate. Simulation results have shown that our design is successful ina dynamic MANET.     

A simulation based approach for network resources dimensioning in video delivery systems

The availability of high-performance networking technologies and processing power allows creation of new multimedia services and applications in broadband integrated services networks. Such new services will be successful only if delivered to end-users at low cost. At present, for wide-area distributed systems, communication has a relevant impact on the overall costs. As a consequence, adequate methodologies for an efficient dimensioning of the network resources need to be devised. Simulation techniques represent a powerful instrument for the analysis and evaluation of real systems. This paper, moving from the definition of mathematical models for VBR video sources, presents the application of a simulation approach to verify the compatibility of the communication load related to a set of video streams with the data transport capability of an existing network architecture for the delivery of video streams, in the case of CBR communication links.     

移动互联网助推移动视讯发展

随着移动互联网的飞速发展,移动网络速度不断提升,智能终端成本持续下降,移动互联网为多媒体视讯发展带来新的增长契机——移动视讯。结合移动应用、位置定位、传感器件等智能终端技术,移动视讯在监控、会话、会议、消息等方面得到广泛应用。同时,移动互联网催生了包括微视频、富媒体广告在内的多种新颖移动视讯形式。移动互联网在提升移动视讯服务质量的同时,在应用的深度和广度上也极大程度地推动移动视讯的发展。但是受限于移动智能终端的特点和无线数据信道的稳定性差,移动视讯也存在诸多问题。本文首先阐述移动视讯技术需求和移动互联网特点优势,进而介绍移动互联网在移动视讯中典型应用,最后分析移动视讯存在的问题。     

Location-Independent Access in Mobile Systems

In this paper, we report on the design of a protocol for transparent, location-independent access in mobile systems. The protocol, termed by us Mobile Client/Server Protocol (MCSP) is an implementation of a communication layer on a mobile host and a stationary machine within the wireline network, and provides middleware functionality. The MCSP supports communication services through the client/server paradigm to transaction-oriented applications distributed between the mobile and a set of service and information brokers. To support the mobile and the wireless environment, a surrogate process is created within the fixed network to perform operations on behalf of the mobile within the fixed network. The MCSP then loosely couples the communicating entities, thus reducing the overhead associated with handoffs and disconnects, so characteristic of the mobile environment. Of particular interest is the application of the MCSP to location-based services, for example, the Intelligent Vehicle Highway Systems [1].     

Temporal validation of multimedia protocols

With the emergence of distributed multimedia systems, temporal constraints are becoming a fundamental feature in specifying and validating distributed systems. We have already developed an approach for specifying and validating end-to-end protocols with temporal constraints. The method based on reachability analysis, consists in constructing a temporal reachability graph describing the communication between two temporal machines through two temporal FIFO channels. The structure and states of this graph are then studied according to given communication properties to validate the related protocol. In this paper, we show how to genera lize this model for describing and validating multimedia protocols that are generally made up of more than two temporal machines communicating either through temporal FIFO channels or by rendezvous. Two examples of such protocols are considered as case studies.     

Satellite radio interface and radio resource management strategy for the delivery of multicast/broadcast services via an integrated satellite-terrestrial system

A variety of hybrid systems combining third-generation mobile communication networks with broadcast systems have been proposed for the delivery of multimedia broadcast multicast services (MBMS) to mobile users. The article discusses one of these alternatives, which involves the use of a geostationary satellite component for MBMS delivery. In particular, it proposes a radio access scheme for the satellite component of the system that features maximum commonalities with the standardized T-UMTS WCDMA-based interface. The ultimate advantages of this approach are more efficient delivery of MBMS as far as the mobile network operator is concerned. The required adaptations at the interface layers are described, and the radio resource management strategy that fulfills the particular requirements of the satellite system is presented.     

Applying generic timing tests for distributed multimedia software systems

With recent advances in network technologies and computing power, multimedia systems have become a popular means for information delivery. However, testing of these systems is difficult. Due to incomplete control of their runtime and communication environment, precise temporal properties of multimedia systems are nonreproducible. Traditional software testing, which mainly deals with functional correctness, cannot be directly applied to testing temporal properties. Furthermore, time points are hard to be measured exactly, and in this sense are nondeterministic and nonreproducible. To address this problem, we propose a framework for testing the generic temporal properties of media objects in distributed multimedia software systems (DMSS). The timing properties are based on Allen's basic binary temporal relations between two objects, which can be extended to cover multiple objects. We have developed techniques for test case generation, and test result analysis based on a distributed tester architecture. Test templates are used in test case generation to reduce the possibility of human error, and the entire testing procedure can be automated. A prototype system has been built to test a DEC HPAS multimedia presentation system, which is a multimedia system supporting W3C's SMIL standard. Detailed discussions on practical issues illustrated with a number of actual tests are given. Experimental results have shown that our framework is effective in detecting errors in temporal properties. Furthermore, ways to reduce the test effort have been discussed, and guidelines for coming up with criteria for verdict computation based on the real-time requirements of the applications have been suggested.     

Mobile Software-Agenten in der Telekommunikation

The future evolution of telecommunication will be characterised by decentralised high-speed communication systems in distributed environments. These systems enable the dynamic provision of various information- and communication services, where information will be accessible any time, at any place, in any form. The development of a new technology, which customises the existing telecommunication services, is very significant for the competitiveness of network- and service providers. This article introduces the technology of intelligent agents, in particular mobile agents, and its application in telecommunications. The use of mobile agents enables dynamic provision of multimedia services, decentralisation of network management, and efficient resource management.     

Distributed multimedia systems

A distributed multimedia system (DMS) is an integrated communication, computing, and information system that enables the processing, management, delivery, and presentation of synchronized multimedia information with quality-of-service guarantees. Multimedia information may include discrete media data, such as text, data, and images, and continuous media data, such as video and audio. Such a system enhances human communications by exploiting both visual and aural senses and provides the ultimate flexibility in work and entertainment, allowing one to collaborate with remote participants, view movies on demand, access on-line digital libraries from the desktop, and so forth. In this paper, we present a technical survey of a DMS. We give an overview of distributed multimedia systems, examine the fundamental concept of digital media, identify the applications, and survey the important enabling technologies     

移动网络中HTTP视频流终端数据分析及应用

伴随移动通信技术的发展,越来越多的用户选择通过移动网络随时随地观看网络视频,移动视频业务迅速增长.在现有的无线视频传输方式中,由于TCP的可靠性以及易穿透防火墙和网络地址转化等优点,基于TCP的HTTP流逐渐成为网络视频的主流传榆方式.另一方面,用户对业务体验需求的上升,也给移动数据的传输带来巨大挑战.该文通过采集和分析HTTP流的终端数据,获到了HTTP流在HSPA+中传输特性及关键参数的特征,分析结果表明其视频块传输速率变化与自回归模型近似,并在此基础上,提出一种视频等级自适应控制算法,能够有效地改善用户体验.     

The TINA initiative [intelligent networks]

The telecommunications information networking architecture (TINA), which builds on the current advances in broadband communication and distributed computing technologies, specifying a software-based architecture for future information networks that are required to transport multimedia information and manage multimedia communication, is described. An important aspect of the architecture is that service segment functions are separated from delivery segment functions. Another key aspect is the elimination of the rigid division between network applications and operations applications that exists in current-day networks. In the TINA architecture, both kinds of applications execute on a common distributed processing platform that hides from applications the effects and complexities introduced by distribution. The architecture supports application interoperability enabling flexible construction of services, composed of service components distributed across network domains, allowing network operators and service providers to cooperatively meet the needs of the user     

自适应动态分组预约多址协议

该文提出一种基于自适应传输的动态分组预约多址协议。用来在业务量和信道都时变的环境下，灵活、高效地支持需要各种不同质量需求的无线多媒体通信。在这个方案中根据特点不同将空闲时隙分为“自由”、“长可用”或“短可用”三种，以“自由”时隙数目作为系统实时业务量的判决标准，根据系统实时业务量分别采用不同的多址接入策略，将长数据和短数据安排在语音传输的空隙传输，同时采用了自适应传输体制来进一步提高系统性能。仿真实验表明，通过合理选择系统参数，可以有效地增加系统总容量。     

Dynamic Resource Allocation and Scheduling for Cloud‐Based Virtual Content Delivery Networks

This paper proposes a novel framework for virtual content delivery networks (CDNs) based on cloud computing. The proposed framework aims to provide multimedia content delivery services customized for content providers by sharing virtual machines (VMs) in the Infrastructure‐as‐a‐Service cloud, while fulfilling the service level agreement. Furthermore, it supports elastic virtual CDN services, which enables the capabilities of VMs to be scaled to encompass the dynamically changing resource demand of the aggregated virtual CDN services. For this, we provide the system architecture and relevant operations for the virtual CDNs and evaluate the performance based on a simulation.     

A self-adaptive service provisioning framework for 3G+/4G mobile applications

In light of the increasing acceptance of the notion of next generation networks (NGN), which results from the convergence of the fixed and mobile telecommunications, Internet, and entertainment sectors, there is a need for the realization of next-generation service delivery platforms to allow seamless and adaptive provisioning of multimedia information and communication services to mobile users. This means that in such an NGN environment different end systems, access networks, and service platforms have to be integrated. For this highly heterogeneous communications and services environment, we propose a self-adaptive service provisioning middleware framework (ASPF), which, by interoperating with existing wireless and wireline service delivery platforms, aims to enable seamless omnipresent service provisioning to mobile users anywhere, anytime, and in any context. The ASPF is intended to "liberate" applications from space and time limitations, networks, platforms, and device dependences, minimize time-to-market constraints, and eliminate major hurdles that hinder the rapid deployment of new mobile services and applications. Key to this goal is interworking/integration with current SDPs, such as IN/CAMEL, OSA/Parlay, and the emerging IMS.