PressBase : a presentation synchronization database for distributed multimedia systems

Multimedia presentations are the basic objects of multimedia databases. Since a multimedia presentation is not an instant display of a query result, the control knowledge (or synchronization requirements) has to be incorporated into the database and necessary precautions have to be taken for a lengthy presentation. Active databases provide a mechanism for incorporation of control knowledge by using event-condition-action (ECA) rules. In this paper, we describe how multimedia synchronization can be handled within a database using ECA rules. We present a prototype presentation synchronization database, named as PressBase, for distributed multimedia systems. We have adopted one of the synchronization models, SynchRuler, and then incorporated into a relational database system.     

Advanced networking services for distributed multimedia streaming applications

Increased network speeds coupled with new services delivered via the Internet have increased the demand for intelligence and flexibility in network systems. This paper argues that both can be provided by new hardware platforms comprised of heterogeneous multi-core systems with specialized communication support. We present and evaluate an experimental network service platform that uses an emergent class of devices—network processors—as its communication support, coupled via a dedicated interconnect to a host processor acting as a computational core. A software infrastructure spanning both enables the dynamic creation of application-specific services on the network processor, mediated by middleware and controlled by kernel-level communication support. Experimental evaluations use a Pentium IV-based computational core coupled with an IXP 2400 network processor. The sample application services run on both include an image manipulation application and application-level multicasting.

Buffer model and management in distributed multimedia presentation systems

The delivery of continuous and synchronous multimedia data from a database (or file) server to multiple destinations over a network presents new challenges in the area of buffer management. Many factors that were not considered in conventional buffer management must be examined. In this paper, we investigate the principles of buffer model and management for multimedia data presentations in distributed systems. The primary goal is to minimize the response time of multimedia presentations while ensuring that all continuity and synchronization requirements are satisfied. A framework for buffer model and management is introduced. Minimum buffering requirements at both client and server sides to guarantee the continuity and synchrony of the presentation of multimedia data are examined. A prefetching and replacement strategy which satisfies these requirements is then offered. These principles and techniques provide users with the full range of information required to develop a distributed system for multimedia presentations.     

Supporting interactive presentation for distributed multimedia applications

In this paper we present IMP, a platform to support the authoring and run-time management of interactive multimedia applications in distributed environments. The multi-level platform model encourages slot-in extensibility to cater for the evolving environment. We illustrate with our prototype platform built above the Cambridge multimedia environment. The authoring model emphasises reusability, tailorability and use of environment features in a uniform way. We have shown the validity of our approach by constructing a variety of application types.     

MING-I: a distributed interactive multimedia document development mechanism

The next generation of interactive multimedia documents can contain both static media, e.g., text, graph, image, and continuous media, e.g., audio and video, and can provide user interactions in distributed environments. However, the temporal information of multimedia documents cannot be described using traditional document structures, e.g., Open Document Architecture (ODA) and Standard Generalized Mark-up Language (SGML); the continuous transmission of media units also raises some new synchronization problems, which have not been met before, for processing user interactions. Thus, developing a distributed interactive multimedia document system should resolve the issues of document model, presentation control architecture, and control scheme. In this paper, we (i) propose a new multimedia document model that contains the logical structure, the layout structure, and the temporal structure to formally describe multimedia documents, and (ii) point out main interaction-based synchronization problems, and propose a control architecture and a token-based control scheme to solve these interaction-based synchronization problems. Based on the proposed document model, control architecture, and control scheme, a distributed interactive multimedia document development mechanism, which is called MING-I, is developed on SUN workstations.     

JINSIL: A middleware for presentation of composite multimedia objects in a distributed environment

In a distributed environment, the presentation of structured, composite multimedia information poses new challenges in dealing with variable bandwidth (BW) requirements and synchronization of media data objects. The detailed knowledge of BW requirements obtained by analyzing document structure can be used for efficient utilization of system resources. A client–server environment consists of various system components that are either dedicated to a client (e.g., client buffer space and BW) or shared across multiple clients (e.g., server buffer space and BW). A shared server could benefit from fine granularity advanced reservation of resources based on true BW requirements. Prefetching by utilizing advance knowledge of BW requirements can further improve resource utilization. The prefetch schedule needs also to be aware of the BW fragmentation in a partitioned server. In this paper, we describe the JINSIL middleware for retrieval of a composite document that takes into account the available BW and buffer resources and the nature of sharing in each component on delivery paths. It reshapes BW requirements, creates prefetch schedules for efficient resource utilization in clients and servers, and reserves necessary BW and buffer space. We also consider good choices for placement of prefetch buffers across client and server nodes.     

Wireless resource management mechanism with green communication for multimedia streaming

In the face of massive parallel multimedia streaming and user access, multimedia servers are often in an overload state, resulting in the delay of service response and the low utilization of wireless resources, which makes it is difficult to satisfy the user experience quality. Aiming at the problems of low utilization rate of multimedia communication resources and large computing load of servers, this paper proposes a self management mechanism and architecture of wireless resources based on multimedia flow green communication. First, based on the combination of multimedia server, relay base station and user cluster, a multimedia green communication system architecture is built based on the comprehensive utilization rate of multimedia communication, and a cluster green communication control algorithm is proposed. Secondly, aiming at the dynamic service demand and asynchronous multimedia communication environment, aiming at ensuring the balance of resource allocation and accelerating the speed of resource allocation, we build a dynamic multimedia wireless resource architecture. Finally, the experimental results of statistics and analysis, from the server in different scale parallel multimedia streams under different scale delay, number of users relay network free resources proportion, user satisfaction, packet loss rate and other performance show that the proposed algorithm is effective and feasible.

     

Intelligent synthesis mechanism for deriving streaming priorities of multimedia content

We address the problem of integrating user preferences with network quality of service parameters for the streaming of media content, and suggest protocol stack configurations that satisfy user and technical requirements to the best available degree. Our approach is able to handle inconsistencies between user and networking considerations, formulating the problem of construction of tailor-made protocols as a prioritization problem, solvable using fuzzy programming.     

DIPCS: An interprocess communication architecture for distributed multimedia systems

This paper presents the Distributed InterProcess Communication System (DIPCS) as a framework for managing communication in a distributed multimedia system. Within DIPCS, connection level management is provided through a novel distributed process group model called ADP-Group communication. The ADP-Group paradigm defines a new type of group message passing, calledqos-reliable. Qos-reliable semantics are appropriate to controlling real-time multimedia communication, by allowing a spectrum of performance and reliability specifications to co-exist within one group. DIPCS also provides an abstract programming model of multimedia devices, easing control of a heterogeneous multimedia system. Distributed multimedia applications can be rapidly developed using simple group operation primitives. We show how ADP-Group message delivery semantics can be directly mapped into an efficient Integrated Services Network support policy.Supported by Computational Diagnostics, Inc., and the Benjamin Franklin Fund for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.Supported by the Rome Laboratory (RL) of the Air Force Material Command and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Contract F30602-93-C-0038).     

HeiRAT - Quality-of-service management for distributed multimedia systems

Multimedia systems must be able to support a certain quality of service (QoS) to satisfy the stringent real-time performance requirements of their applications. HeiRAT, the Heidelberg Resource Administration Technique, is a comprehensive QoS management system that was designed and implemented in connection with a distributed multimedia platform for networked PCs and workstations. HeiRAT includes techniques for QoS negotiation, QoS calculation, resource reservation, and resource scheduling for local and network resources.     

Infopipes: An abstraction for multimedia streaming

To simplify the task of building distributed streaming applications, we propose a new abstraction for information flow – Infopipes. Infopipes make information flow primary, not an auxiliary mechanism that is hidden away. Systems are built by connecting predefined component Infopipes such as sources, sinks, buffers, filters, broadcasting pipes, and multiplexing pipes. The goal of Infopipes is not to hide communication, like an RPC system, but to reify it: to represent communication explicitly as objects that the program can interrogate and manipulate. Moreover, these objects represent communication in application-level terms, not in terms of network or process implementation.     

Job scheduler for streaming applications in heterogeneous distributed processing systems

The Journal of Supercomputing - In this study, we investigated the problem of scheduling streaming applications on a heterogeneous cluster environment and, based on our previous work, developed the...     

SuiteSound: a system for distributed collaborative multimedia

SuiteSound, a programming environment with integrated support for multimedia, is discussed. SuiteSound is built in the Suite object-based system on a conventional UNIX operating system. SuiteSound objects incorporate multimedia by creating flows and filters. Flows are streams of multimedia data moving through a sequence of objects. They bridge the gap between objects representing the state of an entity at a discrete point in time and space and continuous media such as live audio or video. Filters are intermediate objects between the source and destination of a flow. They take flow as input, perform one of several operations such as multiplex-in, multiplex-out, gain control, or silence deletion on it, and send the resulting flow to its destination. In effect, they provide a virtual device interface for the application programmer that is uniform and independent of any physical device. The design and implementation of SuiteSound on the Sun SparcStation are described. Experiments performed to determine the network and CPU load of the sound tool are reviewed     

Dynamic end-to-end QoS management middleware for distributed multimedia systems

In this paper, we present a separable, reusable middleware solution that provides coordinated, end-to-end QoS management over any type of service component, and can use existing (legacy) QoS management solutions (by using wrappers) in a distributed multimedia system. Our middleware solution incorporates strategic and tactical QoS managers, and supports protocols and messages between tactical managers and managed application components, and between QoS managers in the management hierarchy. Strategic QoS managers take a global view of QoS provided by a set of application components within the manager's policy domain. Tactical QoS managers provide local control over application components. We introduce the concept of QoS policy domains to scope the authority of a strategic QoS manager. We describe how the management hierarchy is dynamically configured and reconfigured based on runtime needs of the application.     

Transformation and exchange of multimedia objects in distributed multimedia systems

One of the challenges in the design of a distributed multimedia system is devising suitable specification models for various schemas in different levels of the system. Another important research issue is the integration and synchronization of heterogeneous multimedia objects. In this paper, we present our models for multimedia schemas and transformation algorithms. They transform high-level multimedia objects into schemas that can be used to support the presentation and communication of the multimedia objects. A key module in the system is the Object Exchange Manager (OEM). In this paper, we present the design and implementation of the OEM module, and discuss in detail the interaction between the OEM and other modules in a distributed multimedia system.     

Innovative directions in self-organized distributed multimedia systems

The way by which multimedia contents are produced, delivered across networks, and consumed by intended users have shifted significantly during the past 10 years. In this paper we postulate that, in the near future, flexible and self-organizing facilities will play a dominating role in distributed multimedia systems. We discuss how such systems can be designed, using a three-layer (sensor, distribution, and user layer) architecture, SOMA (Self Organizing Multimedia Architecture), as an example. We also present innovative directions in three main aspects of self-organized multimedia systems: (i) the self-organizing aspects of multimedia user communities, e.g., the wisdom, intentions, and needs of users; (ii) a fresh look at video streams that treat them as a collection of units that can be composed taking user and network aspects into account; and (iii) new delivery paradigms and how self-organization and multimedia delivery can be combined.     

A dynamic Petri net model for iterative and interactive distributed multimedia presentation

Object Composition Petri Nets, Priority Petri Nets, Dynamic OCPN, and Enhanced P-Nets have extended the original Petri Net to achieve the modeling of media synchronization and asynchronous user interactions during multimedia playback. The dynamic Petri Net (DPN) has been conceptualized to tackle existing problems in these two areas of modeling distributed multimedia systems. DPN features dynamic modeling elements which allows iteration and hence is able to reduce graph sizes of synchronous playback models while allowing greater details to be shown. DPN also introduces asynchronous event handling techniques that are powerful and effective. DPN was used in the design and modeling of a multimedia orchestration tool which is a typical representation of an application that works in a distributed multimedia system.     

An auto-scaling mechanism for cloud-based multimedia storage systems: a fuzzy-based elastic controller

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Cloud computing is a new technology that is increasing in popularity day-by-day. One of the reasons for its popularity can be its elasticity feature. In other...     

Synchronization of distributed multimedia systems with user interactions

Without user interactions, multimedia presentations are just fancy slide shows with sound and video supports. User interactions by themselves do not change the temporal relationships among multimedia objects, such as texts, graphics, images, audio, and video, but affect the playback schedules. In this paper, we propose a synchronization mechanism to guarantee the quality of multimedia presentation with user interactions. In our protocol, each presentation site requests media transmission from the required media servers at certain time intervals prior to the playback deadlines, where these time intervals are the response times to cover possible experienced end-to-end delays and packet losses, and waits for an initial setup time to ensure intermedia synchronization before starting the presentation. Users may interact with the presentation. This synchronization mechanism solves the problems incurred by user interactions by determining the new presentation scenario produced by the interactive operation, calculating the corresponding setup time, and then rendering the new playback and retrieval schedules.