Managing ClientInitiated Connections

The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) allows proxy servers to initiate TCP connections or to send asynchronous UDP datagrams to User Agents in order to deliver requests. However, in a large number of real deployments, many practical considerations, such as the existence of firewalls and Network Address Translators (NATs) or the use of TLS with server-provided certificates, prevent servers from connecting to User Agents in this way. This specification defines behaviors for User Agents, registrars, and proxy servers that allow requests to be delivered on existing connections established by the User Agent. It also defines keep-alive behaviors needed to keep NAT bindings open and specifies the usage of multiple connections from the User Agent to its registrar. Status of This Memo This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet Official Protocol Standards " (STD 1) for the standardization state and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited. Copyright Notice Copyright (c) 2009 IETF Trust and the persons identified as th

Study, Analysis and Modeling of IP Multimedia systems on next generation networks providing mobile and fixed multimedia services

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Evaluating Extensions to IMS Session Setup for Multicast-based Many-to-Many Services

Telecommunication networks are converging towards an all-IP paradigm that integrates a broad set of value-added services. In this context, the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) is being developed by the 3GPP as a key element to achieve the convergence. Additionally, multiparty services are nowadays acquiring an increasing interest from the industry. In this respect, network multicast provides a cost-effective solution to deliver these services to the user. Nevertheless, although network multicast is being considered as an enabler for one-to-many services (e.g. IPTV) in the IMS, the specifications for many-to-many services still follow a unicast approach (e.g. push-to-talk and conference). This paper describes extensions to the session control procedures in the IMS, to support multicast based multi-user services. The idea was first described in a prior work, but this paper presents enhancements to provide a comprehensive solution and to improve the grade of service (GOS) perceived by the users. In addition, the GOS achieved by the proposal is evaluated. First, the bandwidth utilization for the multicast-based multi-user services is analyzed and compared against the unicast scenario. Next, the GOS is evaluated using an analytical approach, by obtaining the mathematical expressions for the session and user plane setup delays. Finally, the GOS is also evaluated using an experimental approach, and the results are compared with values recommended by the ITU-T

Multimedia-Streaming in Benutzergruppen

At the time being, multimedia services using IP technology like IPTV or video on-demand are a hot topic. Technically, they can be classified under the notion of streaming. A server sends media data in a continuous fashion to one or several clients, which consume and display data portions as soon as they arrive. Using a feedback channel customers may influence the play-back, watching programs time-shifted or pausing the program. An enhancement of such streaming services is to watch those movies with a group of people on several devices in parallel. Similar approaches have been developed using IP multicast. However, users cannot control the presentation: pausing or skipping of more unimportant parts is impossible. Moreover, members cannot be added to the session directly within the application. The costream architecture developed in this works offers a collaborative streaming service without these limitations: People may join others watching a movie or invite others to such a collaborative streaming session. Dependent on the desired course of the session the participants' control operations are executed for all users, or the group is split into subgroups to let watchers follow their own time-lines. A group management controls this by means of user roles. Separate from the group management, the so-called association service provides for streaming session control and synchronization among participants. This separation of duties is advantageous in the sense that standard components can be used: For group management, SIP conferencing servers are suitable, whereas session control can best be handled using RTSP proxies as already used for caching of media data. Eventually, the evaluation of this architecture shows that such a service offers both low latency for clients and an acceptable synchronization of media streams to different client devices. Moreover, the communication overhead compared to usual conferencing or streaming systems is very low.Mit Hilfe der IP-Technologie erbrachte Multimedia-Dienste wie IPTV oder Video-on-Demand sind zur Zeit ein gefragtes Thema. Technisch werden solche Dienste unter dem Begriff "Streaming" eingeordnet. Ein Server sendet Mediendaten kontinuierlich an Empfänger, welche die Daten sofort weiterverarbeiten und anzeigen. Über einen Rückkanal hat der Kunde die Möglichkeit der Einflussnahme auf die Wiedergabe. Eine Weiterentwicklung dieser Streaming-Dienste ist die Möglichkeit, gemeinsam mit anderen denselben Film auf mehreren Geräten anzusehen. Ähnliche Ansätze gibt es im Internet bereits durch IP-Multicast. Allerdings können Benutzer hierbei keinen Einfluss auf die Übertragung nehmen - das Überspringen von Teilen ist zum Beispiel nicht möglich. Andere Benutzer können nicht direkt zur Streaming-Sitzung eingeladen werden. Collaborative Streaming ohne solche Einschränkungen bietet die in dieser Arbeit entwickelte costream-Architektur: Sie erlaubt es, andere zum gemeinsamen Betrachten eines Filmes einzuladen oder sich selbst in eine Benutzergruppe einzuklinken. Abhängig vom gewünschten Ablauf der Sitzung wird die Steuerung für alle Teilnehmer durchgeführt oder die Gruppe aufgeteilt. Eine Gruppenverwaltung regelt dies mit Hilfe von Rollenzuweisungen. Davon getrennt sorgt eine weitere Komponente für die Steuerung der Streaming-Sitzungen und die Synchronisation zwischen Teilnehmern. Diese Aufteilung hat den Vorteil, dass von der IETF entwickelte Standardprotokolle eingesetzt werden können. Für die Gruppenverwaltung sind SIP-Konferenzsysteme geeignet, während für die Sitzungssteuerung ein RTSP-Zwischensystem benutzt wurde. Die Evaluierung dieser Architektur zeigt schließlich, dass ein solcher Dienst nicht nur geringe Wartezeiten aufweist, sondern eine akzeptable Synchronisation der Datenströme auf die verschiedenen Ausgabegeräte der Benutzer erreicht wird. Zudem ist der Zusatzaufwand verglichen mit üblichen Konferenz- oder Streaming-Systemen sehr gering

An architecture for the integration of Wireless Actuation Capabilities with IP Multimedia Subsystem

The IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) is an architecture that aims at seamlessly delivering multimedia services. It enables IP multimedia services for end-user using standard Internet based protocols such as Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). Examples of multimedia services include presence, instant messaging, enhanced voice and video, pervasive gaming and emergency services. Wireless actuators are small scale devices that can receive/accept instructions and act on their surrounding environment. They are broadly used in automation industry and intelligent control systems. With the rapid development of Internet and mobile telecommunication technologies, more and more actuators are being deployed in applications such as environment monitoring, home automation and health care to improve human beings’ living conditions. Combining actuators’ actuation capabilities with IMS will certainly enable novel value added services. However, the actuator networks are application specific and provide proprietary interfaces to the external world. Integrating wireless Actuator Networks (AN) with IMS to enable actuation service to IMS end users through standard protocols and interfaces is the objective of this thesis. There are several challenges related to this integration: First, there is no ready-to-use architecture for the integration. New functional entities and suitable protocols for actuation triggering are needed. Second, there are no actuators in the market with open interfaces to the external world, we need to find alternative solutions for the realization of the integrated architecture. Third, there is no information model for abstracting actuation command semantics and this has to be defined. In this thesis we derive a set of requirements for the integration of AN actuation capabilities with IMS, we review and evaluate related work, and then propose a novel architecture. This architecture includes two new functional entities for IMS: The Actuation Control Function (ACF) and the Wireless Actuator Gateway (WAG). The ACF handles high level actuation requests from other applications. It acts as an intermediate component and hides the low level actuation commands from the applications. The WAG transforms high level actuation commands to low level, proprietary and actual actuation commands that can be understood and executed by actuators. A detailed survey and evaluation of existing protocols for actuation command carrying is also provided. We define an actuation command information model to abstract the actuation triggering instructions. We implement the key components of the proposed architecture. A proof of concept prototype has been implemented using simulated robots equipped with actuators. The average end-to-end actuation delay of our architecture is evaluated through experiments with the prototype

A service-enabling framework for the session initiation protocol (SIP)

In this dissertation, we propose a framework to provide multimedia communication services. Our proposed framework is based on SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) and has four fundamental properties: it is available, secure, high performing, and oriented to innovations. The framework is not an architecture with a rigid structure. Instead, the framework is a toolkit made up of a set of tools that can be combined in different ways. The combination of these tools provides applications and services with functionality needed to implement a wide variety of multimedia communication services. Applications and services built on top of the framework use different tools within the toolkit in order to provide their desired overall functionality. The functionality provided by the framework includes a number of primitives to be used by applications and services. These primitives mostly relate to multiparty communications and include floor control. The framework also offers support functions that relate to PSTN (Public Switched Telephony Network) interworking, policy control, and consent-based communications. Additionally, the framework contains functions that relate to signalling transport, multihoming, mobility, security, and NAT (Network Address Translation) traversal. The framework also allows building overlay networks when a SIP network infrastructure is not available. In order to test and refine the ideas presented in this dissertation, we have implemented most of them in proof-of-concept prototypes. We have used experiments and simulations to validate our assumptions and obtain new insights

Interactive gaming application servicefor the UCT IMS network

Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 72-74).Interactive gaming is a major feature of social sectors. Until recently, interactive games have generally been restricted to solitary access networks. In other words, games have to be played on similar systems. The IP Multimedia Subsystem is designed to help with the convergence of different access networks by creating an all IP based network. In so doing, making it possible to have an interactive gaming application that conforms to all forms of access networks. As a result, the only significant requirements would be on the resources available by the access networks or the user terminals performance. This dissertation examines the concept of a gaming application which is accessible by all kinds of users