Towards a new generation of transport services adapted to multimedia application

Une connexion d'ordre et de fiabilité partiels (POC, partial order connection) est une connexion de transport autorisée à perdre certains objets mais également à les délivrer dans un ordre éventuellement différent de celui d'émission. L'approche POC établit un lien conceptuel entre les protocoles sans connexion au mieux et les protocoles fiables avec connexion. Le concept de POC est motivé par le fait que dans les réseaux hétérogènes sans connexion tels qu'Internet, les paquets transmis sont susceptibles de se perdre et d'arriver en désordre, entraînant alors une réduction des performances des protocoles usuels. De plus, on montre qu'un protocole associé au transport d'un flux multimédia permet une réduction très sensible de l'utilisation des ressources de communication et de mémorisation ainsi qu'une diminution du temps de transit moyen. Dans cet article, une extension temporelle de POC, nommée TPOC (POC temporisé), est introduite. Elle constitue un cadre conceptuel permettant la prise en compte des exigences de qualité de service des applications multimédias réparties. Une architecture offrant un service TPOC est également introduite et évaluée dans le cadre du transport de vidéo MPEG. Il est ainsi démontré que les connexions POC comblent, non seulement le fossé conceptuel entre les protocoles sans connexion et avec connexion, mais aussi qu'ils surpassent les performances des ces derniers lorsque des données multimédias (telles que la vidéo MPEG) sont transportées

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

Object Composition Petri Nets (OCPN), Priority Petri Nets (P-Net), Dynamic OCPN (DOCPN) and Enhanced P-Nets (EP-Net) have extended the original Petri Net to achieve the modeling of media synchronization and asynchronous user interactions during multimedia playback. 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

A cross-layer approach to enhance QoS for multimedia applications over satellite

The need for on-demand QoS support for communications over satellite is of primary importance for distributed multimedia applications. This is particularly true for the return link which is often a bottleneck due to the large set of end-users accessing a very limited uplink resource. Facing this need, Demand Assignment Multiple Access (DAMA) is a classical technique that allows satellite operators to offer various types of services, while managing the resources of the satellite system efficiently. Tackling the quality degradation and delay accumulation issues that can result from the use of these techniques, this paper proposes an instantiation of the Application Layer Framing (ALF) approach, using a cross-layer interpreter(xQoS-Interpreter). The information provided by this interpreter is used to manage the resource provided to a terminal by the satellite system in order to improve the quality of multimedia presentations from the end users point of view. Several experiments are carried out for different loads on the return link. Their impact on QoS is measured through different application as well as network level metrics

Efficient memory management in VOD disk array servers usingPer-Storage-Device buffering

We present a buffering technique that reduces video-on-demand server memory requirements in more than one order of magnitude. This technique, Per-Storage-Device Buffering (PSDB), is based on the allocation of a fixed number of buffers per storage device, as opposed to existing solutions based on per-stream buffering allocation. The combination of this technique with disk array servers is studied in detail, as well as the influence of Variable Bit Streams. We also present an interleaved data placement strategy, Constant Time Length Declustering, that results in optimal performance in the service of VBR streams. PSDB is evaluated by extensive simulation of a disk array server model that incorporates a simulation based admission test.This research was supported in part by the National R&D Program of Spain, Project Number TIC97-0438.Publicad

The design and implementation of a multimedia storage server tosupport video-on-demand applications

In this paper we present the design and implementation of a client/server based multimedia architecture for supporting video-on-demand applications. We describe in detail the software architecture of the implementation along with the adopted buffering mechanism. The proposed multithreaded architecture obtains, on one hand, a high degree of parallelism at the server side, allowing both the disk controller and the network card controller work in parallel. On the other hand; at the client side, it achieves the synchronized playback of the video stream at its precise rate, decoupling this process from the reception of data through the network. Additionally, we have derived, under an engineering perspective, some services that a real-time operating system should offer to satisfy the requirements found in video-on-demand applications.This research has been supported by the Regional Research Plan of the Autonomus Community of Madrid under an F.P.I. research grant.Publicad

Specification of multiparty audio and video interaction based on the Reference Model of Open Distributed Processing

The Reference Model of Open Distributed Processing (RM-ODP) is an emerging ISO/ITU-T standard. It provides a framework of abstractions based on viewpoints, and it defines five viewpoint languages to model open distributed systems. This paper uses the viewpoint languages to specify multiparty audio/video exchange in distributed systems. To the designers of distributed systems, it shows how the concepts and rules of RM-ODP can be applied.\ud \ud The ODP ¿binding object¿ is an important concept to model continuous data flows in distributed systems. We take this concept as a basis for multiparty audio and video flow exchanges, and we provide five ODP viewpoint specifications, each emphasising a particular concern. To ensure overall correctness, special attention is paid to the mapping between the ODP viewpoint specifications

Computing infrastructure issues in distributed communications systems : a survey of operating system transport system architectures

The performance of distributed applications (such as file transfer, remote login, tele-conferencing, full-motion video, and scientific visualization) is influenced by several factors that interact in complex ways. In particular, application performance is significantly affected both by communication infrastructure factors and computing infrastructure factors. Several communication infrastructure factors include channel speed, bit-error rate, and congestion at intermediate switching nodes. Computing infrastructure factors include (among other things) both protocol processing activities (such as connection management, flow control, error detection, and retransmission) and general operating system factors (such as memory latency, CPU speed, interrupt and context switching overhead, process architecture, and message buffering). Due to a several orders of magnitude increase in network channel speed and an increase in application diversity, performance bottlenecks are shifting from the network factors to the transport system factors.This paper defines an abstraction called an "Operating System Transport System Architecture" (OSTSA) that is used to classify the major components and services in the computing infrastructure. End-to-end network protocols such as TCP, TP4, VMTP, XTP, and Delta-t typically run on general-purpose computers, where they utilize various operating system resources such as processors, virtual memory, and network controllers. The OSTSA provides services that integrate these resources to support distributed applications running on local and wide area networks.A taxonomy is presented to evaluate OSTSAs in terms of their support for protocol processing activities. We use this taxonomy to compare and contrast five general-purpose commercial and experimental operating systems including System V UNIX, BSD UNIX, the x-kernel, Choices, and Xinu

Verifying service continuity in a satellite reconfiguration procedure: application to a satellite

The paper discusses the use of the TURTLE UML profile to model and verify service continuity during dynamic reconfiguration of embedded software, and space-based telecommunication software in particular. TURTLE extends UML class diagrams with composition operators, and activity diagrams with temporal operators. Translating TURTLE to the formal description technique RT-LOTOS gives the profile a formal semantics and makes it possible to reuse verification techniques implemented by the RTL, the RT-LOTOS toolkit developed at LAAS-CNRS. The paper proposes a modeling and formal validation methodology based on TURTLE and RTL, and discusses its application to a payload software application in charge of an embedded packet switch. The paper demonstrates the benefits of using TURTLE to prove service continuity for dynamic reconfiguration of embedded software