Peer-to-peer television for the IP multimedia subsystem

Peer-to-peer (P2P) video streaming has generated a significant amount of interest in both the research community and the industry, which find it a cost-effective solution to the user scalability problem. However, despite the success of Internet-based applications, the adoption has been limited for commercial services, such as Internet Protocol Television (IPTV). With the advent of the next-generation-networks (NGN) based on the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), advocating for an open and inter-operable architecture, P2P emerges as a possible alternative in situations where the traditional mechanisms are not possible or economically feasible. This work proposes a P2P IPTV architecture for an IMS-based NGN, called P2PTV, which allows one or more service providers to use a common P2P infrastructure for streaming the TV channels to their subscribers. Instead of using servers, we rely on the uploading capabilities of the user equipments, like set-top boxes, located at the customers’ premise. We comply with the existing IMS and IPTV standards from the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and the Telecommunications and Internet converged Services and Protocols for Advanced Networking (TISPAN) bodies, where a centralized P2PTV application server (AS) manages the customer access to the service and the peer participation. Because watching TV is a complex and demanding user activity, we face two significant challenges. The first is to accommodate the mandatory IMS signaling, which reserves in the network the necessary QoS resources during every channel change, establishing a multimedia session between communicating peers. The second is represented by the streaming interruptions, or churn, when the uploading peer turns off or changes its current TV channel. To tackle these problems, we propose two enhancements. A fast signaling method, which uses inactive uploading sessions with reserved but unused QoS, to improve the tuning delay for new channel users. At every moment, the AS uses a feedback based algorithm to compute the number of necessary sessions that accommodates well the demand, while preventing the over-reservation of resources. We approach with special care mobility situations, where a proactive transfer of the multimedia session context using the IEEE 802.21 standard offers the best alternative to current methods. The second enhancement addresses the peer churn during channel changes. With every TV channel divided into a number of streams, we enable peers to download and upload streams different from their current channel, increasing the stability of their participation. Unlike similar work, we benefit from our estimation of the user demand and propose a decentralized method for a balanced assignment of peer bandwidth. We evaluate the performance of the P2PTV through modeling and large-scale computer simulations. A simpler experimental setting, with pure P2P streaming, indicates the improvements over the delay and peer churn. In more complex scenarios, especially with resource-poor peers having a limited upload capacity, we envision P2P as a complementary solution to traditional approaches like IP multicast. Reserving P2P for unpopular TV channels exploits the peer capacity and prevents the necessity of a large number of sparsely used multicast trees. Future work may refine the AS algorithms, address different experimental scenarios, and extend the lessons learned to non-IMS networks. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------La transmisión de vídeo con tecnologías peer-to-peer (P2P) ha generado un gran interés, tanto en la industria como en la comunidad científica, quienes han encontrado en dicha unión la solución para afrontar los problemas de escalabilidad de la transmisión de vídeo, reduciendo al mismo tiempo sus costes. A pesar del éxito de estos mecanismos en Internet, la transmisión de vídeo mediante técnicas P2P no se ha utilizado en servicios comerciales como puede ser el de televisión por IP (IPTV). Con la aparición de propuestas de redes de próxima generación basadas en el IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), que permite una arquitectura abierta e interoperable, los mecanismos basados en P2P emergen como posibles alternativas en situaciones donde los mecanismos tradicionales de transmisión de vídeo no se pueden desplegar o no son económicamente viables. Esta tesis propone una arquitectura de servicio de televisión peer-to-peer para una red de siguiente generación basada en IMS, que abreviaremos como P2PTV, que permite a uno o más proveedores de servicio utilizar una infraestructura P2P común para la transmisión de canales de TV a sus suscriptores. En vez de utilizar varios servidores, proponemos utilizar la capacidad de envío de los equipos de usuario, como los set-top boxes, localizados en el lado del cliente. En esta tesis extendemos los trabajos de estandarización sobre IMS IPTV de los organismos 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) y del Telecommunications and Internet converged Services and Protocols for Advanced Networking (TISPAN), donde un servidor de aplicación (AS) central de P2PTV administra el acceso de los clientes al servicio y permite compartir los recursos de los equipos. Debido a que el acceso a los canales de TV por parte de los usuarios es una actividad compleja, nos enfrentamos a dos retos importantes. El primero es administrar la señalización de IMS, con la cual se reservan los recursos de QoS necesarios durante cada cambio de canal, estableciendo una sesión multimedia entre los diferentes elementos de la comunicación. El segundo está representado por las interrupciones de la reproducción de video, causado por los equipos que sirven dicho vídeo cuando estos se desconectan del sistema o cuando cambian de canal. Para afrontar estos retos, proponemos dos mejoras al sistema. La primera mejora introduce el método de señalización rápida, en la cual se utilizan sesiones multimedia inactivas pero con recursos reservados para acelerar las conexiones entre usuarios. En cada momento, el AS utiliza la información extraída del algoritmo propuesto, que calcula el número de sesiones necesarias para administrar la demanda de conexiones, pero sin realizar una sobre-estimación, manteniendo bajo el uso de los recursos. Hemos abordado con especial cuidado la movilidad de los usuarios, donde se ha propuesto una transferencia de sesión pro-activa utilizando el estándar IEEE 802.21, el cual brinda una mejor alternativa que los métodos propuestos hasta la fecha. La segunda mejora se enfoca en las desconexiones de usuarios durante cambios de canal. Dividiendo los canales de TV en varios segmentos, permitimos a los equipos descargar o enviar diferentes partes de cualquier canal, aumentando la estabilidad de su participación. A diferencia de otros trabajos, nuestra propuesta se beneficia de la estimación de la demanda futura de los usuarios, proponiendo un método descentralizado para una asignación balanceada del ancho de banda de los equipos. Hemos evaluado el rendimiento del sistema P2PTV a través de modelado y de simulaciones de ordenador en sistemas IPTV de gran escala. Una configuración simple, con envío P2P puro, indica mejoras en el retardo y número de desconexiones de usuarios. En escenarios más complejos, especialmente con equipos con pocos recursos en la subida, sugerimos el uso de P2P como una solución complementaria a las soluciones tradicionales de multicast IP. Reservando el uso de P2P para los canales de TV poco populares, se permite explotar los recursos de los equipos y se previene la necesidad de un alto número de árboles multicast dispersos. Como trabajo futuro, se propone refinar los algoritmos del AS, abordar diferentes escenarios experimentales y también extender las lecciones aprendidas en esta tesis a otros sistemas no basados en IMS

LIVE STREAMING USING PEER DIVISION MULTIPLEXING

A Number of commercial peer-to-peer (P2P) systems for live streaming have been introduced in recent years. The behaviour of the popular systems has been extensively studied in several measurement papers. However, these studies have to rely on a “black-box” approach, where packet traces are collected from a single or a limited number of measurement points, to infer various properties of the traffic on the control and data planes. Although, such studies are useful to compared different systems from the end user’s perspective. It is difficult to intuitively understand the observed properties without fully reverseengineering the underlying systems. In this paper, we describe the network architecture of Zattoo, one of the largest production, live streaming providers, in Europe, at the time of writing, and present a large-scale measurement study of zattoo, using data collected by the provider. To highlight we found that even, when the zattoo system was heavily loaded with as high as 20000 concurrent users on a single overlay, the median channel join delay remained less than 2-5 s, and that, for a majority of users, the streamed signal lags over-the-air broadcast signal by more than 3 s

Diseño centrado en calidad para la difusión Peer-to-Peer de video en vivo

El uso de redes Peer-to-Peer (P2P) es una forma escalable para ofrecer servicios de video sobre Internet. Este documento hace foco en la definición, desarrollo y evaluación de una arquitectura P2P para distribuir video en vivo. El diseño global de la red es guiado por la calidad de experiencia (Quality of Experience - QoE), cuyo principal componente en este caso es la calidad del video percibida por los usuarios finales, en lugar del tradicional diseño basado en la calidad de servicio (Quality of Service - QoE) de la mayoría de los sistemas. Para medir la calidad percibida del video, en tiempo real y automáticamente, extendimos la recientemente propuesta metodología Pseudo-Subjective Quality Assessment (PSQA). Dos grandes líneas de investigación son desarrolladas. Primero, proponemos una técnica de distribución de video desde múltiples fuentes con las características de poder ser optimizada para maximizar la calidad percibida en contextos de muchas fallas y de poseer muy baja señalización (a diferencia de los sistemas existentes). Desarrollamos una metodología, basada en PSQA, que nos permite un control fino sobre la forma en que la señal de video es dividida en partes y la cantidad de redundancia agregada, como una función de la dinámica de los usuarios de la red. De esta forma es posible mejorar la robustez del sistema tanto como sea deseado, contemplando el límite de capacidad en la comunicación. En segundo lugar, presentamos un mecanismo estructurado para controlar la topología de la red. La selección de que usuarios servirán a que otros es importante para la robustez de la red, especialmente cuando los usuarios son heterogéneos en sus capacidades y en sus tiempos de conexión.Nuestro diseño maximiza la calidad global esperada (evaluada usando PSQA), seleccionado una topología que mejora la robustez del sistema. Además estudiamos como extender la red con dos servicios complementarios: el video bajo demanda (Video on Demand - VoD) y el servicio MyTV. El desafío en estos servicios es como realizar búsquedas eficientes sobre la librería de videos, dado al alto dinamismo del contenido. Presentamos una estrategia de "caching" para las búsquedas en estos servicios, que maximiza el número total de respuestas correctas a las consultas, considerando una dinámica particular en los contenidos y restricciones de ancho de banda. Nuestro diseño global considera escenarios reales, donde los casos de prueba y los parámetros de configuración surgen de datos reales de un servicio de referencia en producción. Nuestro prototipo es completamente funcional, de uso gratuito, y basado en tecnologías bien probadas de código abierto

Employing H.264 Coarse and Medium Grain Scalable Video to Optimize Video Playback over Passive Optical Networks

In this work, we propose the use of Coarse Grain Scalable (CGS) and Medium Grain Scalable (MGS) H.264/AVC video to optimize video playback on passive optical networks (PONs) by investigating network performance metrics such as data delay, video delay, and video delay jitter. Video playback is improved by sequentially dropping layers of scalable video. Dropping just a single CGS enhancement layer results in improvements of up to 57% for both data and video delay. However, video delay jitter benefits the most with an improvement ranging from 47% to 87%. Surprisingly, dropping subsequent CGS enhancement layers does not significantly improve the PONs performance. In order to remedy this effect, our focus switched to employing the H.264/AVC MGS video standard. Though video traffic delay is the primary object of optimization in this work, the proposed algorithm’s impacts on other network performance metrics such as data traffic delay and video traffic delay variance (jitter) are analyzed as well. Video playback is improved by employing an adaptive scalable video layer dropping algorithm which drops a progressively larger number of scalable video layers as network utilization increases as measured by the moving average of the video packet delay. The influence of the algorithm\u27s three parameters on its performance is investigated in detail, and the results of the optimized adaptive dropping algorithm are compared to baseline static dropping algorithm

Real-time transmission of scalable video over peer-to-peer networks

Dissertação de mest., Engenharia Elétrica e Eletrónica (Tecnologias da Informação e Telecomunicações), Instituto Superior de Engenharia, Univ. do Algarve, 2012Nos últimos anos temos assistido ao expressivo crescimento na procura de conteúdos de vídeo na Internet. Esse crescimento tem surgido associado ao aumento da diversidade dos terminais com capacidades para receber conteúdos de vídeo e ao aumento na procura de conteúdos em alta definição, colocando novos desafios de heterogeneidade e escalabilidade às redes que servem de suporte à distribuição desses conteúdos. O problema da escalabilidade tem sido resolvido tradicionalmente nas redes IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) recorrendo ao IP Multicast, suportado em redes e equipamentos administrados por operadores privados e que por isso têm mecanimos de controlo que reduzem os riscos associados ao mesmo. No entanto, na Internet, tais riscos levaram a que o IP Multicast não fosse adotado, o que por sua vez condiciona a distribuição em larga escala de vídeo. Neste sentido, os fornecedores de conteúdos vêm-se por isso obrigados a recorrer a soluções ditas de nível de aplicação ou também denominadas de soluções sobrepostas. Neste âmbito as soluções Peer-to-Peer são hoje extensivamente utilizadas como suporte à troca de ficheiros, o que poderia fazer delas uma possível solução à distribuição ponto-multiponto de vídeo. Em relação ao problema da heterogeneidade de terminais, a introdução recente de normas de compressão escalável de vídeo permitem ir ao encontro da variabilidade de equipamentos com diferentes definições e capacidades de processamento. Neste âmbito, a investigação efectuada nesta dissertação pretende combinar as soluções Peer-to-Peer mais importantes, com o vídeo escalável, no sentido de obter um sistema que, suportado na Internet, permita a distribuição ponto-multiponto de conteúdos com requisitos de tempo real para um número elevado de terminais com características heterogéneas

Architecture autonome et distribuée d'adressage et de routage pour la flexibilité des communications dans l'internet

Les schémas de routage locaux basés sur des coordonnées prises dans le plan hyperbolique ont attiré un intérêt croissant depuis quelques années. Cependant, les solutions proposées sont toutes appliquées à des réseaux au topologie aléatoire et au nombre de nœuds limités. Dans le même temps, plusieurs travaux se sont concentrés sur la création de modèle topologique basé sur les lois de la géométrie hyperbolique. Dans ce cas, Il est montré que les graphes ont des topologies semblables à Internet et qu'un routage local hyperbolique atteint une efficacité proche de la perfection. Cependant, ces graphes ne garantissent pas le taux de réussite du routage même si aucune panne ne se produit. Dans cette thèse, l'objectif est de construire un système passant à l'échelle pour la création de réseau recouvrant capable de fournir à ses membres un service d'adressage et de routage résilient dans un environnement dynamique. Ensuite, nous étudions de quelle manière les réseaux P2PTV pourraient supporter un nombre d'utilisateur croissant. Dans cette thèse, nous essayons de répondre à cette question en étudiant les facteurs d'efficacité et de passage à l'échelle dans un système de diffusion vidéo P2P typique. Au travers des données fournies par Zattoo, producteur de réseau P2PTV, nous réalisons des simulations dont les résultats montrent qu'il y a encore des obstacles à surmonter avant que les réseaux P2P de diffusion vidéo puissent dépendre uniquement de leurs utilisateurs.Local routing schemes based on virtual coordinates taken from the hyperbolic plane have attracted considerable interest in recent years.However, solutions have been applied to ad-hoc and sensor networks having a random topology and a limited number of nodes. In other hand, some research has focused on the creation of network topology models based on hyperbolic geometric laws. In this case, it has been shown that these graphs have an Internet-like topology and that local hyperbolic routing achieves a near perfect efficiency. However, with these graphs, routing success is not guaranteed even if no failures happen. In this thesis, we aim at building a scalable system for creating overlay networks on top of the Internet that would provide reliable addressing and routing service to its members in a dynamic environment.Next, we investigate how well P2PTV networks would support a growing number of users. In this thesis, we try to address this question by studying scalability and efficiency factors in a typical P2P based live streaming network. Through the use of the data provided by Zattoo a production P2PTV network, we carry out simulations whose results show that there are still hurdles to overcome before P2P based live streaming could depend uniquely of their users.BORDEAUX1-Bib.electronique (335229901) / SudocSudocFranceF

Scenarios and system dynamics of mobile peer-to-peer content distribution

Vertaisverkkoteknologian menestys kiinteissä verkoissa on johtanut vertaisverkkototeutuksiin myös mobiileissa verkoissa. Mobiilin vertaisverkkoteknologian tulevaisuuden suhteen on tosin vielä paljon epävarmuutta, koska operaattorit ja muut sidosryhmän jäsenet, jotka kärsivät laittoman tiedostonvaihdon seurauksista kiinteän verkon puolella, pelkäävät saman tapahtuvan myös mobiileissa verkoissa. Täten he saattavat yrittää estää mobiilin vertaisverkkoteknologian kehittymistä. On myös epävarmaa onko mobiilille vertaisverkkoteknologialle tarvetta loppukäyttäjän näkökulmasta, eritoten kun mobiililaitteiden suorituskyvyt ovat huomattavasti alhaisempia kuin kiinteiden. Tämä diplomityö keskittyy mobiilin vertaisverkon sisällönjakeluun. Sisällönjakelu on jaettu tiedostonvaihtoon, sisällön suoratoistoon ja kaupallisiin sisältöjärjestelmiin. Työ antaa näkemystä mobiilin vertaisverkon sisällönjakelun olennaisimpiin skenaarioihin, sidosryhmän jäseniin ja heidän kannustimiin. Mobiilin vertaisverkon sisällönjakelun epävarmuutta rajataan käyttämällä skenaarioanalyysiä ja mallinnetaan systeemidynamiikalla. Olennaisimmat skenaariot rakennetaan Schoemakerin metodilla ja niiden mallinnusta yritetään systeemidynamiikan keinoin. Tuloksena saadaan neljä eri skenaariota, jotka on kehitetty brainstorming -tilaisuuksissa ja kirjallisuuskatsauksessa löydettyjen avaintrendien ja -epävarmuustekijöiden perusteella. Skenaarioiden kvantitatiivisen mallinnuksen sijaan mallinnetaan skenaarioihin perustuvan mobiilin vertaisverkon sisällönjakelujärjestelmän dynaamista käyttäytymistä. Vaikka joitakin mobiilia vertaisverkkoteknologiaa hyödyntäviä sovelluksia on jo kehitetty ja käytössä, sekä aihetta tutkittu laajasti, vieläkin on epävarmaa mikä teknologian vaikutus tulee olemaan. Tämä diplomityö esittää mahdollisia vaikutuksia teknologialle ja antaa lähtökohdan tulevalle mobiilien vertaisverkon sisällönjakelujärjestelmien kvantitatiiviselle mallinnukselle. Systeemidynamiikka on toteuttamiskelpoinen vaihtoehto tavallisemmille mallinnustekniikoille, kuten taulukkolaskentamallinnukselle, jonka etuna on järjestelmän takaisinkytkentäsilmukkojen mallintaminen. Kun mobiili vertaisverkkoteknologia kehittyy, enemmän dataa tulee saataville ja vaihtoehtoisten systeemidynamiikkamallien rakentaminen on suositeltavaa.The success of peer-to-peer technology in the fixed networks has led to peer-to-peer implementations in the mobile networks as well. There is, however, a lot of uncertainty regarding the future of mobile peer-to-peer technology as the operators and other stakeholders that were affected negatively by illegal peer-to-peer file sharing in the fixed networks are afraid that it might happen in the mobile domain as well. Thus they might try to prevent mobile peer-to-peer technology from emerging. There is also the question whether there really is a need for peer-to-peer technology in the mobile domain from the end users' perspective, especially as the mobile device capabilities are considerably lower compared to the fixed ones. This thesis concentrates on mobile peer-to-peer content distribution. Content distribution is divided to file exchange, content streaming and commercial content systems. The thesis provides insight to the most relevant scenarios, stakeholders and their incentives related to mobile peer-to-peer content distribution. The uncertainty regarding mobile peer-to-peer content distribution will be bounded using scenario analysis and modeled using system dynamics. The most relevant scenarios regarding mobile peer-to-peer content distribution are constructed using Schoemaker's method and modeling of these scenarios is attempted with system dynamics. As a result four different scenarios are developed based on the key trends and uncertainties discovered during the literature review and brainstorming sessions. Instead of modeling the scenarios quantitatively, the dynamic behavior of a mobile peer-to-peer content distribution system based on the scenarios is modeled with system dynamics. Although there are some mobile peer-to-peer content distribution applications already developed and used, and the topic is considerably researched, it is still uncertain what the outcome of the technology will be. This thesis presents possible outcomes for the technology and provides a starting point for further quantitative modeling of mobile peer-to-peer content distribution systems. System dynamics provides a viable alternative to more common modeling techniques such as spreadsheet modeling, with a distinctive benefit of modeling the feedback loops in a system when used proficiently. As the mobile peer-to-peer technology evolves, more data becomes available and the construction of alternative system dynamics models is encouraged

P2PTV: Is it a feasible option for the television industry?

Peer-to-peer technology is a technology that uses a centralized system which usually carries a server/client relationship which is responsible for carrying the load of information for all connected clients. Peers from the peer-to-peer community connect to a central directory where they can publish information about the content they will offer the peers. In order to guide the research, there were three research questions that were focused on. Those questions were: 1. What are some of the possible uses for peer-to-peer television technology within the television industry? 2. What are some of the benefits and downfalls of peer-to-peer technology for the television industry? 3. How can peer-to-peer television technology change advertising revenue if involved in the television industry? Through these research questions, the results showed that there were many benefits and concerns for peer-to-peer technology being used within the television industry. Through the research it was also discovered that the internet service providers may also play a vital role in the regulation of the technology and how it is used.M.S., Television Management -- Drexel University, 201

Architecture autonome et distribuée d'adressage et de routage pour la flexibilité des communications dans l'Internet

Local routing schemes based on virtual coordinates taken from the hyperbolic plane have attracted considerable interest in recent years. However, solutions have been applied to ad-hoc and sensor networks having a random topology and a limited number of nodes. In other hand, some research has focused on the creation of network topology models basedon hyperbolic geometric laws. In this case, it has been shown that these graphs have an Internet-like topology and that local hyperbolic routing achieves a near perfect efficiency. However, with these graphs, routing success is not guaranteed even if no failures happen. In this thesis, we aim at building a scalable system for creating overlay networks on top ofthe Internet that would provide reliable addressing and routing service to its members in a dynamic environment. Next, we investigate how well P2PTV networks would support a growing number of users. In this thesis, we try to address this question by studying scalability and efficiency factors in a typical P2P based live streaming network. Throughthe use of the data provided by Zattoo a production P2PTV network, we carry out simulations whose results show that there are still hurdles to overcome before P2P based live streaming could depend uniquely of their users.Les schémas de routage locaux basés sur des coordonnées prises dans le plan hyperbolique ont attiré un intérêt croissant depuis quelques années. Cependant, les solutions proposées sont toutes appliquées à des réseaux aux topologies aléatoires et au nombre de noeuds limité. Dans le même temps, plusieurs travaux se sont concentrés sur la création de modèle topologique basé sur les lois de la géométrie hyperbolique. Dans ce cas, Il est montré que les graphes ont des topologies semblables à Internet et qu’un routage local hyperbolique atteint une efficacité proche de la perfection. Cependant, ces graphes ne garantissent pas le taux de réussite du routage même si aucune panne ne se produit. Dans cette thèse, l’objectif est de construire un système passant à l’échelle pour la création de réseau recouvrant capable de fournir à ses membres un service d’adressage et de routage résilient dans un environnement dynamique. Ensuite, nous étudions de quelle manière les réseaux P2PTV pourraient supporter un nombre d’utilisateur croissant. Dans cette thèse, nous essayons de répondre à cette question en étudiant les facteurs de l’efficacité et du passage à l’échelle dans un système de diffusion vidéo P2P typique. Au travers des données fournies par Zattoo, producteur de réseau P2PTV, nous réalisons des simulations dont les résultats montrent qu’il y a encore des obstacles à surmonter avant que les réseaux P2P de diffusion vidéo puissent dépendre uniquement de leurs utilisateurs