HbbTV-compliant Platform for Hybrid Media Delivery and Synchronization on Single- and Multi-Device Scenarios

[EN] The combination of broadcast and broadband (hybrid) technologies for delivering TV related media contents can bring fascinating opportunities. It is motivated by the large amount and diversity of media contents, together with the ubiquity and multiple connectivity capabilities of modern consumption devices. This paper presents an end-to-end platform for the preparation, delivery, and synchronized consumption of related hybrid (broadcast/broadband) media contents on a single device and/or on multiple close-by devices (i.e., a multi-device scenario). It is compatible with the latest version of the Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) standard (version 2.0.1). Additionally, it provides adaptive and efficient solutions for key issues not specified in that standard, but that are necessary to successfully deploy hybrid and multidevice media services. Moreover, apart from MPEG-DASH and HTML5, which are the broadband technologies adopted by HbbTV, the platform also provides support for using HTTP Live Streaming and Real-time Transport Protocol and its companion RTP Control Protocol broadband technologies. The presented platform can provide support for many hybrid media services. In this paper, in order to evaluate it, the use case of multi-device and multi-view TV service has been selected. The results of both objective and subjective assessments have been very satisfactory, in terms of performance (stability, smooth playout, delays, and sync accuracy), usability of the platform, usefulness of its functionalities, and the awaken interest in these kinds of platforms.This work was supported in part by the "Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional" and in part by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through R&D&I Support Program under Grant TEC2013-45492-R.Boronat, F.; Marfil-Reguero, D.; Montagud, M.; Pastor Castillo, FJ. (2017). HbbTV-compliant Platform for Hybrid Media Delivery and Synchronization on Single- and Multi-Device Scenarios. IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting. 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1109/TBC.2017.2781124S12

Modeling and Evaluation of Multisource Streaming Strategies in P2P VoD Systems

In recent years, multimedia content distribution has largely been moved to the Internet, inducing broadcasters, operators and service providers to upgrade with large expenses their infrastructures. In this context, streaming solutions that rely on user devices such as set-top boxes (STBs) to offload dedicated streaming servers are particularly appropriate. In these systems, contents are usually replicated and scattered over the network established by STBs placed at users' home, and the video-on-demand (VoD) service is provisioned through streaming sessions established among neighboring STBs following a Peer-to-Peer fashion. Up to now the majority of research works have focused on the design and optimization of content replicas mechanisms to minimize server costs. The optimization of replicas mechanisms has been typically performed either considering very crude system performance indicators or analyzing asymptotic behavior. In this work, instead, we propose an analytical model that complements previous works providing fairly accurate predictions of system performance (i.e., blocking probability). Our model turns out to be a highly scalable, flexible, and extensible tool that may be helpful both for designers and developers to efficiently predict the effect of system design choices in large scale STB-VoD system

Combined use of congestion control and frame discarding for Internet video streaming

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Increasing demand for video applications over the Internet and the inherent uncooperative behavior of the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) used currently as the transport protocol of choice for video networking applications, is known to be leading to congestion collapse of the Internet. The congestion collapse can be prevented by using mechanisms in networks that penalize uncooperative flows like UDP or employing end-to-end congestion control. Since today’s vision for the Internet architecture is based on moving the complexity towards the edges of the networks, employing end-to-end congestion control for video applications has recently been a hot area of research. One alternative is to use a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)-friendly end-to-end congestion control scheme. Such schemes, similar to TCP, probe the network for estimating the bandwidth available to the session they belong to. The average bandwidth available to a session using a TCP-friendly congestion control scheme has to be the same as that of a session using TCP. Some TCP-friendly congestion control schemes are highly responsive as TCP itself leading to undesired oscillations in the estimated bandwidth and thus fluctuating quality. Slowly responsive TCP-friendly congestion control schemes to prevent this type of behavior have recently been proposed in the literature. The main goal of this thesis is to develop an architecture for video streaming in IP networks using slowly responding TCP-friendly end-to-end congestion control. In particular, we use Binomial Congestion Control (BCC). In this architecture, the video streaming device intelligently discards some of the video packets of lesser priority before injecting them in the network in order to match the incoming video rate to the estimated bandwidth using BCC and to ensure a high throughput for those video packets with higher priority. We iiidemonstrate the efficacy of this architecture using simulations in a variety of scenarios.Yücesan, OngunM.S

An Improved Active Network Concept and Architecture for Distributed and Dynamic Streaming Multimedia Environments with Heterogeneous Bandwidths

A problem in todays Internet infrastructure may occur when a streaming multimedia application is to take place. The information content of video and audio signals that contain moving or changing scenes may simply be too great for Internet clients with low bandwidth capacity if no adaptation is performed. In order to satisfactorily reach clients with various bandwidth capacities some works such as receiver-driven multicast and resilient overlay networks (RON) have been developed. However these efforts mainly call for modification on router level management or place additional layer to the Internet structure, which is not recommended in the nearest future due to the highly acceptance level and widely utilization of the current Internet structure, and the lengthy and tiring standardization process for a new structure or modification to be accepted. We have developed an improved active network approach for distributed and dynamic streaming multimedia environment with heterogeneous bandwidth, such as the case of the Internet. Friendly active network system (FANS) is a sample of our approach. Adopting application level active network (ALAN) mechanism, FANS participants and available media are referred through its universal resource locator (url). The system intercepts traffic flowing from source to destination and performs media post-processing at an intermediate peer. The process is performed at the application level instead of at the router level, which was the original approach of active networks. FANS requires no changes in router level management and puts no additional requirement to the current Internet architecture and, hence, instantly applicable. In comparison with ALAN, FANS possesses two significant differences. From the system overview, ALAN requires three minimum elements: clients, servers, and dynamic proxy servers. FANS, on the other hand, unifies the functionalities of those three elements. Each of peers in FANS is a client, an intermediate peer, and a media server as well. Secondly, FANS members tracking system dynamically detects the existence of a newly joined computers or mobile device, given its url is available and announced. In ALAN, the servers and the middle nodes are priori known and, hence, static. The application level approach and better performance characteristics distinguished also our work with another similar work in this field, which uses router level approach. The approach offers, in general, the following improvements: FANS promotes QoS fairness, in which clients with lower bandwidth are accommodated and receive better quality of service FANS introduces a new algorithm to determine whether or not the involvement of intermediate peer(s) to perform media post-processing enhancement services is necessary. This mechanism is important and advantageous due to the fact that intermediate post-processing increases the delay and, therefore, should only be employed selectively. FANS considers the size of media data and the capacity of clients bandwidth as network parameters that determine the level of quality of service offered. By employing the above techniques, our experiments with the Internet emulator show that our approach improves the reliability of streaming media applications in such environment

System sizing and resource allocation for video-on-demand systems.

by Mary Y.Y. Leung.Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1997.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 64-66).Abstract --- p.iAcknowledgments --- p.iiiChapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1Chapter 1.1 --- Video-On-Demand Environment --- p.1Chapter 1.2 --- Problem Definition --- p.3Chapter 2 --- Related Work --- p.7Chapter 2.1 --- Data Sharing Techniques --- p.7Chapter 2.1.1 --- Batching --- p.7Chapter 2.1.2 --- Buffering --- p.9Chapter 2.1.3 --- Static Partitioning --- p.10Chapter 2.1.4 --- Adaptive Piggybacking --- p.10Chapter 2.2 --- Providing VCR Functionalities --- p.12Chapter 3 --- System Model --- p.15Chapter 3.1 --- Operations involved in VCR Control --- p.15Chapter 3.2 --- Normal Playback Model --- p.17Chapter 3.3 --- VCR Model --- p.18Chapter 4 --- Resource Allocation for Normal Playback --- p.21Chapter 4.1 --- Mathematical Model --- p.22Chapter 4.1.1 --- Hits occurring within the same partition (hit w) --- p.24Chapter 4.1.2 --- Jump to other partitions (hito) --- p.27Chapter 4.1.3 --- Fast-forwarding to the end of a movie --- p.30Chapter 4.1.4 --- The expected hit probability P(hit) --- p.31Chapter 4.2 --- Model Verification --- p.32Chapter 5 --- Resource Allocation for VCR mode --- p.35Chapter 5.1 --- Scheme 1: No merging --- p.36Chapter 5.2 --- Scheme 2: Merging by adaptive piggybacking and buffering --- p.36Chapter 5.2.1 --- Resuming within the threshold (Δ ≤ k) --- p.38Chapter 5.2.2 --- Resuming beyond the threshold (Δ > k) --- p.39Chapter 5.3 --- Verification --- p.42Chapter 6 --- Applications to System sizing --- p.45Chapter 6.1 --- Cost of Resources for Normal Playback --- p.46Chapter 6.2 --- Cost of Resources for VCR functions --- p.48Chapter 6.3 --- Overall system cost --- p.49Chapter 6.4 --- Comparison --- p.50Chapter 6.4.1 --- Scheme 1 vs. Scheme 2 --- p.51Chapter 6.4.2 --- Scheme 2 vs. pure I/O & pure buffer --- p.54Chapter 6.4.3 --- Different values of k --- p.58Chapter 6.4.4 --- Different values of ψ --- p.60Chapter 7 --- Conclusions --- p.62Bibliography --- p.64Chapter A --- Appendix --- p.67Chapter A.l --- Rewind --- p.67Chapter A.1.1 --- Hits occurring within the same partition (hit w) --- p.67Chapter A.1.2 --- Jump to other partitions (hit0) --- p.68Chapter A.2 --- Pause --- p.7

Multimedia in mobile networks: Streaming techniques, optimization and User Experience

1.UMTS overview and User Experience 2.Streaming Service & Streaming Platform 3.Quality of Service 4.Mpeg-4 5.Test Methodology & testing architecture 6.Conclusion

Enhanced Learning Management System (LMSs)

SAQ is Web-based software you use over the internet with a web browser. You don’t have to install any CDs, download any software, or worry about upgrades. If you use an online bank or web-based email program like Gmail, Hotmail, or Yahoo Mail then you’ve already used web-based software before. In this thesis, we had got the code of the program DimDim and made some modifications and additions, but based on conversion of this program from a special program for private transactions, banking, politician and business to new program that is more comprehensive and wider, it is not limited to banking and private transactions, but in order to be more prevalent and comprehensive to include educational transactions, e-learning, social media, political and business in addition to solve the existing program's problems in the above mentioned. Then we enhanced “DimDim” and made some modifications to be a new software called “SAQ” which has differences that one more efficient than “DimDim”, beginning firstly; the new name “SAQ” related to simulation answer and questions but “DimDim” we didn’t find any meaning for it, secondly; “SAQ” had been more secure by creating a database tables that have a user name and password for each subscriber, it prevents anyone to enter the chat room which hasn’t user name and password, thirdly; adding scalability for subscriber number which was limited by two, but in “SAQ” had been reached to one hundred, besides that; made availability to use cameras and microphones for each subscribers controlling of the number of users, subscribers using cameras and microphones, finally; the frame size of the camera which was fixed but in “SAQ” had been variable due to the number of subscribers using cameras and appear on the user interface

MediaSync: Handbook on Multimedia Synchronization

This book provides an approachable overview of the most recent advances in the fascinating field of media synchronization (mediasync), gathering contributions from the most representative and influential experts. Understanding the challenges of this field in the current multi-sensory, multi-device, and multi-protocol world is not an easy task. The book revisits the foundations of mediasync, including theoretical frameworks and models, highlights ongoing research efforts, like hybrid broadband broadcast (HBB) delivery and users' perception modeling (i.e., Quality of Experience or QoE), and paves the way for the future (e.g., towards the deployment of multi-sensory and ultra-realistic experiences). Although many advances around mediasync have been devised and deployed, this area of research is getting renewed attention to overcome remaining challenges in the next-generation (heterogeneous and ubiquitous) media ecosystem. Given the significant advances in this research area, its current relevance and the multiple disciplines it involves, the availability of a reference book on mediasync becomes necessary. This book fills the gap in this context. In particular, it addresses key aspects and reviews the most relevant contributions within the mediasync research space, from different perspectives. Mediasync: Handbook on Multimedia Synchronization is the perfect companion for scholars and practitioners that want to acquire strong knowledge about this research area, and also approach the challenges behind ensuring the best mediated experiences, by providing the adequate synchronization between the media elements that constitute these experiences