A Chunkless Peer-to-Peer Transport Protocol for Multimedia Streaming

Video transmission over IP is currently a hot topic both in entertainment and research communities. A problem that threatens the development of video over IP services is the bandwidth required to serve a potentially very large number of users. In this context, Peer-to-peer (P2P) technologies are considered a possible solution for the distribution of video content to many users. This chapter describes a novel P2P transport protocol suited for live multimedia streaming. The described protocol has low start-up time, it is robust with respect to data losses (due to congestion or node departure) and it can help counteracting the malicious injection of “bogus packets” in the media stream. The proposed protocol can be used with any type of data and, from the application point of view, it appears as a protocol similar to TCP or UDP, making the reuse of existing software and protocols easier.

Epidemic Live Streaming

Epidemic algorithms have emerged as a simple, yet effective solution for disseminating live streaming contents to a large audience. Typically, the use of epidemic algorithms is motivated by the fact that they do not rely on a specific underlying structure to work, so they are very robust against network dynamics and volatility. However, the performance of these algorithms is still little understood. This chapter is intended as an introduction to epidemic live streaming. We propose some simple metrics to understand the behavior of a diffusion algorithm, and we use elementary diffusion schemes to understand the basics of the diffusion process, for both homogeneous and heterogeneous systems. The approach that we propose mixes theoretical results, when available, with empirical observations in order to give the best possible insights.

3D Mesh Model Coding

Application of 3D mesh model coding is first presented in this chapter. We then survey the typical existing algorithms in the area of compression of static and dynamic 3D meshes. In an introductory sub-section we introduce basic concepts of 3D mesh models, including data representations, model formats, data acquisitions and 3D display technologies. Furthermore, we introduce several typical 3D mesh formats and give an overview to coding principles of mesh compression algorithms in general, followed by describing the quantitative measures for 3D mesh compression. Then we describe some typical and state-of-the-art algorithms in 3D mesh compression. Compression and streaming of gigantic 3D models are specially introduced. At last, the MPEG4 3D mesh model coding standard is briefed. We conclude this chapter with a discussion providing an overall picture of developments in the mesh coding area and pointing out directions for future research.

The 3rd Generation Partnership Project Packet-Switched Streaming (3GPP-PSS)

Streaming is a service by which real-time data traffic is transferred between the streaming server and the wireless/wired device. Streaming was initially designed for broadband Internet audio and video transmissions, which soon expanded to cover mobile networks as well. The third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) was created in 1998, which embodied collaboration agreements of numerous telecommunication standardization organizations and bodies, initially targeted for evolved GSM and UMTS (WCDMA) networks. The 3GPP Packet Switched Streaming (3GPP-PSS) specifications define the framework for streaming capabilities for 3GPP mobile devices and networks, including the functionality, interoperability, media types and compatibility specifications. This chapter embodies the chronological advances of 3GPP-PSS and discussions on the general specifications of different releases, including Release 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 with a focus on the Quality of Service (QoS) support.

Adapting Multimedia Streaming to Changing Network Conditions

Providing a satisfactory multimedia service in networking environments requires an effective media delivery mechanism. However, the Internet does not provide a guaranteed network bandwidth to accommodate multimedia service in a reliable fashion. The Internet is a heterogeneous networking environment, in which resources available to multimedia applications are changing. In the last decade, the research community has proposed both networking techniques and application layer techniques, which adapt to the changes in network conditions. This chapter focuses on the application level techniques, including methods based on compression algorithm features, layered encoding, rate shaping, adaptive error control, and smoothing. The chapter also discusses operating system methods to support adaptive multimedia.

Perspectives of the Application of Video Streaming to Education

The field of e-learning has been a precursor in using the video streaming over the Internet. Both the synchronous and the asynchronous options have been explored over the last decade, with the asynchronous one becoming the dominant paradigm in recent years. Pedagogical research lecture reported evidence that video-streaming is an effective way of teaching, provided certain conditions are met. Technological research has attempted to investigate various ways to better produce or deploy video lectures: video segmentation, summarization, multimodal extraction of text and metadata, semantic search and gesture analysis are among the research areas that were involved. The present paper reviews the main technological research achievements and trends, and suggests directions in which we may be seeing the streaming of lectures to venture in near future.

Video Delivery in Wireless Sensor Networks

Recent advances in wireless communications technology and low-power, low-cost CMOS imaging sensors stimulate research on the analysis and design of ubiquitous video sensing and delivery in wireless sensor networks. However, scalable deployments remain limited or impractical. Critical challenges such as radio interference, limited channel capacity, and constrained energy resources are still barriers to large-scale deployment of these wireless video sensor networks. The solution space can be explored in several dimensions including data compression, video image analysis and extraction, and intelligent data routing. In this chapter we focus on the analysis of video delivery and data routing techniques for wireless video sensor networks. Our work is intended to inspire additional efforts leading to video routing techniques optimized to different topologies, the physical medium, network channels, and energy constraints.

Bitrate Adaptation of Scalable Bitstreams in a UMTS Environment

In this chapter, we propose a complete streaming framework for a wireless, in particular a 3G/UMTS, network environment. We describe choices one can make in terms of network architecture and then focus on the input parameters used to evaluate network conditions and to perform the adaptation. A particular attention is dedicated to the protocol information one can exploit in order to infer the channel state. In addition, each implementation choice is a compromise between the industrial feasibility and the adaptation efficiency.

A Cross-Layer Design to Wireless/Mobile Video Streaming

This chapter introduces a cross-layer approach to wireless/mobile video streaming system design to meet its flexibility and adaptability requirements. On one hand, with the rapid development of wireless/mobile communication infrastructure, wireless video applications are gaining more popularity. On the other hand, there exist many new challenges due to the inherent characteristics of wireless networks and communication systems. This is especially true for video delivery under a stringent time constraint. To address these issues, flexibility and adaptability of communication systems, which are the objectives of cross-layer design, have been extensively studied for performance enhancement. In this chapter, we begin with the motivation of the cross-layer approach, which is needed in response to several challenges of efficient wireless/mobile video streaming. Then, some fundamental issues of the cross-layer design are introduced followed by video-specific system requirements. Furthermore, we examine a couple of cross-layer design ideas proposed in the past. Finally, we consider issues associated with the practical employment along with software simulations, and demonstrate the benefit of the cross-layer approach.

Dirac Video Codec

Dirac was started off by British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) in 2003 as an experimental video coding system based on wavelet technology, which is different from that used in the main proprietary/standard video compression systems. Over the years, Dirac has grown out of its initial development and it is now on offer as an advanced royalty-free video coding system designed for a wide range of users, from delivering low-resolution web content to broadcasting high-definition (HD) and beyond, to near-lossless studio editing. The Dirac’s video coding architecture and algorithms are designed with the “keep it simple” mindset. In spite of that the Dirac seems to give a two-fold reduction in bitrate over MPEG-2 for HD video and broadly competitive with state-of-the-art video codecs. This chapter introduces the architecture of Dirac video encoder. The overall encoding structure is discussed followed by the detail description of motion estimation, Overlapped Block-based Motion Compensation (OBMC), Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT), Rate Distortion Optimization (RDO) quantization and entropy coding. The Dirac’s bitstream syntax for compressed video data storage and streaming is described. Besides that, the coding performance of Dirac in terms of compression ratio, PSNR, SSIM and VQM in comparison with H.264 as a reference are discussed. Related issues such as transcoding and streaming over packat erasure channel are also discussed.