Multimedia Over Communication

Links
(18ECS251)

2nd SEM M.TECH

Module-1

Dr.A.M.Bhavikatti, HOD ,
Dept of ECE, BKIT, Bhalki
 Outline of presentation - Chapter-1
 1.1Introduction
 1.2Multimedia information representation

 1.3 Multimedia networks

 1.4 Multimedia applications

 1.5 Application & network terminology

 1.5.5 Network QOS

 1.5.6 Application QOS

1.1Introduction-What is Multimedia?
 Multimedia is a combination of text, images,
audio, and video.
1.1.2 Multimedia
 The term multimedia is used to indicate that,
the information/ data being transferred over
the network may be composed of one or more
of the different media types i.e. combination
of text, images, audio, and video.
 Multi-many; much; multiple.

 Medium - a substance regarded as the means

of transmission of a force or effect; a channel
or system of communication, information, or
entertainment
(Merriam-Webster Dictionary )
1.1.3Characteristics of a Multimedia
System
A Multimedia system has four basic
characteristics:
 Multimedia systems must be computer
controlled.
 Multimedia systems are integrated.

 The information they handle must be

represented digitally.
 The interface to the final presentation of
media is usually interactive.
 Multimedia is any combination of digitally
manipulated text, art, sound, animation and
video.
 A more strict version of the definition of
multimedia do not allow just any combination
of media.
 It requires
 Both continuous & discrete media to be
utilized
 Significant level of independence between
media being used.
 Time always takes separate dimension in the
media representation
 Based on time-dimension in the
representation space, media can be
 Time-independent (Discrete)
Text, Graphics
 Time dependent (Continuous)
Audio, Video
Video, sequence of frames (images)
presented to the user periodically.
1.1.4 Time-independent (Discrete)-Text
 Text is the most popular of all the media types.
It is distributed over the Internet in many forms
including files or messages using different
transfer protocols such as
 FTP(File Transfer Protocol: used to transfer

binary and ASCII files over the Internet), HTTP

(Hyper Text Transfer Protocol: used to transmit
HTML pages) or SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer
Protocol: Used for exchanging e-mails).
 Text---
 Bandwidth requirements of text media mainly
depend on its size, which can be easily reduced
using common compression schemes.
 Some text applications, such as file transfer,

require text communication to be completely

loss/error free and therefore use TCP for
transport.
 Overall, the text media has been around since

the birth of the Internet and can be considered

as the primary means of information exchange.
1.1.5 Time-independent (Discrete)-
Graphics
 This includes media types like digital images
and flash presentations.
 An uncompressed, digitally encoded image

consists of an array of pixels, with each pixel

encoded in a number of bits to represent
luminance and color.
 Compared to text or digital audio, digital

images tend to be large in size.

 Moreover images, like text files, do not have
any real-time constraints
Graphics
 This includes media types like digital images
and flash presentations.
 An uncompressed, digitally encoded image

consists of an array of pixels, with each pixel

encoded in a number of bits to represent
luminance and color.
 Compared to text or digital audio, digital

images tend to be large in size.

 Moreover images, like text files, do not have
any real-time constraints
1.1.6 Time-dependent (Continuous)-
Audio
 Audio media is sound/speech converted into
digital form using sampling and quantization.
 Digitized audio media is transmitted as a

stream of discrete packets over the network.

 The bandwidth requirements of digitized audio

depend on its dynamic range and/or spectrum.

 The audio media type has loose requirements

on packet loss/errors (or loss/error-tolerant), in

the sense that it can tolerate up to 1 to 2 %
packet loss/error without much degradation.
 Audio
 Audio signals are continuous analog signals.
 Input: microphones and then digitized and stored

 CD Quality Audio requires 16-bit sampling at

44.1 KHz:
 Even higher audiophile rates (e.g. 24-bit, 96 KHz)

 1 Minute of Mono CD quality (uncompressed)

audio = 5 MB.
 Stereo CD quality (uncompressed) audio = 10 MB.

 Usually compressed (E.g. MP3, AAC, Flac, Ogg

Vorbis)
 Audio Encoding

 Audio Waves Converted to Digital

 electrical
voltage input
 binary number as output
14
1.1.7 Time-dependent (Continuous)-
Video
 Video is a sequence of images/frames
displayed at a certain rate, e.g., 24 or 30
frames/second.
 Digitized video, like digitized audio, is also
transmitted as a stream of discrete packets
over the network.
 The error- and real-time requirements of video
media are similar to the audio media type.
 MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.261 and
H.263some common compression schemes that
are used in video
1.1.8 Multimedia Components
Simplified
 Multimedia can be viewed as they combination
of audio, video, data and how they interact
with the user (more than the sum of the
individual components)

Audio

Multimedia

Data Video
1.1.9 Interactive
Key feature of multimedia
User determines what content is delivered,
when it is delivered and how.
Delivering Multimedia
 Compact disc-Inexpensive, easy mass produce
and distribute
 Kiosk-Computer system to access info, perform
transactions or play games. It is convenient,
reduces personnel costs, but expensive
maintenance.
 Online-Web pages, product advertisement,
demos, etc.
1.1.10 Forces driving
communications that facilitate
multimedia communications
 Evolution of communications and data networks
 Increasing availability of almost unlimited
bandwidth demand
 Ever increasing amount of memory and
computational power
 Sophisticated terminals

 Digitization of virtually everything

1.1.11 New Information System
Paradigm

Broadband Link Multimedia

Integrated
Communication

Integration

Multimedia
Workstation, PC Processing
1.1.12 Elements of Multimedia
Systems
 Two key communication modes
 Person-to-person(e.g. email)
 Person-to-machine/system
communications(e.g. web-browsing)
Use Use
Transport
Interface Interface

Processing
Use
Storage and Transport
Interface
Retrieval
 In general, two people communicate with each
other through suitable terminal equipment(TE).
 While a person interacts with a system using

either a multimedia personal computer(PC) or

a Workstation.
 Typically, these are located either in the home

or on a desktop in an office and the system is

a server containing a collection of files or
documents each comprising digitized text and
video information either singly or integrated in
some way.
 Alternatively, the server may contain a library
of digitized movies/videos and the user
interacts with the server by means of a suitable
selection device that is connected to the set-
top-box(STB) associated with TV.
 Different types of network

 These include not only networks that were

designed from outset to provide multimedia

communication services but also networks that
were designed initially to provide just a single
type of service and it is as a result of
advances in various technologies that these---
 ----Can now provide a range of other services
as shown below,
 PSTNs(Public switched telephone networks) also
known as (GSTNs)general switched telephone
networks.
 The above networks were designed initially to

provide a basic switched telephone service.

 Due to the advances in DSP hardware and
software, they now provide a range of more
Advanced services involving text, images and
video.
 Similarly, data networks that were designed
initially to support basic data applications such
as electronic mail and file transfers, now
support a much richer set of applications that
involve images, audio and video.
1.2 Multimedia information
representation
 Form of representation
 In applications that involve just a single type
of media, the basic form of representation
of the particular media type is required.
 Otherwise, different media types should be
integrated together in a digital form.
 In applications involving text and images:
 It comprises blocks of digital data each of
which is represented by a fixed bit pattern
known as codeword.
 The duration of the overall transaction is
relatively short.
 No streaming is required.

 In applications involving audio & video:

 The signals vary continuously with time.

 The duration of application can be relatively

long.
 Streaming is required.

 The amount of data used to represent the

signal is measured in bits per second (bps).

 Compression is generally applied to digitized
signals to reduce (i) the resulting bit rate to a
level a network can support and (ii) the time
delay between a request being made for some
information and the information becoming
available.
1.3 Multimedia Networks
 Introduction
 The world has been wrapped in copper and
glass fiber and can be viewed as a “hair ball”
with physical, wireless and satellite entry/exit
points.
 Physical: LAN-WAN connections

 Wireless: Cellular telephony, wireless PC

connectivity
 Satellite: INMARSAT, THURYA, ACeS etc
 There are 5 types of communication network
that are used to provide multimedia
communication services:
 Telephone networks

 Data networks

 Broadcast television networks

 Integrated services digital networks (ISDN)

 Broadband multiservice networks

 Characteristics:
 The first 3 types were initially designed to
provide just a single type of service.
 The last 2 types were designed to provide
multiple services.
 1.3.1 telephone networks

 Designed to provide a basic switched

telephone service.
 'Switched' means that a subscriber can make a
call to any other telephone that is connected to
the total network.
 Telephone networks operate in circuit mode.
 For each call, a separate circuit is set up

through the network for the duration of the

call.
 The access circuits that link the telephone

handsets to a PSTN or PBX were designed to

carry the 2-way analog signals associated
with a call.
 Though modern PSTNs operate in a digital
mode, a modem is used to carry a digital
signal over the analog access circuits.
1.3.2 data networks
 It's designed to provide basic data
communication services such as email and
general file transfer.
 Two most widely deployed networks of this

type are the X.25 network and the Internet.

 The X.25 network is restricted to relatively low
bit rate data applications only.
 The Internet is made up of a vast collection of

interconnected networks all of which operate

using the same set of communication protocols.
 Communication protocol is an agreed set of
rules that are adhered to by all communication
parties for the exchange of information.
 Defines (i) the sequence of messages for the
exchange of information and (ii) the syntax of
these messages.
 A user may access to the Internet through an
intermediate Internet service provider (ISP)
network.
 A network is called intranet if all internal
services are provided using the same set of
communication protocols.
 Different types of network are connected to the

Internet backbone network through an

internetworking unit called a gateway.
 A gateway is also known as a router as it is

responsible for routing and relaying all

messages to and from the connected networks.
 All data networks operate in packet mode.
 A packet is a container for a block of data and

the information for routing the packet to the

destination through the network.
 This mode is used because the format of the
data associated with data applications is
normally in the form of discrete blocks of text or
binary data with varying time intervals between
each block.
 Jitter is the variability of packet delays within

the same packet stream

THERE ARE THREE BASIC TYPES OF NETWORKING
- CIRCUIT SWITCHING - Connection is ’switched’ before
sending data (”phone”)
- PACKET SWITCHING – Data are organized in

packets. each packet carries addresses

CELL SWITCHING – Between circuit and packet
switching”packets are switched” (technology called
ATM – Asynchronous Transfer Mode).
1.3.3 Broadcast television networks
 Designed to support the diffusion of analog television
(and radio) programs throughout wide geographical
areas.
 Broadcast media include
 Cable distribution network : for a town or city

 Satellite network : for larger areas

 Terrestrial broadcast network : for larger areas

 The traffic is 1-way or asymmetric.

 It generally works with a low bit rate return

channel offered by a cable network for interaction

purposes to provide a range of additional services
such as home shopping and games playing.
 The subscriber accesses the cable distribution
network through a set-top box.
1.3.4 Integrated services digital networks

 Designed to provide PSTN users with the

capability of having additional services.
 This was achieved by (i) converting the access

circuits that connect user equipment to the

network into an all-digital form, and (ii)
providing 2 separate communication channels
over these circuits.
 This all-digital access circuit is known as a
digital subscriber line (DSL).
 The digitization of a toll-quality analog speech
produces a constant bit rate bit stream of
64kbps. (64kbps is hence used as a basic unit.)
 Options of service:

 Basic rate access(BRA) : supports 2 independent

64kbps channels or 1 128kbps channel (with an
aggregation unit to synchronize 2 64kbps
channels).
 Primary rate access (PRA) : supports 1
1.5/2.0Mbps channel.
 It can also support a single switched channel of

px64kbps, where p=1,2...30.

1.3.5 Broadband multiservice
networks
 Designed in mid-80s for use as public switched
networks to support a wide range of
multimedia communication applications.
 "Broadband" means it can support a bit rate

higher than that an ISDN can support

(>2Mbps)
 This type of network is also known as

broadband ISDN(B-ISDN) while ISDN is known

as narrowband ISDN(N-ISDN).
 Switching and transmission methods that are
used in these networks must be more flexible as
they are designed to support multiple services.
 All media types are converted into digital form
and integrated together, and the resulting
stream is divided into fixed-sized packets
known as cells.
 Switching fixed-sized cells can be carried out

much faster than switching variable-length

packets.
 Different multimedia applications generate cell
streams of different rates and hence the rate of
transfer of cells through the network varies. This
mode of transmission is known as asynchronous
transfer mode (ATM).
 This type of network is also known as ATM

network or cell-switching network

1.4 Multimedia applications

 There are many and varied applications

that involve multiple media types. In
general, they can be placed in to one of
three categories,
 Interpersonal communications

 Interactive applications over the internet

 Entertainment applications
1.4.1Interpersonal communications
 Interpersonal communications may involve
speech ,image, text or video.
 In some cases, just a single type of medium is
involved while in others two or more media
types are integrated together.
 1.4.1.1Speech only-Telephony, Voice-mail,
Teleconferencing/telephony gateway are
some of applications in this group.
 Telephony have been provided using
telephones that are connected either to a
public switched telephone network -----
 ---(PSTN/ISDN/Cellular phone network) or a
PBX. The scheme is shown in figure 1.6.
 Alternatively, by using a multimedia PC

equipped with a microphone and speakers,

the user can take part in telephone calls
through PC.
 This requires a telephone interface card and
associated software and is known as
computer telephony integration or CTI.
Fig 1.6
 1.4.1.2 Voice-mail- is used in the event of the
called party being unavailable. A spoken
message can then be left in the voice mail box
of the called party.
 This is located in a central repository known as
the voice-mail server. This message can be read
by the owner of the mailbox the next time he or
she contacts the server.
 1.4.1.3 Teleconferencing- calls involve multiple

interconnected telephones/PCs. Each person can

hear and talk to all of the others involved in the
call. This type of the call is known as a
conference call or since it involves a telephone---
 --network, can be called teleconferencing call or
some times an audio conferencing call.
 It requires a central unit known as an audio bridge
which provides the necessary support to set up a
conference call automatically.
 1.4.1.4 Telephony gateway- is used when a pc
connected to the internet needs to make a call to
a telephone that is connected to a PSTN/ISDN,
because both operate in a circuit mode and an
interworking unit known as a telephony gateway
must be used. The PC user first sends a request to
make a telephone call to a pre allocated
telephony gateway using the latter’s IP address.
 Then assuming the user is registered to use this
service, the gateway requests from the source PC
the telephone no of the called party.
 On receipt of this, the source gateway initiates a
session(call) with the telephony gateway nearest
to the called party using the internet address of
the gateway.
 The called gateway then initiates a call to the
recipient telephone using its telephone no and the
standard call setup procedure of the PSTN/ISDN.
 If the called party answers, the called gateway

signals back to the PC user- through the source ---

 --gateway-that the call can commence. A similar
procedure is followed to clear the call on
completion.
 1.4.1.1 Image only-An alternative form of
interpersonal communications over a PSTN/ISDN
is by the exchange of electronic images of
documents.
 This type of service is known as facsimile- or
simply fax as shown in fig 1.8.
 Normally, this type of communication involves the
use of a pair of fax machines, one at each
network termination point.
Fig 1.8
 To send a document, the caller keys in
the(telephone) number of the intended recipient
and a circuit is set up through the network in the
same way as for a telephone call.
 The 2 fax machines communicate with each other

to establish operational parameters after which

the sending machine starts to scan and digitize
each page of the document in turn.
 Both fax machines have an integral modem

within them and as each page is scanned, its

digitized image is simultaneously transmitted
over the network.
 As this is received at the called side, a printed
version of the document is produced.
 Finally, after the last page of the document has

been sent and received, the connection through

the network is cleared by the calling machine in
the normal way.
 It is also possible to use a PC instead of a normal
fax machine to send an electronic version of a
document that is stored directly within the PCs
memory.
 This mode of operation is known as PC fax.
 1.4.1.2 Text only- an example in this case is
electronic mail(e-mail).The user terminal is
normally a PC or a workstation and is the most
widespread network used in the internet as
shown in figure 1.9(a).
 In the case of a user at home, access to the

internet is through a PSTN/ISDN and an

intermediate Internet service provider(ISP)
network.
 Alternatively, business users obtain access either
through an enterprise network or a site/campus
network.
Fig 1.9
 Associated with each network is a set of one or
more server computers. Each is known as an e
mail server and, collectively, these contain a
mailbox for each user connected to that network.
 A user can both create and deposit mail in to his
or her mailbox and read mail from it.
 Both the email servers and the internetwork
gateway operate using the standard internet
communication protocols.
 1.4.1.3 Text and images only-An example of
an application that involves both text and
images integrated together is Computer ------
 --supported cooperative working(CSCW).
 The network used is an enterprise network, or LAN,
or the internet and the general scheme is shown in
fig 1.10.
 Typically, a distributed group of people-each in his
or her place of work-are all working on the same
project.
 The user terminal is either a PC or a workstation
and a window on each persons display is used as a
shared workspace.
 This is known as a shared whiteboard and normally,
the display comprises text and images integrated
together.
 The software associated with CSCW comprises a
central program known as the whiteboard
program- and a linked set of support programs
one in each PC/workstation.
 The latter is made up of two parts i.e. a change

notification part and an update-control part.

 Whenever a member of the group updates the
contents of his or her whiteboard, the change
notification part sends details of the changes to
the whiteboard program.
 This relays the changes to the update-control in

each of the other PCs/workstations.

 1.4.1.4 Speech and Video only-An example
application that uses speech and video integrated
together is video telephony and is shown in fig
1.11(a).
 In the case of home, the terminals used are
normally dedicated to providing the videophone
service, while in office, a single multimedia
PC/workstation is used to provide the videophone
service together with a range of other services.
 In both cases, the terminals/PCs incorporate a

video camera in addition to the microphone &

speaker for telephony.
 The integration of video with speech means that
the bandwidth of the access circuits required to
support this type of service is higher than that
required for speech only.
 As with telephony, a call may involve not just 2
persons-and hence terminals/PCs-but several
people each located in their own office.
 This type of call is called as a desktop
videoconferencing & is now widely used in large
corporations involving multiple geographically
distributed sites in order to minimize travel
between the various locations.
 Large corporations of this type have an enterprise-
wide network to link the sites together and in order
to support videoconferencing, there is a central unit
called a multipoint control unit(MCU)-or some times
a videoconferencing server-associated with this
network as shown in fig1.11(b).
 Alternatively, some networks such as LANs and the

internet support what is called multicasting. This

means that all transmissions from any of the
PCs/workstations belonging to a predefined
multicast group are received by all the other
members of the group as shown in fig1.11(c).
 However, this is feasible only when few----------
Fig 1.11
 -----participants are involved due to the high load
it places on the network.
 If groups of people at one or more of the

locations are involved, system shown in fig 1.12(a)

can be used.
 Here, a person at one location is communicating

with a group of people at another location like a

transmission of a live lecture or seminar.
 The information may be integrated speech-video

together with electronic copies of transparencies

and other documents used in the lecture.
 In the reverse direction, the information may---
 --comprise just speech or integrated speech-
video to enable the lecture to see and hear.
 Due to the relatively high bandwidth that is

involved, the network is either ISDN or

broadband multiservice network if one is
available.
 Similarly, if there is a group of people at each
location as shown in fig 1.12(b), specially
equipped rooms called videoconferencing studios
are used which contain the necessary audio and
video equipment.
 This contains one or more video cameras, a large
Fig 1.12
 Screen display and associated audio equipment,
all of which is connected to a unit called
videoconferencing system.
 1.4.1.5 Multimedia

 In addition to earlier cases, mail containing other

media types such as images, audio and video
are also used. So, 3 examples of electronic mail
consisting of media types other than text are
voice-mail, video-mail and multi-media mail.
 1.4.1.5.1Voice-mail &video-mail

 Voice mail is similar in principle to that of

telephone networks. With internet-based voice-

 -mail, there is a voice-mail server associated with
each network. This is in addition to the e-mail server
shown in fig1.9(a).
 The user first enters a voice message addressed to

the intended recipient and the local voice-mail server

then relays this to the server associated with the
intended recipients network.
 The stored voice message is then played out the next
time the recipient access his or her voice-mailbox.
 The same procedure is followed for video-mail

except the mail message comprises an integrated

speech-video sequence.
 1.4.1.5.2 Multimedia mail- is an extension of
text-only mail in as much as the basic content of
the mail comprises text information.
 With multimedia mail, the textual information is

annotated with digitized image, a speech

message, or video message as shown in fig1.13.
 In the case of speech-video, the annotations can

be sent either directly to the mail box of the

intended recipient together with the original
textual message-and hence stored and played out
in the normal way-or they may have to be
requested specifically by the recipient when the
textual message is being read.
Fig 1.13
 In this way, the recipient can always receive the
basic text-only message but the multimedia
annotations can be received only if the terminal
being used by the recipient supports voice and/or
video.
 1.4.2 Interactive applications over the internet

 The internet is also used to support a range of

interactive applications for example World wide
web(www) or simply Web, server.
 This comprises a linked set of multimedia
information servers that are geographically
distributed around the internet.
 The total information stored on all the servers is
equivalent to a vast library of documents. The
general principle is shown in fig 1.14(a).
 Each document comprises a linked set of pages and

the linkages between the pages are known as

hyperlinks. These are pointers-also known as
references-either to other pages of the same
document or to any other document within the total
Web.
 So, a reader of a document has the option, at well-

defined points throughout the pages that make up a

document, to jump either to a different page of the
same document or to a different document.
 Also, to return subsequently to a specific point on
a page at later time.
 The optional linkage points within documents are

defined by the creator of the document and are

known as anchors since the necessary linkage
information is attached to these.
 Documents comprising only text are created using
what is called hypertext, while those comprising
multimedia information are created using what is
known as hypermedia. The general structure is
shown in fig1.14(b).
Fig 1.14
 There is no central authority for the introduction of
new documents in to the web.
 Anyone can create a new document at a

particular server site-provided the server has

been allocated an internet address and make
hyperlink references from it to any other document
on the web.
 Each document has a unique address-known as
uniform resource locator or URL-which identifies
both the location of the server on the internet
where the first page of the document is stored
and also the file reference on that server.
 The first page of a document is known as the home
page and all the hyperlinks on this and the other
pages have similar URLs associated with them.
 The physical location of a page is transparent to

the user and can be located anywhere on the web.

 A standard format is used for writing documents.

This is known as the Hypertext Markup

Language(HTML) and it is also used for writing
client software to explore the total contents of the
web ,i.e. the contents of the linked information on
all the web servers.
 The client function is called a browser and there are
a number of user-friendly browsers available to
explore the contents of the web.
 These allow a user to create a directory of

previously visited servers and to open up a dialog

box with a particular server at the click of the mouse.
 Once a desired document has been located, the user

simply clicks on an anchor point within a page of the

document to activate the linkage information stored
at that point.
 It is also possible to return to the previous anchor at
any time.
 In applications such as home shopping, home
banking, and so on-like teleshopping and tele
banking- a client may wish not only to browse
through the information at a site but also to initiate
an additional transaction.
 Here, the server must provide additional
transaction processing support for, say, ordering
and purchasing.
 As this involves financial transactions, more
rigorous security procedures are required for
access and authentication purposes.
1.4.3 Entertainment applications
 Entertainment applications can be divided in to 2
types:
 Movie/video-on-demand

 Interactive television

 1.4.3.1Movie/video-on-demand

 In general, the video and audio associated with

entertainment applications must be of higher
quality/resolution since wide-screen TVs and
stereophonic sound are often used.
 A digitized movie/video with sound requires a

minimum channel bit rate(bandwidth) of 1.5Mbps.

 Hence the network used to support this type of
application must be either a PSTN with a high bit
rate modem as shown in fig 1.1(c)- or a cable
network of the type as shown in fig 1.3(a).
 The scheme is shown in fig 1.15(a).

 The information stored on the server is a collection

of digitized movies/videos.
 Normally, the subscriber terminal comprises a
conventional TV with a selection device for
interaction. The user interactions are relayed to
the server through a set-top box which contains a
high bit rate modem.
 By means of suitable menu, the subscriber is able
to browse through the set of movies/videos
available and initiate the showing of a selected
movie.
 This type of application is known as movie-on-

demand(MOD) or sometimes video-on-

demand(VOD).In addition to selecting a movie, the
subscriber can pause, fast-forward, and so on.
 A key feature of MOD is that a subscriber can

initiate the showing of a movie selected from a

large library of movies at any time of the
day/night as shown in fig 1.15(b).
 This means that, the server must be capable of
playing out simultaneously a large number of
video streams equal to the number of subscribers
currently watching a movie.
 This requires the information flow from server to
be extremely high as it must support the
transmission of a possibly large number of
different movies along with multiple copies of
each movie.
 Technically it is very challenging and costly, since

the cost of the server is directly related to the

aggregate information flow rate from it.
 Alternatively, requests for a particular movie are
not played out immediately but instead are
queued until the start of the next play out time of
the movie as shown in fig 1.15(c).
 In this way, all requests for the same movie which
are made during the period up to the next play
out time are satisfied simultaneously by the server
outputting a single video stream.
 This mode of operation, is known as near movie-
on-demand or N-MOD.
 However, the viewer is unable to control the play

out of the movie.

1.4.3.2 Interactive TV
 Broadcast TV networks include cable ,satellite and
terrestrial networks. The service provided by these
networks is a diffusion of both analog and digital
TV(and radio) programs.
 The set-top box(STB) associated with these
networks has a modem within it.
 As shown in fig 1.16(a), the STB provides both a
low bit rate connection to the PSTN and a high bit
rate connection to the internet.
 Hence by connecting a suitable terminal equipment
to the STB- a keyboard, telephone and so on----
Fig 1.16
 -- the subscriber is able to gain access to all the
services provided through the PSTN and the
internet.
 Through the connection to the PSTN, the subscriber

is able to actively respond to the information

being broadcast.
 This is actually the term representing interactive
TV and typical uses of the channel are for voting,
participation in games, home shopping and so on.
 As in the fig1.16(c), similar set of services are

available through the satellite and terrestrial

broadcast networks.
But the STB associated with these networks requires a
high-speed modem to provide the connections to the
PSTN and the internet.
1.5.1 Media types
 The information flow associated with the
different applications can be either continuous
or block mode.
 In the case of continuous media:

 Mode of operation : streaming

 The information stream is generated by the

source continuously in a timely-dependent way

and played out directly as it is received at the
destination. e.g. audio, video
 Streaming Stored Multimedia

Streaming:
 media stored at source
 transmitted to client
 streaming: client playout begins before all data
has arrived
 timing constraint for still-to-be transmitted
data: in time for playout

98
 The continuous media is called real-time media
as it's generated in a time-dependent way.
 The source stream can be generated at a

constant bit rate (CBR) or a variable bit rate

(VBR).
 In the case of block-mode media:

 Mode of operation: downloading

 The source information comprises a single block

of information that is created in a time-

independent way e.g. text, image
 The delay between the request being made
and the contents of the block being outputted
at the destination is called round-trip delay.
(should be <few seconds).
 1.5.2 communication modes

 The transfer of the information streams

associated with an application can be 1 of the
5 modes:
 Simplex: 1 direction only

 Half-duplex: flows in both directions but

alternately
 Full-duplex: flows in both directions
simultaneously(1-to-1 transmission)
 Broadcast: 1-to-all transmission

 Multicast: 1-to-many transmission

 In duplex communications, if the flows in the 2

directions are equal, the information flow is
symmetric. Otherwise, it's asymmetric.
 1.5.3 Network types

 There are 2 types of communications channel

associated with the various network types:

circuit-mode & packet mode.
 Channels in circuit-mode:
 Operates in a time-dependent way

 Also known as a synchronous communications

channel since it provides a constant bit rate service.
 What is Multicast?

 A new concept for transmitting data over computer

networks.
 Assume port-mapper knows list of outputs

 Incoming packet must be copied to these output

ports
 Best suited for one-to-many or many-to-many

delivery of data.
Applications that Need Multicast
 Audio and video conferencing
 Multimedia distribution (audio, video)

 Delivering stock tickers from stock

exchanges to brokers or businessmen
 “Shared whiteboards” and joint document
editing by a group
 Distance learning and training (lectures)

Multimedia Systems
 Channels in packet-mode:
 Operates in a time-varying way

 Also known as an asynchronous communications

channel since it provides a variable bit rate service

 Circuit-mode:

 This type of network is also known as a circuit

switched network.
 A circuit-mode network comprises an
interconnected set of switching offices/exchanges
to which the subscribers/computers are
connected.
Figure 4.35 Synchronous transmission

106
Figure 4.34 Asynchronous transmission

107
 Circuit Switching
 Seeking out and establishing a physical copper path
from end-to-end. Circuit-switching: switching based
on position (space, time) of arriving bits.
 Circuit switching implies the need to first set up a
dedicated, end-to-end path for the connection before
the information transfer takes place.
 Once the connection is made the only delay is
propagation time.
 Circuit switching designed for voice
 Resources dedicated to a particular call
 Much of the time a data connection is idle

 Data rate is fixed

 Both ends must operate at the same rate
 Advantages of Circuit Switching
 Guaranteed bandwidth
 Predictable communication performance
 Reliable communication channel between hosts
 No worries about lost or out-of-order packets
 Forwarding based on time slot or frequency
 Low per-packet overhead

 Forwarding based on time slot or frequency

 No IP header on each packet
 Disadvantages of Circuit Switching
 Wasted bandwidth

 Bursty traffic leads to idle connection during silent

109
period
  Unable to achieve gains from statistical
multiplexing
 Blocked connections

 Connection refused when resources are not

sufficient
 Unable to offer “okay” service to everybody
 Connection set-up delay

 No communication until the connection is set up

 Network state

 Network nodes must store per-connection

information
110
Packet Switching

 A store-and-forward network where the

block of transfer is a complete packet. A
packet is a variable length block of data
with a tight upper bound.
 Using packets improves mean message
delay.
 Packet-switching: switching based on
information in packet headers
Packet Switching - Data Network Model
 Each data stream divided into chunks, called
packets; each packet sent separately into the
network; packets may follow diff paths from
source to destination.
 Each packet has a header and possibly a trailer

that contain information as to its source and

destination
5

4 3 2 1

Packet Header Payload

 Circuit Switching Vs Packet switching

Figure 2-38. (a) Circuit switching. (b) Packet switching.

113 Networks: Switching

 Prior to sending any information, the source
must first set up a connection through the
network.
 The bit rate associated with the connection is

fixed.
 The messages associated with the setting up
and clearing of a connection are known as
signaling messages.
 There is a call/connection setup delay.

 Advantages of Packet switching

 Line efficiency-Single node to node link can be

shared by many packets over time
  Packets queued and transmitted as fast as
possible
 Data rate conversion

 Each station connects to the local node at its own

speed
 Nodes buffer data if required to equalize rates.

 Packets are accepted even when network is busy

 Delivery may slow down

 Priorities can be used

 Station breaks long message into packets.

 Switching Technique for packet mode

 Packets sent one at a time to the network

 Packets handled in two ways
 Datagram
 Virtual circuit
 Packet Switching - Datagrams and Virtual
Circuits
 Virtual Circuit

 must set up path - vc (connection established -

signalling)
 path fixed for all packets of a data stream
 after setup, header need only specify virtual
circuit/path
 Datagram
 packets for data stream may travel on diff paths
 headers must include full address of destination.

 Each packet treated independently

 Packets can take any practical route

 Packets may arrive out of order

 Packets may go missing

 Up to receiver to re-order packets and recover

from missing packets

 Each datagram packet may be individually routed.
 Virtual Circuit
 Preplanned route established before any
packets sent
 Call request and call accept packets establish

connection .
 Each packet contains a virtual circuit identifier
instead of destination address
 No routing decisions required for each packet.

 Virtual Circuits vs Datagram

 Virtual circuits

 Packets are forwarded more quickly

 No routing decisions to make
 Less reliable
Loss of a node looses all circuits through that
node.
 Datagram

 No call setup phase

Better if few packets
 More flexible
Routing can be used to avoid congested parts
of the network
· Examples: PSTN and ISDN
Packet-mode:
 There are 2 types of packet-mode networks:
 connection-oriented (CO) and connectionless

(CL)
 This type of network is also known as a packet
switched network.
 A connection-oriented network:

 A connection-oriented network comprises an

interconnected set of packet-switching
exchanges (PSEs).
 Prior to sending any information, a connection

is first set up through the network.

 Packet Switched Networks

 Connectionless Protocols
 No set up is needed.
 Each packet contains information which allows
the packet to be individually routed hop-by-
hop through the network.
 CL: Packets routed based on address
information in headers.
 Connectionless Internetworking

Figure 5-46. A connectionless internet.

124 Networks: Switching

 Packet Switched Networks

Connection-oriented Protocols
 A setup stage is used to determine the end-
to-end path before a connection is
established.
 Data flow streams are identified by some
type of connection indicator (e.g. OSI, X.25,
SNA).
 CO: Connection set up (resources reserved)
prior to data transfer.
 Connection-Oriented Circuits

Figure 5-45.Internetworking using concatenated virtual circuits.

126 Networks: Switching

 Each PSE has a routing table which defines a
packet coming from which input link will be
delivered to which output link.
 Examples: X.25, ATM network

 Connectionless network:

 The establishment of a connection is not required

and the two communicating terminals/computers

can communicate and exchange information as
and when they wish.
 Each packet must carry the full source
and destination addresses in its header
in order for each PSE to route the
packet onto the appropriate outgoing
link.
 The term router is normally used rather
than PSE
Example: Internet
 Basic mode of operation (Common to PS
networks):
 When a packet is forwarded to a PSE/router, it's

stored in a buffer, checked, discarded if there is

any problem (due to congestion or error), or else
forwarded to next PSE/router if the outgoing link
is available.
 Each PSE/router has a routing table and it's used
to determine the outgoing link to which a packet
from a particular incoming link should forward.
 This mode of operation is called store-and-
forward as a packet has to wait in a PSE/router
until the outgoing link is available.
 The service offered by a packet-switched network
is said to be a best-effort service as the transmission
of a packet is not guaranteed to be successful.
 Mean packet transfer delay: The mean of overall

transfer delay of a packet across the network

 Delay variation or jitter : the variation about the

mean packet transfer delay.

 1.5.4 Multipoint conferencing

 It's implemented in one of the 2 ways: centralized

and decentralized.
 The centralized mode is used with circuit-switched
networks such as a PSTN or an ISDN.
 Loss and delay in Packet switching
packets queue in router buffers
 packet arrival rate to link exceeds output link capacity
 packets queue, wait for turn

packet being transmitted (delay)

B
packets queueing (delay)
free (available) buffers: arriving packets
1-132 dropped (loss) if no freeTaxonomy
buffers
 Four sources of packet delay

 1. Processing delay at  2. Queueing delay at

router: router
 check bit errors  time waiting at output
 determine output link link for transmission
 depends on congestion
level of router

transmission
A propagation

B
nodal
processing queueing
1-133 Taxonomy
 Delay in packet-switched networks
3. Transmission delay of link: 4. Propagation delay of
 R=link bandwidth (bps)
medium:
 d = length of physical link
 L=packet length (bits)
 s = propagation speed in
 time to send bits into link =

L/R medium (~2x108 m/sec)

 propagation delay = d/s

Note: s and R are very

transmission different quantities!
A propagation

B
nodal
1-134 processing queueing Taxonomy
The decentralized mode is used with packet-switched
networks which support multicast communications. (e.g,
LAN, intranet and the Internet).
A third mode known as the hybrid mode can also be
used.
Fig 2.21
 Why Quality of Service (QoS)?
QoS is the concept for specifying how “good” the
offered services are.
Concept:
 Quality of service is a concept based on the

statement that not all applications need the same

performance from the system/network over which
they run.
 Thus, applications may indicate their specific
requirements to the network, including cost,
before they actually startT.Sharon-A.Frank
transmitting data.
 1.5.5 Network QoS
 The network Quality of Service (QoS) parameters are
the operational parameters associated with a
communications channel through a network, and
collectively determine the suitability of the channel in
relation to its use for a particular application.
 1.5.5.1 Circuit-switched network: (Constant Bit
Rate network)
 The QOS associated with a CBR channel that is set

up through a circuit-switched network include-

 The bit rate and The mean bit error rate

 The transmission delay

 The mean bit error rate (BER) of a channel is the
probability of a bit being corrupted during its
transmission across the channel in a defined time
interval.
 Issue of the block size

 In practice, most networks provide an unreliable

service (best-effort service).

 Information is partitioned into blocks during its

transmission so as to minimize the propagation of

error.
 Any blocks containing bit errors will be discarded.
 A reliable service can be offered by using error
detection and block retransmission, which results in
high transmission overheads and additional delay.
 The choice of the block size is a compromise
between the delay and the overhead in this case.
 The transmission delay associated with a channel is

determined by the bit rate, the codec delay and

the propagation delay.
 The propagation delay is determined by (i) the

physical separation of the 2 communicating

devices and (ii) the velocity of propagation of a
signal across the transmission medium.
 1.5.5.2 Packet-switched network
 The QoS parameters associated with a packet-
switched network include:
 The maximum packet size

 The mean packet transfer rate

 The mean packet error rate

 The mean packet transfer delay

 The worst-case jitter

 The transmission delay

 Data networks use packet switching instead of

circuit switching
 Mean packet transfer rate is a measure of the
average number of packets that are transferred
across the network per second.
 Mean bit rate of the channel = mean packet
transfer rate x mean packet size.
 Mean packet error rate (PER) is the probability of

a received packet containing bit errors.

 Mean packet transfer delay is the summation of the
store-and-forward delay that a packet
experiences when it travels along the route.
 The transmission delay includes the codec delay
and the signal propagation delay is the same
whether the network operates in a packet mode
or a circuit mode.
 1.5.6 Application QoS

 The application QoS parameters that relate to the

network include:
 The required bit rate or mean packet transfer
rate
 The maximum startup delay

 Maximum delay variation/jitter

 Maximum round-trip delay

 Startup delay defines the amount of time that
elapses between an application making a
request to start a session and the
confirmation being received from the
application at the destination.
 A circuit-switched network would be most

appropriate for applications that involve

the transfer of a constant bit rate stream.
Why?
 1. The call setup delay is not important.

 2. The channel provides a constant bit rate

service of a known rate.

 A connectionless packet-switched network would
be more appropriate for interactive applications.
Why? Because,(i) There is no network call setup
delay and (ii) Any variations in the packet delay
are not important.
 When packet-switched network is used

 A technique known as buffering is used to overcome

the effect of jitter in a packet-switched network.
 The effect of jitter is overcome by retaining a

defined number of packets in a memory buffer at

the destination before play out of the information
bit stream is started.
(b) FIFO buffer operation

All packet switches need buffers to match

input rate to service rate or cause heavy
packet loses
 Buffering delay plus the time for playing a
packet must be larger than the worst-case jitter.
 Packetization delay is the delay incurred at the

source to packetize the information.

 The larger the size of a packet, the larger the

packetization delay is.

 Some other concerns when determining the packet

size:
 Is retransmission required?

 Is the destination buffer larger enough to handle

the worst-case jitter.
 In order to simplify the process of determining--
 ----whether a particular network can meet the
QoS requirements of an application a number of
standard application service classes have been
defined.
 A specific set of QoS parameters is associated

with each class.

 In order to ensure the QoS parameters
associated with each class are met, the packets
relating to each class are given a different
priority in a network that supports a number of
different service classes.