MPEG-4 delivery : DMIF based unicast and multicast systems

• Main Author: Asrar Haghighi, Kambiz
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/11623

In recent years, there has been tremendous development in the field of multimedia and Internet technologies. However, not until recently did the two areas begin to converge. One standard that attempted to do just this is MPEG-4. This is the first multimedia standard designed with the goal of Internet streaming in mind. The novelty of this concept required a proof of concept as well as a feasible design that would take advantage of these features. This thesis discusses developments in the field of unicast as well as multicast streaming for MPEG-4 traffic based on the Delivery Multimedia Integration Framework (DMIF) standard. The design and implementation required conformance to the systems layer specifications within the standard and interoperability with the IM1 reference software. The unicast system required the design and implementation of multi-client streaming server that would support high complexity multimedia data and deliver transparent data to the receiver. This design includes issues such as rate control, multithreaded development for multi-client operation and other novel features. The development of this unicast system led to some efficiency issues for which a multicast system was proposed and designed based on the DMIF standard with Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) additions. This proposed system is simulated and the performance improvements and design enhancements are discussed. The finished software for the unicast system is part of the verification model for the MPEG-4 standard conformance software. This system is completely standard compliant and provides some media monitoring capabilities and rudimentary interactivity. We expect this work to provide a reference architecture for a wide range of standards compliant MPEG-4 server designs in academic and industrial institutions.