Unit-1 Multimedia communications

Introduction
 Multimedia is used to indicate that the information/data being transferred over the network
may be composed of one or more of the following media types:
1. Text: Includes unformatted text - comprising strings of characters from a limited character
set, formatted text strings as used for the structuring, access, and presentation of electronic
documents
2. Images: Include computer generated images, comprising lines, curves, and circles, and
digitized images of documents and pictures
3. Audio: Includes both low fidelity speech - used in telephony, and high fidelity stereophonic
music - used with compact discs
4. Video: Includes short sequences of moving images (also known as video clips) and complete
movies/films
 Applications may include - person-to-person communications or
person-to-system communications
 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 workstation
 Personal computers 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, images,
audio, and video information either singly or integrated together
 The server may also 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 a
television
 There are a number of different types of network that are used to provide the networking
infrastructure
For example, public switched telephone networks (PSTNs) – also known as general switched
telephone networks (GSTNs) were designed initially to provide a basic switched telephone
service
 But, as a result of advances in digital signal processing hardware and associated 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
 But, now support a much richer set of applications that involve images, audio, and video
Multimedia information representation
 Applications involving text and images comprise blocks of digital data
 In a text, a typical unit is a block of characters with each character represented by a fixed
number of binary digits (bits) known as a codeword
 Similarly, a digitized image comprises a two-dimensional block of what are called picture
elements with each element represented by a fixed number of bits
 Audio and video signals vary continuously with time as the amplitude of the speech, audio,
or video signal varies
 This type of signal is known as an analog signal and, typically, the duration of applications
that involve audio and/or video can be relatively long
 A typical telephone conversation, for example, can last for several minutes while a movie
(comprising audio and video) can last for a number of hours
 In applications that involve just a single type of media, the basic form of representation of
the particular media type is often used
 Similarly, in applications that involve either text-and-images or audio-and-video their basic
form is often used since the two media types in these applications have the same form of
representation
 However, in applications that involve the different media types integrated together in some
way, it becomes necessary to represent all four media types in a digital form
 In the case of text and images, digital data is the standard form of representation

 For audio and video, basic forms of representation are analog signals, these must be
converted into a corresponding digital form before they can be integrated with the two other
media types
 The digitization of an audio signal produces a digital signal, the amplitude of the signal varies
continuously with time, is of a relatively high bit rate
 This is measured in bits per second (bps) and, in the case of a speechsignal, for example, a
typical bit rate is 64 kbps
 The same applies to the digitization of a video signal except that much higher bit rates and
longer time durations are involved
 The communication networks that are used to support applications that involve audio and
video cannot support the very high bit rates that are required for representing these media types
in a digital form
 As a result, a technique known as compression is first applied to the digitized signals in order
to reduce the resulting bit rate to a level which the various networks can support
  Compression is also applied to text and images in order to reduce the time delay between a
request being made for some information and the information becoming available on, say, the
screen of a computer

Multimedia networks
 There are five basic types of communication network that are used to provide multimedia
communication services:
1. Telephone networks
2. Data networks
3. Broadcast television networks
4. Integrated services digital networks
5. Broadband multiservice networks
 The first three network types were initially designed to provide just a single type of service:
telephony, data communications, and broadcast television respectively
 The last two network types, however, were designed from the outset to provide multiple
services
Telephone networks
 Public switched telephone networks have been in existence for many years and have gone
through many changes during this time
 They were designed to provide a basic switched telephone service which is known as a plain
old telephone service or POTS
 The term "switched" is used to indicate that a subscriber can make a call to any other
telephone that is connected to the total network
 Initially, such networks spanned just a single country but later the telephone networks of
different countries were interconnected so that they now provide an international switched
service
 The main components of the network are shown in diagrammatic form in Figure 1.1(a)
 Telephones located in the home or in a small business are connected directly to their nearest
local exchange/end office
 Those located in a medium or large office/site are connected to a private switching office
known as a private branch exchange or PBX
 The PBX provides a (free) switched service between any two telephones that are connected
to it
 In addition, the PBX is connected to its nearest local (public) exchange which enables the
telephones that are connected to the PBX also to make calls through a PSTN
 More recently, cellular phone networks have been introduced which provide a similar service
to mobile subscribers by means of handsets that are linked to the cellular phone network
infrastructure by radio
 The switches used in a cellular phone network are known as mobile switching centers
(MSCs) and these, like a PBX, are also connected to a switching office in a PSTN which
enables both sets of subscribers to make calls to one another
 Finally, international calls are routed to and switched by international gateway exchanges
(IGEs)  A speech signal is an analog signal since it varies continuously with time according
to the amplitude and frequency variations of the sound resulting from the speech
 A microphone is used to convert this into an analog electrical signal
 Because of this, telephone networks operate in what is called a circuit mode which means
that, for each call, a separate circuit is set up through the network - of the necessary capacity -
for the duration of the call  The access circuits that link the telephone handsets to a PSTN or
PBX were designed, therefore, to carry the two-way analog signals associated with a call
 Hence, although within a PSTN all the switches and the transmission circuits that
interconnect them now operate in a digital mode, to carry a digital signal-a stream of binary 1s
and 0s-over the analog access circuits requires a device known as a modem  The general
scheme is shown is Figure 1.1(b)  Essentially, at the sending side, the modem converts the
digital signal output by the source digital device into an analog signal that is compatible with
a normal speech signal .
This is routed through the network in the same way as a speech signal and, at the receiving
side, the modem converts the analog signal back again into its digital form before relaying this
to the destination digital device

 Modems also have the necessary circuits to set up and terminate a call
 Hence by using a pair of modems - one at each subscriber access point - a PSTN can also be
used to provide a switched digital service
The early modems supported only a very low bit rate service of 300bps but, as a result of
advances in digital signal processing circuits, modems are now available that support bit rates
of up to 56 kbps
 The general scheme is shown in Figure 1.1 (c) and such applications require bit rates in
excess of 1.5 Mbps
 It illustrates the PSTN can now support a wide range of other multimedia communication
applications
Data networks
 Data networks were designed to provide basic data communication services such as
electronic mail (email) and general file transfers
 The user equipment connected to these networks, therefore, is a computer such as a PC, a
workstation, or an email /file server
 The two most widely deployed networks of this type are the X.25network and the Internet
 X.25 network is restricted to relatively low bit rate data applications and hence is unsuitable
for most multimedia applications
 The Internet is made up of a vast collection of interconnected networks all of which operate
using the same set of communication protocols
 A communication protocol is an agreed set of rules that are adhered to by all communicating
parties for the exchange of information
 The rules define not only the sequence of messages that are exchanged between the
communicating parties but also the syntax of these messages
 Hence by using the same set of communication protocols, all the computers that are
connected to the Internet can communicate freely with each other irrespective of their type or
 This is also the origin of the term "open systems interconnection"
 Figure 1.2 shows a selection of the different types of interconnected network
 In the case of a user at home or in a small business, access to the Internet is through an
intermediate Internet service provider (ISP) network
 Normally, since this type of user wants access to the Internet intermittently, the user devices
are connected to the ISP networkeither through a PSTN with modems or through an
integratedservices digital network (ISDN), provides access at a higher bit rate
 Alternatively, business users obtain access either through a site/campus network if the
business comprises only a single site or, if it comprises multiple sites through an enterprise-
wide private network
 In the case of a single site/campus, the network known as a (private) local area network or
LAN
 For an enterprise-wide network comprising multiple sites the sites are interconnected
together using an inter-site backbone network to provide a set of enterprise-wide
communication services
 The enterprise network is then known as an intranet since internal services are provided
using the same set of communication protocols as those defined for the Internet
 The different types of network are all connected to the Internet backbone network through
an interworking unit called a gateway
 It is responsible for routing and relaying all messages to and from the connected network, is
also known as a router
 All data networks operate in what is called a packet mode
 Packet is a container for a block of data and, at its head, is the address of the intended recipient
computer which is used to route the packet through the network
 This mode of operation was chosen since 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

Broadcast television networks

 Broadcast television networks were designed to support the diffusion of analog television
(and radio) programs throughout wide geographical areas
 In the case of a large town or city, the broadcast medium is normally a cable distribution
network while for larger areas, a satellite network or sometimes a terrestrial broadcast network
is used
 Digital television services have become available with these networks with a low bit rate
return channel for interaction purposes, provide a range of additional services such as games
playing and home shopping Broadcast television networks
 The general architecture of a cable distribution network and a satellite/terrestrial broadcast
network are shown in Figure 1.3(a) and(b) respectively
 From figure 1.3(a), the set top box attached to the cable distribution network provides not
only control of the television channels that are received but also access to other services
 For example, when a cable modem is integrated into the STB this provides both a low bit
rate channel and a high bit rate channel from the subscriber back to the cable head-end
 Typically, the low bit rate channel is used to connect the subscriber to a PSTN and the high
bit rate channel to connect the subscriber to the Internet
 In addition to providing basic broadcast radio and television services, cable distribution
networks also provide access to the range of multimedia communication services

Figure 1.3(b), in the case of satellite and terrestrial broadcast networks, when high-speed PSTN
modem is integrated into the STB
 It provides the subscriber with an interaction channel so enhancing the range of services these
network support
 This is the origin of the term "interactive television"

Integrated services digital networks

 Integrated services digital networks started to be deployed in the early 1980s
 They were originally designed to provide PSTN users with the capability having additional
services
 It was achieved firstly, by converting the access circuits that connect user equipment to the
network - a telephone for example - into an all- digital form
 And secondly, by providing two separate communication channels over these circuits
 These allow users either to have two different telephone calls in progress simultaneously or
two different calls such as a telephone call and a data call
With an ISDN, therefore, the access circuit is known as a digital subscriber line (DSL)

 The subscriber telephone can be either a digital phone or a conventional analog one
 In the case of a digital phone, the electronics that are needed to convert the analog voice and
call setup signals into a digital form are integrated into the phone handset
 With an analog phone, the same electronics are located in the network termination equipment
so making the digital mode of operation of the network transparent to the subscriber phone
 The digitization of a telephone-quality analog speech signal produces a constant bit rate
binary stream-normal referred to as a bitstream- of 64 kbps
 Hence, the basic DSL of the ISDN known as the basic rate access or BRA - supports two
64 kbps channels
 They can either be used independently or as a single combined 128kbps channel
 Since the two channels were intended for two different calls, this requires two separate
circuits to be set up through the switching network independently
 Hence to synchronize the two separate 64 kbps bit streams into a single 128 kbps stream
requires an additional box of electronics to perform, what is known as, the aggregation
function
In addition, a single higher bit rate channel of either 1.5 or 2 Mbps is supported
 This is known as the primary rate access or PRA
 Service provided has been enhanced and now supports a single switched channel of p x
64kbps where p = 1, 2, 3,.. 30
 The various services provided are summarized in Figure 1.4 and an ISDN can support a range
of multimedia applications
 Because of the relatively high cost of digitizing the access circuits, in general the cost of the
services associated with an ISDN are higher than the equivalent service provided by a PSTN

Broadband multiservice networks

 Broadband multiservice networks were designed in the mid-1980s for use as public switched
networks to support a wide range of multimedia communication applications
 The term "broadband" was used to indicate that the circuits associated with a call could have
bit rates in excess of the maximum bit rate of 2 Mbps - 30 x 64 kbps - provided by an ISDN
 They were designed to be an enhanced ISDN and hence were called broadband integrated
services digital networks or B-ISDN
 ISDN is sometimes referred to as narrowband ISDN or N-ISDN Broadband multiservice
networks
 At the time the B-ISDN was first conceived, the technology associated with the digitization
of a video signal was such that, in general, an ISDN could not support services that included
video
 Since that time, however, considerable advances have been made in the field of compression
with the effect that not only can an ISDN now support multimedia communication applications
that include video, but also so can the other three types of network that have described
 Different multimedia applications require different bit rates, the rate being determined by the
types of media that are involved
 Hence the switching and transmission methods that are used within these networks must be
more flexible than those used in networks such as a PSTN or ISDN which were initially
designed to provide a single type of service
 To achieve this flexibility, all the different media types associated with a particular
multimedia application are first converted in the source equipment into a digital form
 These are then integrated together and the resulting binary stream is divided into multiple
fixed-sized packets known as cells
 Also, the use of fixed sized cells means that the switching of cells can be carried out much
faster than if variable-length packets were used
 Since the different multimedia applications generate cell streams of different rates, this mode
of operation means that the rate of transfer of cells through the network also varies and hence
this mode of transmission is known as the asynchronous transfer mode or ATM
 Broadband multiservice networks, therefore, are also known as ATM networks or sometimes
cell-switching networks
 For example, there are ATM local area networks (ATM LANs) that span a single site and
ATM metropolitan area networks (ATMMANs) that span a large town or city
  An example of a broadband multiservice network is shown in Figure 1.5, the ATM MAN is
being used as a high speed backbone networkto interconnect a number of LANs distributed
around a large town or city
 Two of the LANs are ATM LANs, the other two are simple higher- speed versions of older
data-only LANs

Multimedia applications
 There are many and varied applications that involve multiple media types
 In general, however, they can be placed into one of three categories:
1. Interpersonal communications
2. Interactive applications over the internet
3. Entertainment applications
 In many instances the networks that are used to support these applications were initially
designed to provide a service that involved just a single type of medium
 As a result of advances in various related technologies that they are now used to support
multimedia applications

Interpersonal communications
 Interpersonal communications may involve speech, image, text, or video
 In some cases just a single type of medium is involved while inothers two or more media
types are integrated together

Speech only
 Interpersonal communications may involve speech 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 general 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 the PC
 This requires, a telephone interface card and associated software andis known as computer
telephony integration or CTI
 The added advantages of using a PC instead of a conventional telephone are many
 For example, the user can create his or her own private directory of numbers and initiate a
call simply by selecting the desired number onthe PC screen
 Generally, providing the access circuit to the network has sufficient capacity - normally
referred to as the circuit's bandwidth - it is possible to integrate telephony with all the other
networked services provided by the PC
 In addition to telephony, many public and private networks support additional services
 Two examples are voice-mail and teleconferencing
 Voice-mail, for example, is used in the event of the called party being unavailable
 A spoken message can then be left in the voice mailbox of the called party
 This is located in a central repository known as the voice-mail server
 The message can be read by the owner of the mailbox the next time he or she contacts the
server
 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 call is known variously as a conference call or, since it involves a telephone
network, a teleconferencing call or sometimes 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
VOIP (Voice over internet protocol)
 The Internet is also used to support telephony
 Initially, because the Internet was designed to support computer-to- computer
communications, just (multimedia) PC-to-PC telephony was supported
 This was subsequently extended so that a standard telephone could also be used as shown in
Figure 1.7
 In the case of a PC-to-PC telephone call, the standard addresses that are used to identify
individual computers connected to the Internet are used in the same way as for a data transfer
application
 The Internet operates in a packet mode, both PCs must have the necessary hardware and
software to convert the speech signal from the microphone into packets on input and back again
prior to output to the speakers
 Telephony over the Internet is also known, therefore, as packet voice or, because the network
protocol associated with the Internet is called the Internet protocol (IP), voice over IP (VoIP)
 When a PC connected to the Internet needs to make a call to a telephone that is connected
to a PSTN/ISDN, because these both operate in a circuit mode, an interworking unit known as
a telephony gateway must be used
 PC user first sends a request to make a (telephone) call to a pre allocated telephony gateway
using the Internet address
 Assuming the user is registered to use this service, the gateway requests the telephone number
of the called party from the source PC
 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 number
and the standard call setup procedure of the PSTN/ISDN
 Assuming the called party answers, the called gateway then signals back to the PC user -
through the source gate way - that the call can commence
 A similar procedure is followed to clear the call on completion
Image only
 An alternative form of interpersonal communications over a PSTNor an ISDN is by the
exchange of electronic images of documents
 This type of service is known as facsimile - or simply fax - and is illustrated in Figure 1.8
 Normally, this type of communication involves the use of a pair of fax machines, one at each
network termination point
 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 two 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 and, 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 PC's memory
 This mode of operation is known as PC fax
The digital image of each page of the document is sent in the same way as the scanned image
produced by a conventional fax machine
 As with telephony, this requires a telephone interface card and associated software
 The latter operates in exactly the same way as that in a fax machine and hence the terminal
at the called side can be either a fax machine or another similar PC
 In addition, with PC fax it is possible to send the digitized document over other network
types such as an enterprise network
 In this case, a LAN interface card and associated software are used
 This mode of operation is particularly useful when working withpaper-based documents
such as invoices, and so on
Text only
 An example of interpersonal communications involving just text is electronic mail (email)
 The user terminal is normally a PC or a workstation and, the most widespread network used
is the Internet
 Various operational scenarios are 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 Text only
 Associated with each network is a set of one or more server computers
 Each is known as an email server and, collectively, these contain a mailbox for each user
connected to that network
 A user can both create and deposit mail into his or her mailbox and read mail from it
  Both the email servers and the internetwork gateway operate usingthe standard Internet
communication protocols

 The format of a typical text-only email message is shown in Figure 1.9 (b) and, at the head
is the unique Internet-wide name of both the sender and recipient of the mail
 In addition, a copy of the mail can be sent to multiple recipients eachof whom is listed-in the
cc part of the mail header, the acronym"cc" being the abbreviation for "carbon copy" which
was the original means of making (paper) copies of documents
 Normally, the contents of text-only mail comprise unformatted text, typically strings of
ASCII characters

Text and Images

 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, a LAN, or the Internet and the general scheme is
illustrated in Figure 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 person's 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 white board
program - and a linked set of support programs, one in each PC/workstation
 The latter is made up of two parts: 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 and these
in turn proceed to update the contents of their copy of the whiteboard

Speech and video

 An example application that uses speech and video integrated together is video telephony
which is now supported by all the network types
 Figure 1.11 (a) shows the general scheme
 In the case of the home, the terminals used are normally dedicated to providing the
videophone service, while in an 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
and speaker used for telephony
 With a dedicated terminal, a separate screen is used for the display whilst with a multimedia
PC or workstation, the (moving) image of the called party is displayed in a window of the
PC/workstation screen
 The network must provide a two-way communication channel between the two parties of
sufficient bandwidth to support the integrated speech-and-video generated by each terminal/PC

 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
 Moreover, as with telephony, a call may involve not just two persons - and hence
terminals/PCs - but several people each located in their own office
This type of call is then known as a desktop videoconferencing call and 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 sometimes a videoconferencing server - associated with this network
 An example is shown in Figure 1.11 (b)

 In principle, a separate window on the screen of each participant's PC/workstation should be

used to display the video image of all the other participants
 In practice, however, this would require multiple integrated speech- and-video
communication channels, one for each participant, being sent to each of the other participants
 Normally, this would require more bandwidth than is available
 Hence instead, the integrated speech-and-video information stream from each participant is
sent to the MCU which then selects just a single information stream to send to each participant
 For example, with a voice-activated MCU, whenever the MCU detects a participant
speaking, it relays the information stream from that participant to all the other participant

 In this way, only a single two-way communication channel between each location and the
MCU is required thereby reducing considerably the communication bandwidth needed
 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
 Thus with networks that support multicasting, it is possible to hold a conferencing session
without an MCU
 The principle is shown in Figure 1.11 (c) and, as we can deduce fromthis, this is only feasible
when only a limited number of participants are involved owing to the high load it places on the
network
Speech and video
 While the application just described involves only a single person at each location, there are
other applications that involve groups of people at one or more of the locations
 Two examples are shown in Figure 1.12 Speech and video  While the application

 In part (a) a person at one location is communicating with a group of people at another
location
 This is the case, for example, with the transmission of a live lecture or seminar
 Typically, the information stream transferred from the lecturer to the (remote) class would be
integrated speech-find-video together with electronic copies of transparencies and other
documents used in the lecture
 In the reverse direction, the information may comprise just speech - for questions - or
integrated speech-and-video to enable the lecturer to both see and hear the members of the class
at the remote location
 In terms of communications requirements, these are similar to those for a two-party
videophone call
 Alternatively, if the lecture is being relayed to multiple locations, either separate
communications channel is required to each remote site or an MCU is used at the lecturer's site
 Because of the relatively high bandwidth that is involved, the network is either an ISDN that
supports multiple 64 kbps channels or a broadband multiservice network if one is available
 In the example in Figure 1.12 (b), there is a group of people at each location
 This type of application has been in use for many years and was the first example of
videoconferencing
 Normally, since a group of people are present at each location, specially equipped rooms
called videoconferencing studios are used which contain all the necessary audio and video
equipment
 This comprises one or more video cameras, a large-screen display, and associated audio
equipment, all of which is connected to a unit called a videoconferencing system
 A conference can involve just two locations or, more usually, multiple locations as shown in
the figure
 In the case of the latter, an MCU is normally used to minimize the bandwidth demands on
the access circuits to the network
 In the figure, the MCU is shown as a central facility within the network and hence only a
single two-way communications channel is required for each access circuit of the network
 This is the type of arrangement with a telecommunications-provider conference, for example
 Alternatively, if a private network is being used, the MCU is normally located at one of the
sites
 The communication requirements at that site are then more demanding since it must support
multiple input channels - one from each of the other sites - and a single output channel, the
stream from which must be broadcast to all of the other sites

Multimedia
 In Internet-based electronic mail - email - assumed the information content of each email
message consisted of text only
 In addition, however, mail containing other media types such as images, audio, and video are
also used
 Three examples of electronic mail consisting of media types other than text are voice-mail,
video-mail, and multi- media mail
 Voice-mail is similar in principle to that described earlier in relationto telephone networks
 With Internet-based voice-mail, however, there is a voicemail server associated with each
network
 This is in addition to the email server shown earlier in Figure 1.9(a)  In Internet-based
electronic mail - email - assumed the informationcontent of each email message consisted of
text only
 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 recipient's network
 The stored voice message is then played out the next time the recipient accesses his or her
voice-mailbox
 The same mode of operation is used for video-mail except in this case the mail message
comprises an integrated speech-and-video sequence

 Multimedia mail is an extension of text-only mail inasmuch as the basic content of the mail
comprises textual information
 With multimedia mail, however, the textual information is annotated with a digitized image,
a speech message, or a video message, as shown in Figure 1.13
 In the case of speech-and-video, the annotations can be sent either directly to the mailbox 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
 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

Interactive applications over the internet

 In addition to a range of interpersonal communication applications, the Internet is also used
to support a range of interactive applications
 The most widely used being for interactions with a world wide web(www) or simply web,
server

 It 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 illustrated in Figure 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
 The optional linkage points within documents are defined by the creator of the document and
are known as anchors since it is to these that the necessary linkage information is attached
 Documents comprising only text are created using hypertext, while those comprising
multimedia information are created using what is known as hypermedia
 The general structure of this type of document is shown in Figure 1.14(b)
 There is no central authority for the introduction of new documents into the web

 Anyone can create a new document at a particular server site - providing the server has been
allocated an Internet address – and making hyperlink references from it to any other document
on the Web
 Each document has a unique address - known as a 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
 A standard format is used for writing documents
 It 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
 That is, 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
with a particular server at the click of the mouse
 Once a desired document has been located, the user simply clicks onan 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

 With a hypertext document, the anchor is usually an underlined word or phrase while with
a hypermedia document it is normally an icon of an appropriate shape
 For example, a loudspeaker for a sound annotation or a video camera for a video clip
 In some applications the client simply wishes to browse through the information stored at a
particular site
 Examples include browsing through sales literature, product information, application notes
periodicals, newspapers, and so on
 In general, there is no charge for accessing this information
 However, access to books, journals, and similar documents may be by subscription only
 In applications such as home shopping, home banking, and so on –more generally known as
teleshopping and telebanking - 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
Entertainment applications
Entertainment applications can be one of two types:
1. Movie/video-on-demand
2. Interactive television
Movie/video-on-demand
 The video and audio associated with entertainment applications must be of a much higher
quality/resolution since wide-screen televisions and stereophonic sound are often used
 A digitized movie/video - with sound - requires a minimum channel bit rate (bandwidth) of
1.5 Mbps
 The network used to support this type of application must be either a PSTN with a high bit
rate modem or a cable network
The general operational scheme in both cases is shown in Figure 1.15(a)
 The information stored on the server is a collection of digitizedmovies/videos
 The subscriber terminal comprises a conventional television with a selection device for
interaction purposes
 The user interactions are relayed to the server through a set-top box which also contains the
high bit rate modem
 By means of a 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 control the showing of the movie by
using similar controls to those used on a conventional video cassette recorder (VCR), that is,
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
 Hence, as we can deduce from Figure 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 the server to be extremely high since it must support
not just the transmission of a possibly large number of different movies, but also multiple
copies of each movie
 Technically this is very challenging and costly

If the server is supporting a large number of subscribers, then it is common for several
subscribers to request the same movie within a relatively short time interval between each
request
 An alternative mode of operation is also used, therefore, in which requests for a particular
movie are not played out immediately but instead are queued until the start of the next play out
time of that movie as shown in Figure 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

Interactive television
 Broadcast television networks include cable, satellite, and terrestrial networks
 The basic service provided by these networks is the diffusion of bothanalog and digital
television programs
 In addition to the connection with the PSTN, the subscriber is able torespond to the
information being broadcast
 The user can vote, participation in games, home shopping and so on
 Similar set of services are available through satellite and terrestrial broadcast networks,
except that the STB associated with these networks requires a high speed modem to provide
connections to the PSTN and the internet

Application and networking terminology

Media types
 In different multimedia applications, the information flow associated with the different
applications can be either continuous or block mode
 In the continuous media, the information stream generated by the source continuously in a
time-dependent way
 In general, continuous media is passed directly as it is generated and, at the destination, the
information stream is played out directly as it is received
 This mode of operation is called streaming, since continuous media is generated in a time
dependent way, it is also known as real-time media Application and networking terminology
Media types
 Examples of continuous media are audio and video
 In terms of the bit rate at which the source information stream is generated – may be at either
a continuous bit rate (CBR) or a variable bit rate (VBR)
 In the case of block-mode media, the source information comprises single block of
information that is created in a time-independent way
 For example, a block of text representing an email or computer program, a two dimensional
matrix of pixel values that represents an image
When, block is requested, the delay between the request being made and the content of the
block being output at the destination is withinan acceptable time interval
 This is known as the round-trip delay (RTD) and the process termed as Downloading

Communication modes
 The transfer of the information streams associated with anapplication can take place in one
of five modes:
1. Simplex: this means the information associated with the application flows in one direction
only
 An example is the transmission of photographic images from a deep- space probe at
predetermined times since this involves just a unidirectional flow of information from the probe
to an earth station
2. Half-duplex: this means that information flows in both directions but alternately
 This mode is also known as two-way alternate and an example is a user making a request for
some information from a remote server and the latter returning the requested information
3. Duplex: this means that information flows in both directions simultaneously
 It is also known as two-way simultaneous and an example is the two-way flow of digitized
speech and video associated with a videotelephony application
4. Broadcast: this means that the information output by a single source node is received by all
the other nodes - computers, and soon – that connected to the same network
 An example is the broadcast of a television program over a cable network as all the television
receivers are connected to the network receive the same set of programs

5. Multicast: this is similar to a broadcast except that the information output by the source is
received by only a specific subset of the nodes that are connected to the network. The latter
form what is called a multicast group and an example application is videoconferencing which
involves a predefined group of terminals/ computers connected to a network exchanging
integrated speech and video streams

 In the case of half-duplex and duplex communications, the bit rate associated with the flow
of information in each direction can be either equal or different; if the flows are equal, the
information flow is said to be symmetric and if the flows are different, asymmetric
For example, a video telephone call involves the exchange of an integrated digitized speech
and video stream in both directions simultaneously and hence a symmetric duplex
communications channel is required
 Alternatively, in an application involving a browser (program) and a Web server, a low bit
rate channel from the browser to the Webserver is required for request and control purposes
and a higher bit rate channel from the server to the subscriber for the transfer of, say, the
requested file
 Hence for this type of application, an asymmetric half-duplexcommunications channel is
sufficient Network types

Network types
 In the same way that there are two types of information streamassociated with the different
media types - continuous and block- mode
 Two types of communications channel associated with the various network types, one that
operates in a time-dependent way known as circuit-mode the other in a time-varying way
known as packet- mode
 The first is known a synchronous communications channel since it provides a constant bit
rate service at a specified rate
 The second is known as an asynchronous communications channel since it provides a
variable bit rate service Circuit-mode
 A circuit-mode network is shown in Figure 1.19
 It comprises an interconnected set of switching offices/exchanges towhich the subscriber
terminals/computers are connected
 This type of network is known as a circuit switched network and, prior to sending any
information, the source must first set up a connection through the network
 Each subscriber terminal/computer has a unique network-wide number/address associated
with it and, to make a call, the source first enters the number/address of the intended
communication partner Circuit-mode
 The local switching office/ exchange then uses this to set up a connection through the network
to the switching office/ exchange to which the destination is connected
 Assuming the destination is free and ready to receive a call, a message is returned to the
source indicating that it can now start to transfer/exchange information
 Finally, after all the information has been transferred/exchanged, either the source or the
destination requests for the connection to be cleared
 The bit rate associated with the connection is fixed and, in general, is determined by the bit
rate that is used over the access circuits that connect the source and destination
terminal/computer to the network
  The messages associated with the setting up and clearing of a connection are known as
signaling messages
 In a circuit-switched network there is a time delay while a connection is being established
 This is known as the call/connection setup delay and two examples of networks that operate
in this way are a PSTN and an ISDN
 With a PSTN, the call setup delay can range from a fraction of a second for a local call
through to several seconds for an international call
 With an ISDN, however, the delay ranges from tens of milliseconds through to several
hundred milliseconds

Packet mode
 There are two types of packet-mode network : connection-oriented(CO) and connectionless
(CL)
 The principle of operation of a connection-oriented network is shown in Figure 1.20(a)
 It comprises an interconnected set of packet-switching exchange (PSEs)
 This type of network is known as a packet-switched network and, as with a circuit-switched
network, each terminal/computer that is connected to the network has a unique network-wide
number/address associated with it
 With a connection-oriented network, prior to sending any information, a connection is first
set up through the network using the addresses of the source and destination terminals
 However, in a packet switched network, the connection/circuit that is set up utilizes only a
variable portion of the bandwidth of each link and hence the connection is known as a virtual
connection or, more usually, a virtual circuit (VC)
 To set up a VC, the source terminal/computer sends a call request control packet to its local
PSE which contains, in addition to the address of the source and destination terminal/computer,
a short identifier known as a virtual circuit identifier (VCI)
 With a connection-oriented network, prior to sending any information, a connection is first
set up through the network using the addresses of the source and destination terminals
 However, in a packet switched network, the connection/circuit that is set up utilizes only a
variable portion of the bandwidth of each link and hence the connection is known as a virtual
connection or, more usually, a virtual circuit (VC)
 To set up a VC, the source terminal/computer sends a call request control packet to its local
PSE which contains, in addition to the address of the source and destination terminal/computer,
a short identifier known as a virtual circuit identifier (VCI)
 Each PSE maintains a table that specifies the outgoing link that should be used to reach each
network address
 On the receipt of the call request packet, the PSE uses the destination address, within the
packet to determine the outgoing link to be used
 The next free identifier (VCI) for this link is then selected and two entries are made in a
routing table
 The first specifies the incoming link/VCI and the corresponding out going link/VCI and the
second, in order to route packets in the reverse direction, the inverse of these, as shown in the
figure

The call request packet is then forwarded on the selected outgoing link and the same -procedure
is followed at each PSE along the route until the destination terminal/computer is reached
 The VCIs that are used on the various links form the virtual circuit and, at the destination,
assuming the call is accepted, a call accepted packet is returned to the source over the same
route/virtual circuit
 Each PSE first uses the incoming link/VCI to determine the outgoing link/VCI from the
routing table
 The existing VCI in the packet header is then replaced with that obtained from the routing
table and the packet is forwarded on the identified outgoing link
 The same procedure is followed to return information in the reverse direction and, when all
information has been transferred/exchanged, the VC is cleared and the appropriate VCIs are
released by passing a call clear packet along the VC
 In a connectionless network, the establishment of a connection is not required and the two
communicating terminals/ computer can communicate and exchange information as and when
they wish
 In order to do this, however, as shown in Figure 1.20(b), 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
 In a connectionless network, therefore, the term router is normally used rather than packet
switching exchange
 In both network types, as each packet is received by a PSE/router on an incoming link, it is
stored in its entirety in a memory buffer
 A check is then made to determine if any transmission/bit errors are present in the packet
header - that is, the signal that is used to represent a binary 0 is corrupted and is interpreted by
the receiver as a binary 1 and vice versa - and, if an error is detected, the packet is simply
discarded
 The service offered by a packet switched network is said, therefore, to be a best effort service
 If a sequence of packets to be received on a number of incoming links all of which need
forwarding on the same outgoing link
 Hence a packet may experience an additional delay while it is in the output queue for a link
waiting to be transmitted
 Delay will be variable since it depends on the number of packets that are currently present in
the queue when a next packet arrives for forwarding
 This mode of operation is known as store and forward and, as we can see, there is a packet
store-and-forward delay in each PSE/router
 The sum of the store-and-forward delays in each PSE/router contributes to the overall transfer
delay of the packet across the network
 The mean of this delay is known as the mean packet transfer delay and the variation about
the mean the delay variation or jitter

Multipoint conferencing
 Multipoint conferencing features in many interpersonal applications including audio- and
videoconferencing, data sharing, and computer- supported cooperative working
 Essentially, these involve the exchange of information between three or more terminals/
computers
 In practice, because of the different modes of operation of the two network types - circuit-
switched and packet-switched- multipoint conferencing is implemented in one of two ways:
centralized and decentralized
 The centralized mode is used with circuit-switched networks such as a PSTN or an ISDN
and, as we show in Figure -1.21(a), with this mode a centralized conference server is used
 Prior to sending any information, each terminal/ computer to be involved in the conference
must first set up a connection to the server
 Each terminal/computer then sends its own media stream- comprising, say, audio, video, and
data integrated together in some way - to the server using the established connection
 The server, in turn, then distributes either the media stream received from a selected terminal/
computer or a mix of the media streams received from several terminals/computers back to all
the other terminals/computers that are involved in the conference
The decentralized mode is used with packet-switched networks that support multicast
communications
 Examples include local area networks, intranets, and the Internet
 In this mode, as shown in Figure 1.21(b), the output of each terminal/computer is received
by all the other members of the conference/multicast group
 Hence a conference server is not normally used and instead it is the responsibility of each
terminal/computer to manage the information streams that it receives from the other members

 In addition, a third mode known as the hybrid mode can be used

 This is shown in Figure 1.21(c) and, it is used when the various terminals/ computers that
make up the conference are attached todifferent network types
 In the example shown, the conference comprises four terminals/ computers, two attached to
a circuit-switched network and two to a packet-switched network that supports multicasting
 As in the centralized mode, a conference server is used and the output of each
terminal/computer is sent to the server either over individual circuits - terminals A and B - or
using/multicasting - terminals C and D
 However, in this mode, as in the centralized mode, it is the server that determines the output
stream(s) to be sent to each terminal

There are four types of conferencing:

1. Data conferencing: this involves data only and examples include data sharing and computer-
supported cooperative working
2. Audio conferencing: this involves audio (speech) only
3. Videoconferencing: this involves speech and video synchronized and integrated together
4. Multimedia conferencing: this involves speech, video, and data integrated together
 An MCU consists of two parts: the first is known as the multipoint controller (MC) part and
is concerned with the establishment of connections to each of the conference participants
 The second part is known as the multipoint processor (MP) and is concerned with the
distribution of the information streams generated during the conference
 The latter include such functions as the mixing of the various media streams into an
integrated stream, voice-activated switching and continuous presence
Network QoS
 The operational parameters associated with a communications channel through a network are
known as the network Quality of Service (QoS) parameters and collectively they determine the
suitability of the channel in relation to its use for a particular application
 In practice, the QoS parameters associated with a circuit-switched network are different from
those associated with a packet-switched network and hence we shall discuss each separately

Circuit-switched network
 The QoS parameters associated with a constant bit rate channel that is set up through a circuit-
switched network include:
1.The bit rate
2. The mean bit error rate
3. 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
 Hence, for a constant bit rate channel, this equates to the probabilityof a bit being corrupted
in a defined number of bits
 A mean BER of 10-3 therefore, means that, on average, for every1000 bits that are
transmitted, 1 of these bits will be corrupted 1. The bit rate 2. The mean bit error rate 3. The
transmission delay
  For example, if the application involves speech, then an occasional bit error will go
unnoticed
 But in an application involving the transfer of, say, financial information, it is essential that
the received information contains no errors
 Hence-with such applications, prior to transmission the source information is normally
divided into blocks
 The maximum size of which is determined by the mean BER of the communications channel
 For example, if the mean BER is 10-3 , then the number of bits in a block must be
considerably less than 1000 otherwise, on average, every block will contain an error and will
be discarded
 Normally, however, bit errors occur randomly and hence, even with a block size of, say, 100
bits, blocks may still contain an error but the probability of this occurring is considerably less

 The transmission delay associated with a channel is determined not only by the bit rate that
is used but also delays that occur in the terminal/ computer network interfaces (known as codec
delays), plus the propagation delay of the digital signals as they pass from the source to the
destination across the network
 This is determined by the physical separation of the two communicating devices and the
velocity of propagation of a signal across the transmission medium
 In free space, for example, the latter is equal to the speed of light (3 xl0 8 ms-1) while it is a
fraction of this in physical media, a typical value being 2 x l0 8 ms-1
 Notice that the propagation delay in each case is independent of the bit rate of the
communications channel and, assuming the codec delay remains constant, is the same whether
the bit rate is 1kbps, 1Mbps, or 1Gbps

Packet switched network

 The QoS parameters associated with a packet switched network include :
1. The maximum packet size
2. The mean packet transfer rate
3. The mean packet error rate
4. The mean packet transfer delay
5. The worst case jitter
6. The transmission delay
The mean packet transfer rate is a measure of the average number of packets that are
transferred across the network per second
 The mean packet error rate or PER is the probability of a receivedpacket containing one or
more bit errors
Application QoS
 The application also has QoS parameters associated with it
 The application QoS parameters that relate to the network include :
1. The required bit rate or mean packet transfer rate
2. The maximum startup delay
3. The maximum end to end delay
4. The maximum delay variation/jitter
5. The maximum round-trip delay
 For interactive applications, the startup delay defines the amount of time that elapses between
an application making a request tostart the session and the confirmation being received fromthe
application to the destination
 Assuming a file size of 100Mbits, the minimum time to transmit the file using the different
Internet access mode is :
 PSTN and 28.8 kbps modem : 57.8 minutes
 ISDN at 64kbps : 26 minutes
 ISDN at 128kbps : 13 minutes
 Cable modem at 27kbps : 3.7 seconds
 To overcome the effect of jitter a technique known as buffering is used
 The memory buffer operates using a first-in, first-out (FIFO)
 The delay incurred at the source as the information bit stream is converted into packets is
known as the Packetization delay and adds to the transmission delay of the channel