Giodi Giorgi <g.giorgi@iet.unipi.it>1

Gruppo RETI di TELECOMUNICAZIONI

Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Informazione - Università di Pisa

Pisa, 6 Dicembre 2005

Giodi Giorgi

An Integrated PlatformAn Integrated Platform

for Multimedia Applicationsfor Multimedia Applications

VIII Workshop PisaTel 2005

Giodi Giorgi <g.giorgi@iet.unipi.it>2

Technologies & components

• System and Services– Distance Learning– Voice over IP– Video steaming & Video on Demand– TV broadcasting

• Network infrastructure– Streaming platform– Multi-Access Inter-Domain architecture for dynamic setup of

QoS-IP services• that does not interfere with the background signaling

– End-to-end dynamic and tailored Quality of Service• IWU (Inter Working Unit)

Giodi Giorgi <g.giorgi@iet.unipi.it>3

Distributed trial

Giodi Giorgi <g.giorgi@iet.unipi.it>4

Distance Learning Requirements

Students– To follow on-line lesson using commonly available software tools (RealOne

Player, NetMeeting, web browser) with different quality level, depending on his/her type of access to network

Teacher– Oriented to content providing, should produce enhanced contents entailing video

and audio, external data and auxiliary teaching tools

Software and equipment– a video camera– a video capture card (Osprey 230)– a video encoder (Helix DNA producer)– a video broadcasting server (Helix DNA server)– a software to create on-demand multimedia presentations and to synchronize

audio and video with PowerPoint slides and other media learning objects.– WEB interface and Content Management server– client-side software (RealOne video Client, WEB browser, VoIP terminal)

Giodi Giorgi <g.giorgi@iet.unipi.it>5

Distance learning: portal

• WEB interface login• Language selection• Available features differentiated

for users and groups

• User functionalities set by administrator• Available tools: file storage,

calendar/diary, address book, instant messaging, on-line users ...

• Each user can belong to one or more groups (associated to each course)

• Group functionalities set by admin• Available tools: file storage, forum, instant

messaging, lessons, projects …

Giodi Giorgi <g.giorgi@iet.unipi.it>6

Distance learning: student side

• Unicast and multicast live streaming

• MPEG-4 real-time multi-rate encoding

• Encoding rate from 128 Kb/s to 1.5 Mb/s, with resolutions up to 640x480@25fps

• Frame-accurate synchronization of audio/video streams with dynamic remote learning objects

• Transparent storage of real-time encoded lessons

• Teacher interaction by means of instant messaging tools

Giodi Giorgi <g.giorgi@iet.unipi.it>7

Distance learning: teacher side

• Slideshows loaded into the WEB server• The teacher can see the preview of his slide at any time• During the lesson, the slide inclusion into the live stream is provided

by means of simple click

Giodi Giorgi <g.giorgi@iet.unipi.it>8

Distance learning

• WEB interfaces login (stud/teach)

Giodi Giorgi <g.giorgi@iet.unipi.it>9

Distance learning

• WEB interfaces login (stud/teach)• teachers: access WEB page with

slideshow

Giodi Giorgi <g.giorgi@iet.unipi.it>10

Distance learning

• WEB interfaces login (stud/teach)• teachers: access WEB page with

slideshow• students: start RealOne to see

video/slides, browser to view additional data and send messages

Giodi Giorgi <g.giorgi@iet.unipi.it>11

WEB Server

PPT ExporterSlideshow

Before the lesson

.ppt .html

During the lesson

Teacher GUI

Encoder Player

sources

URL

a/v

Server

Simple application which converts slides into HTML pages and transfers them to WEB server

Distance learning: content production

Giodi Giorgi <g.giorgi@iet.unipi.it>12

Distance learning: content production

WEB Server

PPT ExporterSlideshow

Before the lesson

.ppt .html

During the lesson

Teacher GUI

Encoder Player

sources

URL

a/v

Server

WEB interface which displays

slides and includes their URL in the

stream after a teacher click

Giodi Giorgi <g.giorgi@iet.unipi.it>13

Distance learning: content recorder

During the lesson

Configuration GUI

Encoder

sources

a/v

Server

GUI allows to configure easily the

main producer options which are

relevant for lesson production purposes

Giodi Giorgi <g.giorgi@iet.unipi.it>14

The whiteboard application

• The teacher can use any free-hand drawing tool (e.g. Windows Journal for Tablet PC)

• The application window is periodically captured and sent to an encoding application

• A video stream containing the text and pictures is created and sent to the video server, which broadcasts it on the network

• This additional stream is synchronized with the others using SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language )

Giodi Giorgi <g.giorgi@iet.unipi.it>15

First case study

Giodi Giorgi <g.giorgi@iet.unipi.it>16

Voice over IP

• Software VoIP terminal

Giodi Giorgi <g.giorgi@iet.unipi.it>17

Voice over IP

• Software VoIP terminal• Gatekeeper registration

Giodi Giorgi <g.giorgi@iet.unipi.it>18

Voice over IP

• Software VoIP terminal• Gatekeeper registration• H.323 call (gatekeeper-routed)

Giodi Giorgi <g.giorgi@iet.unipi.it>19

Video on Demand

• WEB interfaces to select the content from the archive of pre-loaded films– Helix MPEG-4 video server, open

source project from Real

Giodi Giorgi <g.giorgi@iet.unipi.it>20

Video on Demand

• WEB interfaces to select the content from the archive of pre-loaded films – Helix MPEG-4 video server, open

source project from Real

• Video streaming– RealOne video Client

Giodi Giorgi <g.giorgi@iet.unipi.it>21

TV broadcasting

• WEB interfaces to select the channel– MPEG4IP: MPEG-4, MP3/AAC broadcaster

and file recorder open source project

– Darwin Streaming Server: open source project from Apple

Giodi Giorgi <g.giorgi@iet.unipi.it>22

TV broadcasting

• WEB interfaces to select the channel– MPEG4IP: MPEG-4, MP3/AAC broadcaster

and file recorder open source project

– Darwin Streaming Server: open source project from Apple

• TV channel reception– RealOne player with EnVivio plugin installed

Giodi Giorgi <g.giorgi@iet.unipi.it>23

Technologies & components

• System and Services– Distance Learning– Voice over IP– Video steaming & Video on Demand– TV broadcasting

• Network infrastructure– Streaming platform– Multi-Access Inter-Domain architecture for dynamic setup of

QoS-IP services• that does not interfere with the background signaling

– End-to-end dynamic and tailored Quality of Service• IWU (Inter Working Unit)

Giodi Giorgi <g.giorgi@iet.unipi.it>24

Streaming platform

Generalized and automatic IP Control Plane architecture

(i.e. the Multi-Access Inter-Domain – MAID) for the dynamic and tailored configuration of

QoS-IP services, carrying the multimedia streams across a MPLS/DiffServ IP backbone.

HTTP Server

Remote Terminals(ADSL, Ethernet, Wireless)

Encoding/Streaming

Server

HTTP/RTSP QoS-IPQoS-IPGeographical Geographical Network layerNetwork layer

Giodi Giorgi <g.giorgi@iet.unipi.it>25

The MAID scenario• Different protocols/technologies are used in the access network (e.g. H.323,

SIP, MPEG-4, etc.)

• … and the required QoS is often not explicitly declared in the access signaling flow (e.g. H.323)

UNI

H.323

RSVPSIP

MPEG-4 IP DiffServ/MPLSnetwork

Multi-Protocol Access network

Multi-AccessBorder Router

MA-BR

Multi-AccessBorder Router

MA-BR

Service RequestsService

Requests

MPLS

Bandwidth Broker

MAID-BB

Bandwidth Broker

MAID-BB

COPS-MAID

MMAAMMAA

IDIDIDID

Giodi Giorgi <g.giorgi@iet.unipi.it>26

The MAID scenario

IP DiffServ/MPLSnetwork

Multi-AccessBorder Router

MA-BR

Multi-AccessBorder Router

MA-BR

Bandwidth Broker

MAID-BB

Bandwidth Broker

MAID-BB

COPS-MAID

Two basic elements in our MAID architecture:

• The MAID Bandwidth Broker (BB)– manages network resources

– admission control and policies

– configures core routers

– inter-domain communications

• The Multiple-Access Border Router (MA-BR)– must understand as much as possible QoS semantics

– translates the access QoS into interior QoS syntax (complexity on the BR)• appropriate Inter Working Units (IWUs) are used to map protocol specific

messages into generalized client messages.

– triggers the setup of QoS-IP services upon receiving QoS requests from the access networks

Giodi Giorgi <g.giorgi@iet.unipi.it>27

e-class scenario

DiffServ/MPLSnetwork