Media Synchronization with Adaptive QoS Control Based on a Delay Compensation Protocol and a Smoothing Technique

摘要

Synchronization and continuity are essential for multimedia presentation, but because network resources and available bandwidth are both limited, synchronization quality and continuity quality have to be traded off in response to the fluctuating network conditions. This paper therefore introduces an algorithm for intramedia synchronization with adaptive qual- ity of service (QoS) control handled at different layers of multi- media streams. The work described here is an extension of our earlier proposal of a synchronization algorithm by delay compen- sation protocol with two resynchronization mechanisms: retrieval offset adjustment and data unit skipping. That algorithm has been extended by the introduction of QoS control mechanisms in the QoS plane of a distributed control platform. The extended approach results not only in better synchronization and conti- nuity, but also integrates the QoS adjustment into the existing architecture. Unexpected QoS variations are coped with by an adaptive QoS control designed to maintain the desired applica- tion qualities within the fluctuating environment. Simulations implemented on a UDP/IP network have verified the effective- ness of the proposed scheme.