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A Multimedia Device and Stream Management Architecture Based on Distributed-Object Computing Technology

Eberhardt, Reinhold (2001)
A Multimedia Device and Stream Management Architecture Based on Distributed-Object Computing Technology.
Technische Universität Darmstadt
Dissertation, Erstveröffentlichung

Kurzbeschreibung (Abstract)

Recent years have seen a veritable boom in multimedia applications. Due to the ubiquitous computing paradigm and evolution, there is now a great need for distributed multimedia applications, in particular. However, the majority of these multimedia applications place high demand on quality of service (QoS) with respect to the communication and end systems. Until recently, most of these applications have been stand-alone applications: generally proprietary solutions which are either tailor-made for a specific communications systems or often extremely difficult to extend to other multimedia devices than those they are intended for. Hence, a prime motivation for this work lies in the recent giant steps taken in development of multimedia and communication systems and also in the advances made in designing and realizing distributed systems in general. It would be most effective if programmers were able to tackle the development of distributed multimedia applications using exactly the same, tried and tested methods as when developing conventional distributed applications, without having to worry about the data transfer between the various multimedia devices and the communications system or between multimedia devices. So, in this thesis, I argue that a distributed multimedia application can be designed by using the same principles as for any other distributed applications without sacrificing the need for quality of service. And, the aim of this thesis is to design and realize a multimedia device and stream management architecture which is based on distributed-object computing technology and, at the same time, ensures the quality of service required. This work was done in a field of application where the major concern was to support an organization's workforce in its life-long professional learning process through a mixture of traditional classroom-based face-to-face training, teletraining, and self-paced training programs such as CD ROM- or Web-based training. The requirements set for such applications are presented in this dissertation, because the applications themselves belong to a superior example of a distributed multimedia application. The first part of this work defines the notions of multimedia, communication systems, quality of service, and object-based distributed systems as the foundation of this work. Then, I go on to present an analysis of related work in research and standardization venues and identify a number of limitations in the work recorded in literature. The management architecture described in this dissertation is characterized by its openness, the fact that it may be efficiently integrated into heterogeneous systems, its scalability and, in particular, by its versatility. In order that the architecture might enjoy wide-spread deployment, we designed generic operating system-independent programming interfaces for the multimedia devices to be utilized and the quality-of-service-aware communications systems currently in use and implemented them in a prototype. A major contribution of this work is the design, implementation, and evaluation of the device and stream management layer of the architecture. Various multimedia devices and quality-of-service-aware communications systems were integrated into the architecture, and they demonstrate how simple it is when using the framework to rapidly and flexibly integrate new devices, which are then very easy to manage. All the different parts of the management architecture were designed, specified, and documented using UML as the formal modeling language. With the aid of an integrated tool, we were able to bring the techniques and components developed together in a prototypical implementation of the system, thus achieving concrete validation of the approach taken in this thesis. The research work discussed in this dissertation shows that applying the concepts of distributed application design to distributed multimedia applications by using distributed-object technology and by separating the transport stream from the control and management of the stream is a feasible option. It was proven both in the lab and in the production environment that the basic approach underlying this work is indeed viable and, more importantly, that even high-volume video streams could be handled without difficulty.

Typ des Eintrags: Dissertation
Erschienen: 2001
Autor(en): Eberhardt, Reinhold
Art des Eintrags: Erstveröffentlichung
Titel: A Multimedia Device and Stream Management Architecture Based on Distributed-Object Computing Technology
Sprache: Englisch
Referenten: Steinmetz, Prof. Dr.- Ralf ; Swoboda, Prof. Dr. Joachim
Berater: Steinmetz, Prof. Dr.- Ralf
Publikationsjahr: 17 Mai 2001
Ort: Darmstadt
Verlag: Technische Universität
Datum der mündlichen Prüfung: 6 Februar 2001
URL / URN: urn:nbn:de:tuda-tuprints-1244
Kurzbeschreibung (Abstract):

Recent years have seen a veritable boom in multimedia applications. Due to the ubiquitous computing paradigm and evolution, there is now a great need for distributed multimedia applications, in particular. However, the majority of these multimedia applications place high demand on quality of service (QoS) with respect to the communication and end systems. Until recently, most of these applications have been stand-alone applications: generally proprietary solutions which are either tailor-made for a specific communications systems or often extremely difficult to extend to other multimedia devices than those they are intended for. Hence, a prime motivation for this work lies in the recent giant steps taken in development of multimedia and communication systems and also in the advances made in designing and realizing distributed systems in general. It would be most effective if programmers were able to tackle the development of distributed multimedia applications using exactly the same, tried and tested methods as when developing conventional distributed applications, without having to worry about the data transfer between the various multimedia devices and the communications system or between multimedia devices. So, in this thesis, I argue that a distributed multimedia application can be designed by using the same principles as for any other distributed applications without sacrificing the need for quality of service. And, the aim of this thesis is to design and realize a multimedia device and stream management architecture which is based on distributed-object computing technology and, at the same time, ensures the quality of service required. This work was done in a field of application where the major concern was to support an organization's workforce in its life-long professional learning process through a mixture of traditional classroom-based face-to-face training, teletraining, and self-paced training programs such as CD ROM- or Web-based training. The requirements set for such applications are presented in this dissertation, because the applications themselves belong to a superior example of a distributed multimedia application. The first part of this work defines the notions of multimedia, communication systems, quality of service, and object-based distributed systems as the foundation of this work. Then, I go on to present an analysis of related work in research and standardization venues and identify a number of limitations in the work recorded in literature. The management architecture described in this dissertation is characterized by its openness, the fact that it may be efficiently integrated into heterogeneous systems, its scalability and, in particular, by its versatility. In order that the architecture might enjoy wide-spread deployment, we designed generic operating system-independent programming interfaces for the multimedia devices to be utilized and the quality-of-service-aware communications systems currently in use and implemented them in a prototype. A major contribution of this work is the design, implementation, and evaluation of the device and stream management layer of the architecture. Various multimedia devices and quality-of-service-aware communications systems were integrated into the architecture, and they demonstrate how simple it is when using the framework to rapidly and flexibly integrate new devices, which are then very easy to manage. All the different parts of the management architecture were designed, specified, and documented using UML as the formal modeling language. With the aid of an integrated tool, we were able to bring the techniques and components developed together in a prototypical implementation of the system, thus achieving concrete validation of the approach taken in this thesis. The research work discussed in this dissertation shows that applying the concepts of distributed application design to distributed multimedia applications by using distributed-object technology and by separating the transport stream from the control and management of the stream is a feasible option. It was proven both in the lab and in the production environment that the basic approach underlying this work is indeed viable and, more importantly, that even high-volume video streams could be handled without difficulty.

Alternatives oder übersetztes Abstract:
Alternatives AbstractSprache

In den letzten Jahren wurden eine Vielzahl von multimedialen Anwendungen auf den Markt gebracht. Durch die Hinwendung zur und durch das Paradigma der Ubiquität von Rechnern, besteht die Notwendigkeit für verteilte, multimediale Anwendungen. Die Mehrzahl dieser multimedialen Anwendungen stellen Anforderungen hinsichtlich der Dienstgüte von Kommunikations- und Endsystemen. Bisher handelte es sich hierbei meistens um alleinstehende Anwendungen, die nur bedingt miteinander kommunizieren konnten. Für verteilte, multimediale Anwendungen werden überwiegend proprietäre Lösungen entwickelt, die entweder eng mit einem spezifischen Kommunikationssystem gekoppelt sind oder nur schwer um andere multimediale Endgeräte erweiterbar sind. Einerseits wird diese Arbeit durch die vor kurzem erfolgten Fortschritte bei Multimedia- und Kommunikationssystemen und andererseits durch die Fortschritte beim Entwurf und der Implementierung von verteilten Systemen motiviert. Analog zur Entwicklung von verteilten Anwendungen sollte ein Anwendungsprogrammierer mit den gleichen vertrauten Methoden verteilte, multimediale Anwendung entwickeln können, ohne daß er sich um die Kommunikation der multimedialen Daten zwischen Endgerät, Kommunikationssystem und Endgerät kümmern muß. Deshalb vertrete ich in dieser Arbeit den Standpunkt, daß verteilte, multimediale Anwendungen mit den gleichen Prinzipen wie andere verteilte Anwendungen entworfen und implementiert werden können, ohne die Notwendigkeit für Dienstgüte zu verlieren. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist der Entwurf und die Implementierung einer Architektur für das Management von multimedialen Geräten und Kommunikationströmen unter Einsatz verteilter Objekttechnologie und unter Gewährleistung der notwendigen Dienstgüte. Der Anwendungshintergrund aus dem diese Arbeit herrührt, ist den lebenslangen Lernprozeß der Mitarbeiter eines Unternehmens durch ein didaktisches Konzept, welches aus einer adäquaten Kombination von traditionellem Präsenzunterricht, Telepräsenzschulung und selbst gesteuertem Lernen wie CD- oder Web-basiertem Training besteht, zu unterstützen. Die Anforderungen derartiger Anwendungen werden in dieser Arbeit dargestellt, weil sie hervorragende Beispiele für verteilte multimediale Anwendungen sind. Im ersten Teil dieser Arbeit werden die grundlegenden Begriffe in den Bereichen Multimedia, Kommunikationssysteme, Dienstgüte und objektorientierte, verteilte Systeme definiert. Weiterhin werden verwandte Arbeiten aus der Forschung und Standardisierung analysiert und eine Reihe von Beschränkungen in den existierenden Arbeiten identifiziert. Die in dieser Arbeit beschriebene neuartige Managementarchitektur zeichnet sich durch ihre Offenheit, Integrationsfähigkeit für heterogene Systeme, Skalierbarkeit und vielseitige Einsetzbarkeit aus. Damit die Architektur möglichst universell einsetzbar ist, wurden generische, betriebssytemunabhängige Programmierschnittstellen für Multimediaendgeräte und dienstgütefähige Kommunikationssysteme konzipiert und prototypisch implementiert. Ein wesentlicher Beitrag dieser Arbeit ist der Entwurf, die Implementierung und die Evaluierung der Geräte- und Strommanagementschicht der Architektur. Verschiedene Multimediaendgeräte und dienstgütefähige Kommunikationssysteme wurden eingebunden und erbringen den Nachweis, daß es durch die Verwendung des Rahmenwerks möglich ist, schnell und flexibel neue Geräte, die dann auf einfache Art und Weise steuerbar sind, zu integrieren. Alle Teile der Managementarchitektur wurden unter Verwendung der formalen Modellierungssprache UML entworfen, spezifiziert und dokumentiert. Mit Hilfe eines integrierten Werkzeugs wurden die entwickelten Verfahren und Komponenten prototypisch implementiert, um den Ansatz dieser Arbeit zu validieren. Die Arbeit zeigt, daß es möglich ist, die Konzepte für den Entwurf von verteilten Anwendungen unter Verwendung verteilter Objekttechnologie durch die Trennung des Transportstroms von der Steuerung und dem Management dieses Stroms auf verteilte, multimediale Applikationen anzuwenden. Unter Laborbedingungen und im Produktionsumfeld konnte nachgewiesen werden, daß der grundlegende Ansatz dieser Arbeit tragfähig ist und selbst hochvolumige Videoströme problemlos gehandhabt werden können.

Deutsch
Freie Schlagworte: Quality of Service,QoS,WBT,Multimedia,CORBA,Distributed System,Management Architecture,
Sachgruppe der Dewey Dezimalklassifikatin (DDC): 000 Allgemeines, Informatik, Informationswissenschaft > 004 Informatik
Fachbereich(e)/-gebiet(e): 18 Fachbereich Elektrotechnik und Informationstechnik
Hinterlegungsdatum: 17 Okt 2008 09:20
Letzte Änderung: 26 Aug 2018 21:24
PPN:
Referenten: Steinmetz, Prof. Dr.- Ralf ; Swoboda, Prof. Dr. Joachim
Datum der mündlichen Prüfung / Verteidigung / mdl. Prüfung: 6 Februar 2001
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