Advances in multimedia communication systems have enhanced the need for improved video coding standards. Due to the inherent nature of video content, large bandwidths and reliable communication links are required to ensure a satisfactory level of quality experience; inspiring industry and research communities to concentrate their efforts in this emerging research area. Multimedia Networking and Coding covers widespread knowledge and research as well as innovative applications in multimedia communication systems. This book highlights recent techniques that can evolve into future multimedia communication systems, also showing experimental results from systems and applications.

This authoritative guide to multimedia networking balances just the right amount of theory with practical design and integration knowledge.

The transportation of multimedia over the network requires timely and errorless transmission much more strictly than other data. This had led to special protocols and to special treatment in multimedia applications (telephony, IP-TV, streaming) to overcome network issues. This book begins with an overview of the vast market combined with the user’s expectations. The base mechanisms of the audio/video coding (H.26x etc.) are explained to understand characteristics of the generated network traffic. Further chapters treat common specialized underlying IP network functions which cope with multimedia data in conjunction which special time adaption measures. Based on those standard functions these chapters can treat uniformly SIP, H.248, High-End IP-TV, Webcast, Signage etc. A special section is devoted to home networks which challenge high-end service delivery due to possibly unreliable management. The whole book treats concepts described in accessible IP-based standards and which are implemented broadly. The book is aimed at graduate students/practitioners with good basic knowledge in computer networking. It provides the reader with all concepts of currently used IP technologies of how to deliver multimedia efficiently to the end user.

As ubiquitous multimedia applications benefit from the rapid development of intelligent multimedia technologies, there is an inherent need to present frameworks, techniques and tools that adopt these technologies to a range of networking applications. Intelligent Multimedia Technologies for Networking Applications: Techniques and Tools promotes the discussion of specific solutions for improving the quality of multimedia experience while investigating issues arising from the deployment of techniques for adaptive video streaming. This reference source provides relevant theoretical frameworks and leading empirical research findings and is suitable for practitioners and researchers in the area of multimedia technology.

This practical resource provides a survey on the technologies, protocols, and architectures that are widely used in practice to implement networked multimedia services. The book presents the background and basic concepts behind multimedia networking, and provides a detailed analysis of how multimedia services work, reviewing the diverse network protocols that are of common use to implement them. To guide the explanation of concepts, the book focuses on a representative set of networked multimedia services with proven success and high penetration in the telecommunication market, namely Internet telephony, Video-on-Demand (VoD), and live IP television (IPTV). Contents are presented following a stepwise approach, describing each network protocol in the context of a networked multimedia service and making appropriate references to the protocol as needed in the description of other multimedia services. This book also contains questions and exercises to provide the reader with insight on the practical application of the explained concepts. Additionally, a laboratory practice is included, based on open-source tools and software, to analyze the operation of an Internet telephony service from a practical perspective, as well as to deploy some of its fundamental components.

Here is a thorough, not-overly-complex introduction to the three technical foundations for multimedia applications across the Internet: communications (principles, technologies and networking); compressive encoding of digital media; and Internet protocol and services. All the contributing systems elements are explained through descriptive text and numerous illustrative figures; the result is a book well-suited toward non-specialists, preferably with technical background, who need well-composed tutorial introductions to the three foundation areas. The text discusses the latest advances in digital audio and video encoding, optical and wireless communications technologies, high-speed access networks, and IP-based media streaming, all crucial enablers of the multimedia Internet.

Discusses Internet protocol television (IPTV) and multimedia networks. This book points out the differences between this novel revolutionary technology and regular cable and satellite television services. It provides knowledge and design principles needed for the delivery of IPTV, along with examples from more than 25 technological companies.

The current book provides a final report of activity performed by the COST 290 Action, ‘‘Traffic and QoS Management in Wireless Multimedia Networks,’’ which ran from March 10, 2004, until June 3, 2008. After an introduction to the COST framework and the Action’s survey time-frame and activities, the main part of the book addresses a number of technical issues, which are structured into several chapters. All those issues have been carefully investigated by the COST 290 community during the course of the project – the information presented in this book can be regarded as ultimate for each particular topic; every open research issue addressed in the book is described carefully, corresponding existing studies are analyzed and results achieved by the COST 290 community are presented and compared, and further research directions are defined and analyzed. Because the book covers a wide area of research addressing issues of modern wired and wireless networking at different layers, starting from the physical layer up to the application layer, it can be recommended to be used by researchers and students to obtain a comprehensive analysis on particular research topics including related areas, to obtain broad and ultimate referencing, and to be advised on current open issues. COST 290 is one of the Actions of the European COST Program. Founded in 1971, COST is an intergovernmental framework for European Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research, allowing the coordination of nationally funded research on a European level.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed proceedings of the Future Multimedia Networking Workshop, FMN 2009, held in Coimbra, Portugal, in June 2009. This year`s workshop focuses on various aspects of multimedia systems, content networking, and autonomous communication. The 16 revised papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 64 submissions. Further this year a demonstration session on Future Multimedia Networks was held from which 12 papers were accepted. The papers are organized in topical sections on streaming and voice services in future multimedia networks; wireless & ad hoc networks in autonomic content networking ; group and multiparty services in autonomic content networking, as well as quality in video and internet services.

Multimedia over IP and Wireless Networks is an indispensable guide for professionals or researchers working in areas such as networking, communications, data compression, multimedia processing, streaming architectures, and computer graphics. Beginning with a concise overview of the fundamental principles and challenges of multimedia communication and networking, this book then branches off organically to tackle compression and networking next before moving on to systems, wireless multimedia and more advanced topics. The Compression section advises on the best means and methodology to ensure multimedia signal (images, text, audio and data) integrity for transmissions on wireless and wired systems. The Networking section addresses channel protection and performance. In the Systems section, the focus is on streaming media on demand, live broadcast and video and voice's role in real-time communication. Wireless multimedia transmission and Quality of Service issues are discussed in the Wireless Multimedia section. An Advanced Topics section concludes the book with an assortment of topics including Peer-to-Peer multimedia communication and multipath networks. Up-to-date coverage of existing standards for multimedia networking Synergistic tutorial approach reinforces knowledge gained in previous chapters Balanced treatment of audio and video with coverage of end-to-end systems