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 Module –1 Multimedia
Communications: Introduction,
Multimedia information
representation, multimedia
networks, multimedia
applications, Application and
networking terminology.
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 Introduction
• ‘Multimedia’ means the information transferred is
composed of text, images, audio and video
- Text (Unformatted and Formatted)
- Images (Computer-generated, Digitized,
etc.)
- Audio (Low-fidelity speech as in telephony
and high-fidelity stereophonic music as in
CD’s
- Video (Moving images and complete
movies/films)

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 Introduction
• Person-to-person (communication) – Two
people communicate through suitable
Terminal Equipment (TE)

• Person-to-system (Interactive ) – Using

multimedia Personal computer or
Workstation ( Located at home or in an
office)

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 Voice and Data Networks
• Public switched telephone networks
(PSTNs) – initially designed to provide
speech services. However, due to the
advances in Digital Signal Processing (DSP)
hardware and software now can support
multimedia applications
• Data networks that initially supported data
applications (email and ftp) now support
much complex multimedia applications

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 Multimedia Information
Representation
• Text: Block of characters, each represented by a
fixed number of binary digits (bits) known as
codeword
• Digitized image: Two-dimensional block of
picture elements represented by a fixed number of
bits
• Audio and Video: Type of signal is known as an
analogue signal and varies continuously with time
(e.g: a telephone conversation can last for several
minutes while a movie (audio + video) can last for
a number of hours

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 Multimedia Information
Representation
• Single type of media - basic form of
representation of a specific media type used
• Mixed media – applications involving text
and images or audio and video their basic
form is used
• Integrated media (text,images,audio,video)-
Must convert all the four media into a
suitable digital form

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 Multimedia Networks

• Telephone Networks - Telephony

• Data Networks – Data Communications
• Broadcast Television Networks – Broadcast
TV)
• Integrated Services Digital Networks
(ISDN) – Multi service
• Boradband Multiservice Networks – Multi
service

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Telephone
Networks

• PSTN – Now known as Plain Old Telephone

Service (POTs)
• The term switched means a subscriber can make a
call to any other telephone on the ‘total’ network
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 PSTN

• PSTN (public switched telephone network) is the world's

collection of interconnected voice-oriented public
telephone networks, both commercial and
government-owned.
• It's the aggregation of circuit-switching telephone
networks that has evolved from the days of Alexander
Graham Bell.
• Today, it is almost entirely digital in technology except
for the final link from the central (local) telephone office
to the user

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 Telephone Networks
• Telephones in the home or in a small business are connected
directly to their nearest local exchange/end office
• Telephones in a large office are connected to a private
switching office known as private branch exchange (PBX)
• PBX provides free service between two telephones that are
connected to it
• A PBX is a telephone system within an enterprise that
switches calls between enterprise users on local lines while
allowing all users to share a certain number of external
phone lines. The main purpose of a PBX is to save the cost
of requiring a line for each user to the telephone company's
central office.
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 Telephone Networks
• PBX is connected to the local exchange and this
enables phones connected to the PBX to make
calls through PSTN too.
• Cellular phone networks – Provides service to
mobile subscribers
• The switches used in a cellular phone network are
known as Mobile Switching Centers (MSCs)
• International calls are routed to and switched by
international gateway exchanges (IGEs)

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 Telephone Networks
• Circuit mode – Telephone networks
operate in this mode in which a separate
circuit is set up through the network for
each call for the duration of the call
• Access Circuits – Link the telephone
handsets to a PSTN or PBX and carry
two-way analogue signals associated with a
call

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 Telephone Networks

• Today with high bit-rate channels in addition to the

voice using the same access networks high resolution
audio and video can be downloaded from a range of
entertainment related servers 16
 Data Networks
• Designed to provide basic data communication services
such as email and general file transfer
• Most widely deployed networks: X.25 network (low
bit rate data) not suitable for multimedia and the
Internet (Interconnected Networks)
• Communication protocol: set of rules (defines the
sequence and syntax of the messages) that are adhered
to by all communicating parties for the exchange of
information/data
• Packet: Container for a block of data, at its head, is the
address of the intended recipient computer which is
used to route the packet through the network
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 Data Networks
• Open systems interconnections (OSI)- is a
standard description or "reference model" for how
messages should be transmitted between any two
points in a telecommunication network
• Access to homes is
through an Internet
Service provider (ISP)
• Access through PSTN or
ISDN (high-bit rate)

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 Data Networks
• Business users obtain access either through site
network or through an enterprise-wide private
network (multiple sites)
• Universities with single campus use a network
known as the Local Area Network (LAN).
However bigger universities with more than one
campus use enterprise wide network
• If the communication protocols of the computers
on the network are the same as the internet
protocols then the network is known as an
intranet (e.g large companies and universities)

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 Data Networks
• All types of network are connected using a
gateway (router) to the internet backbone
network
• Router - a router is a device or, in some cases, software
in a computer, that determines the next network point to
which a packet should be forwarded toward its
destination

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 Data Networks

• Packet mode – Operates by transfer of packets as

defined earlier
• This mode of operation is chosen because
normally the data associated with data applications
is in discrete block format.
• With the new multimedia PCs packet mode
networks are used to support in addition to the
data communication applications a range of
multimedia applications involving audio video and
speech

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 Broadcast Television Network

• Broadcast television networks support the diffusion

of analogue television programs to a wider
geographical area via a cable distribution network,
a satellite network
• A cable modem integrated into the STB (set-top-box)
provides both a low bit rate channel (connects the
subscriber to the PSTN ) and a high bit rate channel
(connects to the Internet) from the subscriber back to
the cable head-end 22
 Broadcast Television Network

• A set-top box is a device that enables a television set to

become a user interface to the Internet and also enables a
television set to receive and decode digital television
(DTV) broadcasts. DTV set-top boxes are sometimes called
receivers.

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 Satellite/terrestrial broadcast network

• In Satellite and broadcast networks by

integrating an H-S modem into the STB a range
of interactive services can be supported. This is
the origin of the term “interactive television”
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 Integrated Services Digital Networks
• Started to develop in the early 1980s to provide PSTN users
the capability to have additional services
• Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) in concept is
the integration of both analogue or voice data together with
digital data over the same network.
• ISDN is a set of ITU standards for digital transmission over
ordinary telephone copper wire as well as over other media.
Home and business users who install an ISDN adapter (in
place of a modem) can see highly-graphic Web pages
arriving very quickly (up to 128 Kbps). ISDN requires
adapters at both ends of the transmission so your access
provider also needs an ISDN adapter. ISDN is generally
available from your phone company.
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 Digital Subscriber Line (DSL):
• DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) is a technology for bringing
high-bandwidth information to homes and small businesses
over ordinary copper telephone lines.
• Assuming your home or small business is close enough to a
telephone company central office that offers DSL service,
you may be able to receive continuous transmission of
motion video, audio, and even 3-D effects.
• Typically, individual connections will provide from 1.544
Mbps to 512 Kbps downstream and about 128 Kbps
upstream. A DSL line can carry both data and voice signals
and the data part of the line is continuously connected.
• Access circuit that allows users either two different
telephone calls simultaneously or a telephone call and a
data network 26
 Integrated Services Digital Networks

• DSL supports two 64 kbps channels that can be

used independently or as a single combined 128kbps
channel (additional box of electronics). This is
known as the aggregation function 27
 Broadband Multi service Networks

• Broadband – Circuits associate with a call could

have bit rates in excess of the maximum bit rate of
2Mbps – 30X64 kbps – provided by ISDN
• Broadband integrated services digital network
(B-ISDN) – All different media types are
converted in the source equipment into a digital
form, integrated togeather and divided into
multiple fixed-sized packets (cells)

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 Broadband Multiservice Networks

• Broadband – Circuits associate with a call could

have bit rates in excess of the maximum bit rate of
2Mbps – 30X64 kbps – prvided by ISDN
• Broadband integrated services digital network
(B-ISDN) – All different media types are
converted in the source equipment into a digital
form, integrated togeather and divided into
multiple fixed-sized packets (cells)

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 Multimedia Applications

• Application that involve multiple media types:

- Interpersonal Communications: May
involve speech, image, text or video
- Interactive Applications over the Internet:
Browsing through sales, literature, newspapers,
etc.
- Entertainment Applications: Movie/Video on
demand, interactive television

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Interpersonal Communications
(Speech only) • Traditional interpersonal
communication involving
speech was provided by using
telephones connected to either
PSTN/ISDN or PBX hub.
• Today multimedia PC
equipped with a microphone
and speakers can be used to
make telephone calls. This
technology is known as
computer telephony
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integration (CTI)
 Advantages of using CTI

• The users can create their own private

directory of numbers and can initiate a call
simply by selecting the desired numbers
from the PC screen
• Provides access circuit to the network with
more capacity known as the bandwidth
• Integration of the PC based network
services with the telephony is possible

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 Additional services supported by
the public and private networks
• Voice mail: Used in the event of the called party
being unavailable. The voice mail is saved in the
server mailbox and can be read by the owner next
time they contact the server
• Teleconferencing: Involves multiple interconnected
telephones/PCs. Each person can talk to all the others
involved in the call. This is known as a conference
call. A central unit called an audio bridge provides
the necessary support to set up the call automatically

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 Additional services supported by the
public and private networks
• Internet telephony initially supported
computer-to-computer communications
• Today the technology is extend so that
computer-to-telephony is possible

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 Telephony over the Internet

• To make a PC-to-PC telephone call the standard addresses

that identify the PC on the network are used same as in a
data transfer application
• However, since the internet operates in a packet mode
necessary conversion software and hardware is mandatory
in both the PCs. This type of telephony is known as Voice
over IP (VoIP)
• To make a call using a PC connected to the Internet to a
telephone connected to a PSTN/ISDN an interworking
unit known as telephony gateway is necessary.
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 Principle of VoIP
• Initially the PC user sends a request to make a telephone
call to a preallocated gateway using its internet address.
• If the user is registered the gateway will request the phone
number to establish the call from the PC
• On receipt of this the source gateway will initiate a call
with the gateway nearest to the called party.
• The called gateway then establishes the call to the
recipient telephone using its telephone number and the call
setup procedures
• If the called party answers then a signal is sent back by the
recipient gateway to the PC user via the source gateway
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 Image only interpersonal Communication
• Fax: Exchange of electronic images or documents
over PSTN/ISDN

• As shown above this requires use of a pair of

fax machines, one at each termination point
• Both fax machines have an integral modem
within them 37
 Image only interpersonal Communication

• PC can also be used instead of a normal fax

machine
• The PC can send an electronic version of a
document stored directly within the PCs memory
• This requires a telephone interface card and
associated software
• In addition it is possible to send digitised
documents over other enterprise network (LAN
interface card and software required)

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 Image only interpersonal Communication
Step1: Initially the caller keys in the telephone number of the
intended recipient and a circuit is set up through the
network
Step2: The two fax machines communicate with each other
to establish operational parameters
Step3: The sending machine starts to scan and digitized each
page of the document in turn and is simultaneously
transmitted over the network
Step4: After the final page has been sent/received the
connection through the network is cleared by the
calling machine
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 Text only interpersonal Communication
• An example of interpersonal communications
involving just text is email
• The user terminal is
normally a PC or a work
station networked
• Associated with each
network is a server/servers.
Each is known as an email
server and they contain
mailboxes for each user
connected to the network40
 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 Intranet, Internet or LAN

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 Text and images

• A distributed group of people working on the

same project can share each others display. This
is known as shared whiteboard.

• The CSCW comprises a central “whiteboard

program” and a linked set of subprograms in
each PC/workstation with a shared window or
workspace (shared whiteboard)

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 Speech and video
• An example of this type is video telephony

• As can be seen from the figure the

terminals/PCs incorporate a video camera in
addition to the microphone and speaker
•The network must provide sufficient bandwidth
to support the integrated speech and video
generated 43
 Speech and video
• Desktop videoconferencing call – Many
interconnected PC users in geographically
distributed sites can share speech and video between
various locations
• To support video conferencing a central unit called a
multipoint control unit(MCU) is used. This selects a
single information stream to send to each participant
hence reducing the communication bandwidth

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 Speech and video
• Multicasting – In which all transmissions from any
of the PCs/workstations belong to a predefined
group are received by all the other members of the
group
• Using multicasting eliminates the need for an MCU
unit
Note: Only possible when
there are few participants
involved

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 Many-to-many videoconferencing

• As group of people present at each location these

rooms must contain audio and video equipments
and are known as videoconferencing studios
• Each studio will have few cameras, a
large-display, and associated audio equipment.
These will be connected to a central unit called the
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videoconferencing system
 Many-to-many videoconferencing
• A multimedia email will consist of text, images,
audio and video.
Examples of email applications consisting media
types other than text are Voice-mail, Video mail
and multimedia mail
• Voice-mail: With internet-based voice-mail, there
is an associated voice-mail server.
The user enters a voice message addressed to the
intended recipient and the local recipient’s
voice-mail server then relays this to the local
recipient the next time he logs in 47
 Interactive applications over the Internet
• Anchor – The optional linkage points within
documents are defined by the creator of the
document and are known as anchors
• Hypertext – Web documents comprising only text
are created using hypertext
•Hypermedia – Web documents comprising
multimedia (Video, Sound) are created using
hypermedia
• Browser – The client function that is used to
explore the total contents of the web
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 Interactive applications over the Internet
• Applications such as homeshopping,
homebanking, etc.. the user may want to pass on
information back to the server.
• This information might contain credit card details
and personal details and hence a rigorous security
procedure needs to be in place
• This type of two way process is known as
interactive application over the Web.

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 Entertainment Applications

• Entertainment applications are classified into:

- Movie/video-on-demand
- Interactive television

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 Movie/video-on-demand

• The entertainment applications require higher

quality / resolution for video and audio since
wide-screen televisions and stereophonic sound are
often used

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 Movie/video-on-demand

• Normally the subscriber terminal comprises

television with a selection deive for interation
purposes
• The user interactions are relayed to the server
through a set-top-box (STB) which contains a high
speed modem
• By means of the menu the user can browse
through the movies/videos and initiate the showing
of a selected movie. This is known as
Movie-on-demand or Video-on-demand. 52
 Movie/video-on-demand
Key features of MOD
- Subscriber can initate the showing of a movie
from a library of movies at any time of the day or
night
Issues associated with MOD
- The server must be capable of playing out
simultaneously a large number of video streams
equal to the number of subscribers at any one time
- This will require high speed information flow
from the server (multi-movies + multi-copies)
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 Movie/video-on-demand
• In order to avoid the heavy load there is another
mode of operation used. In which requests are
queued until the start of the next playout time.

• This mode of operation is known as the

near movie-on-demand (N-MOD)
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 Interactive television (Cable network)

• The set-top box (STB) provides both a low bit

rate connection to the PSTN and a high bit rate
connection to the internet
• Through the connection to the PSTN, the
subscriber is able to actively respond to the
information being broadcast 55
Interactive television (Satellite/terrestrial
broadcast network)

• The STB associated requires a high speed

modem to provide the connections to the PSTN
and the Internet
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Terms used with Multimedia

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 Media Types
• The information associated with the different
applications can be either continuous or
block-mode
• Continuous: The information is played out
directly as it is received continuously (called
streaming or real-time media) (E.g Audio and
video)
•Block-mode: The source information is created in
a time-independent way and is often stored at
the source in, say, a file
• When requested it will be transferred across the
network and displayed at a time specified by the
requesting application (called downloading)
(e.g. email consisting of a block of text) 58
 Communication Modes

• Simplex: The information associated with the

application flows in one direction only.
• Half-Duplex: Information flows in both directions but
alternatively (two-way alternative).
• Duplex: Information flows in both directions
simultaneously (Two-way simultaneous). 59
 Communication Modes

• Broadcast: The information output by a single node is

received by all the other nodes connected to the same
network
• Multicast: The information output by the source is
received by only a specific subset of the nodes (Latter
form known as multicast group)
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Communication Modes

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 Communication mode Examples

• In half-duplex and duplex communications, the

bit rate associated with the flow of information
in each direction can be equal (symmetric) or
different (asymmetric).
•Video Telephony – Symmetric duplex
communication
• Web browsing – Asymmetric half-duplex
mode (as different bit rates for downloading
and uploading)
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 Network Types (Circuit-mode)

• This operates in a time-dependent manner and

comprises an interconnected set of switching
offices/exchanges to which the subscriber
terminals/computers are connected
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 Circuit-mode- Operational Principle
Step1: The source must set up the connection first
through the network
Step2: Each subscriber terminal has a unique network
wide address and to make a call the source first enters
this number of the intended communication partner
Step3: The local switching office uses this number to
set up a connection. Depending on the availability of
the destination the connection will be estabilished
Step4: Finally at the end of information exchange the
call will be terminated by the source or the destination
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 Circuit-mode- Terminology
• Signalling messages – The messages associated
with the setting up and clearing of a connection
• Call/Connection setup delay – The delay
associated with the connection procedures
•Examples of Circuit-mode operation – PSTN and
ISDN
•PSTN – setup delay varies from fraction of a
second to few seconds for international connections
• ISDN – setup delay ranges from tens of milliseconds
through to several hundred milliseconds
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 Packet mode
• There are two types of packet-mode network
- Connection Oriented (CO)

PSE: Packet Switching

Exchanges

• As the name implies a connection is established prior to

information interchange
• The connection utilizes only a variable portion of the
bandwidth of each link and known as virtual circuit (VC)
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 Packet mode – Operational Principle
• To set up a VC the source terminal sends a call request
control packet to the local PSE which in addition to the
source and destination addresses holds a short identifier
known as virtual circuit identifier (VCI)
•Each PSE maintains a table that specifies the outgoing link
to use to reach the network address
•On receipt of the call request the PSE uses the destination
address within the packet to determine the outgoing link
• The next free identifier (VCI) for this link is selected and
two entries are made in the routing table

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 Packet mode – Connectionless

• In connectionless network, the establishment of a

connection is not required and they can exchange
information as and when they arrive
•Each packet must carry the full source and
destination address in its header in order for each
PSE to route the packet onto the appropriate
outgoing link (router term used rather than PSE)
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 Packet mode – Summary
• In both types each packet is stored in a memory
buffer and a check is performed to determine if any
transmission errors are present in the received
message. (i.e 0 instead of a 1 or vice versa)
• If an error is detected then the packet is discarded
known as best-effort service.
• All packets are transmitted at the maximum link bit
rate
• As packets may need to use the same link to
transfer information an operation known as
store-and-forward is used.

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 Packet mode – Summary
• The sum of the store and forward delays in each
PSE/router contributes to the overall transfer delay
of the packets and the mean of this delay is known
as the mean packet transfer delay.
• The variation about the mean are known as the
delay variation or jitter
• Example of connectionless mode – Internet
• Examples of connection oriented network – X.25
(text) and ATM (multimedia)

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 Multipoint Conferencing
• Multipoint conferencing is implemented in one of
two ways
- Centralized mode
- Decentralized mode
Centralized mode
• This mode is used with circuit switched networks
such as PSTN and ISDN

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 Multipoint Conferencing – Centralized
mode

• With this mode a central server is used

• Prior to sending any information each terminal
needs to set up a connection to the server
• The terminal then sends the information to the
server.
• The server then distributes this information to all
the other terminals connected in the conference

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 Multipoint Conferencing – Decentralized
mode

• The decentralized mode is used with packet-switched

networks that support multicast communications
• E.g – LAN, Intranet, Internet

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 Decentralized mode Operation

• The output of each terminal is received by all the other

members of the conference/multicast group
• Hence a conference server is not required and it is the
responsibility of each terminal to manage the information
streams that they receive from the other members

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 Hybrid Mode

• This type of mode is used when the terminals are

connected to different network types
• In this mode the server determines the output
stream to be sent to each terminal

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 Network Qos

• Network Quality of Service parameters: Operational parameters

associated with a communication channel through a network that
determine the suitability of the channel in relation to its use for a
particular application
• Circuit-switched network: Bit Error Rate (BER) is the
probability of a bit being corrupted during its transmission in a
defined time interval. The transmission delay is determined by the
bit rate used plus the codes (network interfaces) and propagation
delay of the digital signal
•Packet-switched network: Mean packet transfer rate is a measure
of the average number of packets transferred per second. Mean
Packet Error Rate (PER) is the probability of a received packet
containing one or more bit errors
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 Network Qos
• Most networks (circuit and packet switched) provide an
unreliable service which is also known as a best-try or
best-effort service
• If the application accepts only error free blocks then it is
necessary for the sending terminal to divide the source
information into blocks of a defined maximum size and the
destination to detect any missing blocks
•When a block is missing then the destination must request for
a copy of the block from the source. The service is then called
a reliable service

• 77
 Application Qos

• Transmission of
a constant bit rate
stream over a
packet switched
network

• The startup delay defines the amount of time

that elapses between an application making a
request to start a session and the confirmation
being received at the destination
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 Application Qos

• To transfer a large file from the server to your home

computer using the packet switched (PW) and circuit
switched (CS) networks
- PSTN (28.8kbps) and ISDN (64/128kbps) operate
in CS mode and provide constant bit rate channel
- Cable modem operate in PS mode and the bit rate
of the shared channel is 27Mbps

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 Application Qos

• Assuming the file size is 100Mbits, the

minimum time to transmit the file using the
different Internet access modes is:
- PSTN and 28.8 kbps modem: 57.8 minutes
- ISDN at 64 kbps: 26 minutes
- ISDN at 128 kbps: 13 minutes
- cable modem at 27 Mbps: 3.7 seconds

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 Application Qos

• The application quality of service is different

from the network QoS
• For example in an application involving
images the parameters may include a minimum
image resolution and size while a video may
include the digitization format and the refresh
rate

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 Application QoS - Parameters

• The required bit rate or mean packet transfer

rate
•The maximum startup delay
•The maximum end-to-end delay
•The maximum delay variation/jitter
• The maximum round-trip delay

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 Application Qos

• To overcome the effect of jitter a technique

known as buffering is used
•The effect of jitter is overcome by retaining a
defined number of packets in a memory buffer
at the destination before playout of the
information bit stream is started
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 Application QoS - Summary
• In order to determine whether a particular
network can meet the QoS requirements of an
Application a number of standard application
service classes have been defined
• Each service class has an associated set of
QoS parameters defined
• For networks that support different service
classes ( i.e internet), the packets relating to
each class are assigned a different priority
• Real time streams have higher priority than
packets relating to email 84
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Summary

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Summary

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Summary – Multimedia Communication
Network and Services

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