Distributed synchronization protocols for multimedia services on Internet

In this paper we present a distributed architecture for the existing and the emerging Internet for providing synchronized virtual channels (SVCs) to support presentation of multimedia information. The SVC architecture (SVCA) provides both intra-stream and inter-stream synchronization using resources available over the Internet and implementing distributed transmission scheduling mechanisms. We also propose a set of quality of presentation (QOP) parameters that quantify the quality of multimedia presentation from the user´s point of view. Based on these parameters, we evaluate the proposed architecture and provides trade-offs between the QOP parameters and the required network resources to maintain this quality. Subsequently, these trade-offs are used to generate an optimal schedule for transmission of multimedia information over the SVCA. We also present protocol mechanisms to realize the SVCA