Internet Engineering Task Force                 Michael F. Speer
draft-speer-avt-layered-video-02.txt            Sun Microsystems, Inc.

                                                Steven McCanne
                                                LBNL
                                                Date: Dec 20th, 1996
                                                Expires: May 20th, 1996


                   RTP usage with Layered Multimedia Streams

                          Status of this Memo

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                                Abstract

        This draft describes how one should make use of RTP (rfc1889)
        when employing layered media streams.  This document is meant
        for implementors of internet multimedia applications that want
        to use RTP and layered media streams.
















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 Introduction

This memorandum describes how to use RTP (Real-Time Transport Protocol,
rfc1889) with layered multimedia streams.

 Layered Video

Today, most multimedia applications place the responsibility of rate-adaptivity
at the source.  In multicast transmission, source-adaptation, as discussed in
[3], leads to the source not being to meet the conflicting bandwidth
requirements of the all receivers.  This usually leads to the least-common
denominator scenarios, where the smallest pipe in the network mesh dictates
the quality and fidelity of the overall live multimedia "broadcast".  If the
responsibility of rate-adaptation is placed at the receivers, then
heterogeneity of such media transmissions is achievable.

One approach for moving rate-adaptation from the source to the receivers
is to combine a layered source-coder with a layered transmission system.
In the context of IP Multicast, Deering proposed a realization of this
scheme where a source stripes the progressive layers of a hierarchically
represented signal across multiple multicast groups [2].  Receivers can
then adapt to network heterogeneity by controlling their reception
bandwidth through IP Multicast group membership.

In the case of video transmission, several approaches to the layered
source-coding problem have been explored, including multirate JPEG [4],
subband coding [6], and hierarchical vector quantization [1].

 RTP Usage

The RTP specification [5] implicitly assumes that the underlying
transport/network layer is monolithic.  That is, a single RTP session
is carried on a single underlying communications layer.  However, the
layered transmission system described above requires multiple
underlying transport end-points.  This complicates the naming of an
RTP session because we need to explicitly identify each of the transport
channels that comprise the overall layered set.  When UDP/IP is used
for the underlying transport protocol, a session is identified by an
IP address A and an even-numbered UDP port number P.  RTP data is sent
over port P while RTCP control is sent on port P+1 [1,Section 10].

We propose that layered applications use a set of contiguous addresses
and ports.  Addresses must be distinct because multicast routing and
group membership are managed on an address granularity.  Ports must be
distinct because of a widespread deficiency in existing operating
systems, and for unicast, there is only one permissible address.
Thus for layer n, the corresponding address is A + n, the data port is
P + 2n, and the control port is P + 2n + 1.  In the unicast case, only



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port mapping applies.

In RTP, each media source is identified with a randomly allocated 32-bit
source identifier (SRCID) that is unique only within a single session
(a collision detection algorithm resolves conflicts).  Additionally, each
user is identified with a variable-length ``canonical name'' (CNAME) string
that is globally unique.  Data packets are identified only by SRCID, and
periodically, each application broadcasts a binding between it's CNAME and
SRCID.  Thus, a receiver can collate streams across different sessions
(identified by different SRCID's) using the level of indirection provided
by the CNAME.  Using this framework, we can readily handle layered
compression formats by treating each layer as a distinct ``RTP session''
and distributing it on its own multicast group.  This is the same approach
that the RTP uses to relate separate audio and video streams from a
single user.

However, the ``RTP session per layer'' approach adds unnecessary complexity.
Not only does it force each receiver to manage all the CNAME/SRCID bindings,
but it requires newly arrived receivers to wait for the binding advertisement
before they can start decoding a stream.  Another problem is that it creates
new error recovery conditions for dealing with conflicting information
that arrives on the different sessions.

We propose to extend RTP semantics as follows:

        o A single SRCID space is used across all layers and the
          core (base) layer be used for SRCID allocation and
          conflict resolution.  When a source discovers that it
          has collided, it transmits an RTCP BYE message on
          only the base layer.

        o A participant sends sender identification (SDES) on only the
          base layer.

All other RTP rules and practices apply.
















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 References

        1.      Chaddha, N., Wall, G., and Schmidt, B.,  "An End to End
                Software Only Scalable Video Delivery System", Proc. Fifth
                International Workshop on Network and OS Support for Digital
                Audio and Video (April, 1995)

        2.      Deering, S., Internet Multicast Routing: State of the Art and
                Open Research Issues, MICE Seminar, SICS, Stockholm (Oct 1993).

        3.      McCanne, S. and Jacobson, V., "Receiver-Driven Layered
                Multicast".  Submitted to SigComm 1996.

        4.      Hoffman, D. and Speer, M., "Hierarchical Video Distribution
                over Internet-style Networks".  Submitted to the IEEE
                International Conference on Image Processing (Sept. 1996)

        5.      Schulzrinne, H., Casner, S., Frederick, R., and Jacobson, V.,
                "RTP: A Transport Protocol for Real-Time Applications",
                rfc1889.

        6.      Taubman, D. and Zakhor, A. "Multi-rate 3-D Subband Coding of
                Video".  IEEE Transactions on Image Processing 3,5 (Sept 1994)
                572-488.

 Address of the Authors

        Michael F. Speer
        Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation
        2550 Garcia Ave MailStop UMPK14-305
        Mountain View, CA 94043

        Voice: +1 415 786 6368
        Fax: +1 415 786 6445
        E-mail: michael.speer@eng.sun.com


        Steven McCanne
        M/S 50B-2239
        Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
        One Cyclotron Road
        Berkeley, CA 94720

        Voice: +1 510 486 7520
        Fax: +1 510 486 6363
        E-mail: mccanne@ee.lbl.gov





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