One document matched: draft-johansson-avt-mcast-based-rams-00.txt




Network Working Group                                       I. Johansson
Internet-Draft                                               Ericsson AB
Intended status: Standards Track                             Apr 8, 2009
Expires: October 10, 2009


      Multicast-Based Rapid Acquisition of Multicast RTP Sessions
                draft-johansson-avt-mcast-based-rams-00

Status of this Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted to IETF in full conformance with the
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   This Internet-Draft will expire on October 10, 2009.

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Abstract

   This document proposes an improvement to the unicast based Rapid
   Acquisition for Multicast based Streaming discussed in [ID-Versteeg].
   The outline of the improvement is to gather up Rapid Acquisition



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   requests for many users and transmit them in dedicated multicast
   streams.  With this technique the peak load on the retransmission
   server and on the outgoing link from the retransmission server can be
   reduced.  For a problem description of the channel change problem in
   multicast based IPTV the reader is encouraged to read [ID-Versteeg].

Requirements Language

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
   document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [RFC2119].


Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
   2.  Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
   3.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
   4.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
   5.  Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
   6.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
     6.1.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
     6.2.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
   Author's Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6



























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1.  Introduction

   Draft [ID-Versteeg] proposes a method for fast channel change in
   multicast RTP session that employs setting up separate unicast burst
   transmissions to set top boxes that changes channel.  Draft
   [ID-Peilin] proposes an extension to this draft that essentially adds
   elements to make it possible to adjust the transmission rate of the
   unicast stream.

   The methods should considerably reduce the channel switch latency as
   experienced by the end user.

   There are a number of potential issues with the aforementioned
   methods.

   o  Peaky load pattern: Viewers of popular IPTV channels may display a
      synchronized behavior in their channel change pattern , for
      instance when a commercial break sets in or a popular TV show
      ends.

   o  High load on the retransmission server: The retransmission server
      will sometimes be exposed to high load, also the load on the
      outgoing link from the retransmission server can be very high.
      This means that the retransmission server and the outgoing link
      needs to be vastly over provisioned, something that may be costly
      for the implementer of the IPTV infrastructure.

   This draft explains how multiple rapid acquisition requests can be
   gathered up and served via a dedicated multicast channel and can be
   used as an improvement to the methods described earlier.  The
   additional delay compared to a solely unicast based version depends
   on the gather up time which can be set quite low during low load
   conditions and set to higher values during high load conditions
   (giving graceful degradation).  The benefit is that the peak load on
   the retransmission server is reduced considerably.  Another method
   that is described is to setup multicast control channels that
   contains information about rapid acquisition multicast feeds that are
   active.


2.  Description

   The proposed solution can serve as a complement to the solutions
   outlined in [ID-Versteeg] and [ID-Peilin].  During low load
   conditions the retransmission server (RS) will serve each RAMS-R
   request with an individual unicast RTP burst.  As the load increases
   the RS will gather up RAMS-R for the same channels over a defined
   time window (Td) and set up a multicast stream that contains the same



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   contents as the unicast stream would have done.  The time window that
   is used to gather up RAMS-R requests for the same channel is made
   dependent on the load on the RS.  During fairly low load conditions
   the time window is made small (e.g Td=50ms), as load gets higher the
   time window increases, thus the degradation in channel switching
   performance will become graceful.

   The figure below displays how this would work, the figures is
   somewhat simplified, for instance IGMP Leave is left out.

   RR-1                       RR-2                       RS
    |                          |                          |
    |--RAMS-R, ch X-------------------------------------->| -
    |<-RAMS-I m-cast 225.0.1.1----------------------------| |
    |--IGMP Join 225.0.1.1------------------------------->| |
    |                          |--RAMS-R, ch X ---------->| |
    |                          |<-RAMS-I m-cast 225.0.1.1-| Td
    |                          |--IGMP Join 225.0.1.1---->| |
    |                          |                          | |
    |                          |                          | |
    |<-------------------------|<-Stream buf on 225.0.1.1-| -
    |                          |                          |
    |                          |-IGMP Join m-cast ch X--------->
    |---------------------------------IGMP Join m-cast ch X---->

   RR-1 transmits a RAMS-R to RS, requesting rapid acquisition data for
   channel X, as RR-1 is the first to request this data, a timer is
   started in order to wait for a given timespan (Td) for other RAMS-R
   for the same channel from other RR's.  RS sends a RAMS-I to RR-1 with
   instructions to listen in on 225.0.1.1 and thus RS-1 makes an IGMP
   Join to said multicast address.

   Later RR-2 sends a RAMS-R to RS, requesting rapid acquisition data
   for channel X. RS sends a RAMS-I to RR-2 with instructions to listen
   in on 225.0.1.1 and RS-2 also makes an IGMP Join to the said
   multicast address

   When the timer is expired, RS will stream the requested data on
   multicast channel 225.0.1.1 the data speed in the multicast channel
   can be either normal speed or a speed that is higher than normal (e.g
   120%).

   When sufficient data has been received via the multicast channel,
   both RR-1 and RR-2 makes an IGMP Join to multicast channel X.

   As Td is made dependent on the load on the RS this method allows for
   graceful degradation.  A special case occurs when the timer expires
   and only one STB has sent a request, this case is similar to the



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   unicast streaming case.

   At severe load conditions the RAMS-R requests will be either ignored
   or responded with a negative acknowledgement, in which case the RR's
   will not receive any rapid acquisition data.

   Besides the methodology described above, another possibility is also
   that an STB joins a multicast control channel which contains
   information about which multicast channel contains rapid acquisition
   data for a given channel.  Because of the limited amount of data that
   is carried in this multicast control channel reliable transmission
   techniques can possibly be used.

   There are a few different ways to determine when a switch from the
   rapid acquisition channel to the normal multicast channel:

   1.  A marker in the rapid acquisition media stream tells the STB to
       make a switch

   2.  A multicast control channel tells the STB that it is time to
       switch or can give the STB sufficient information necessary to
       make the switch

   3.  End of rapid acquisition media stream, indicated by an explicit
       End-Of-Stream symbol

   4.  Count of frames, the STB can itself decide to switch after
       receiving e.g 3 I-frames

   In certain cases it is preferable (for instance limited downlink
   bandwidth) that the rapid acquisition stream to a particular STB is
   terminated (e.g by means of IGMP Leave) before the normal multicast
   channel is joined.  Depending on how the decision to switch is made
   there is a slight possibility that data will be missing, to alleviate
   this risk the normal multicast streams can be delayed a fraction of a
   second to allow for a certain switching time and a smooth transition
   from the rapid acquisition data to the normal multicast channel.


3.  IANA Considerations

   T.B.D


4.  Security Considerations

   T.B.D




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5.  Acknowledgements

   The author wish to thank Mats Cedervall and Victor Souza for help
   with this draft.


6.  References

6.1.  Informative References

   [ID-Peilin]
              IETF, "Extensions to RTCP for Rapid Synchronization, http:
              //tools.ietf.org/id/draft-peilin-avt-rtp-burst-01.txt".

   [ID-Versteeg]
              IETF, "Unicast-Based Rapid Acquisition of Multicast RTP
              Sessions, http://tools.ietf.org/id/
              draft-versteeg-avt-rapid-synchronization-for-rtp-02.txt".

6.2.  Normative References

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.


Author's Address

   Ingemar Johansson
   Ericsson AB
   Laboratoriegrand 11
   SE-971 28 Lulea
   SWEDEN

   Phone: +46 73 0783289
   Email: ingemar.s.johansson@ericsson.com
















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