One document matched: draft-wang-avt-rtp-improved-rams-00.txt


Audio/Video Transport WG                                    Y.-K. Wang
Internet Draft                                                  J. Dai
Intended status: Standards track                               J. Feng
Expires: January 2010                              Huawei Technologies

                                                          July 6, 2009




             Improved Rapid Acquisition of Multicast Sessions
                  draft-wang-avt-rtp-improved-rams-00.txt


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Abstract

   This document describes an improvement to unicast based rapid
   acquisition of multicast RTP sessions (RAMS) described in [I-
   D.ietf-avt-rapid-acquisition-for-rtp].  The improved method allows
   a receiver to simultaneously request a unicast burst stream and
   join the multicast group, and then select one of the two streams to
   be first processed.



Table of Contents


   1. Introduction..................................................2
   2. Conventions...................................................5
   3. Improved Rapid Acquisition of Multicast RTP Sessions..........6
   4. Security Considerations.......................................8
   5. IANA Considerations...........................................8
   6. Acknowledgements..............................................8
   7. References....................................................9
   8. Authors' Addresses............................................9



1. Introduction

   The basic idea of unicast based rapid acquisition of multicast RTP
   sessions (RAMS) in [I-D.ietf-avt-rapid-acquisition-for-rtp] is as
   follows.  Instead of joining the multicast group, the receiver
   first requests a unicast stream, which is transmitted at a rate
   faster than the multicast stream rate.  The unicast stream starts
   from a random access point, which contains the so-called Reference



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   Information (RI) or the start of the RI, and thus can be processed
   without waiting for the next random access point, and consequently
   the delay for acquisition of the multicast stream is reduced.  This
   method is effective in reducing channel switching and tune-in delay
   in multicast applications, such as IPTV.

   Another important benefit of RAMS is that significantly improved
   coding efficiency for video streams is possible.  In conventional
   multicast applications, video streams must be encoded with frequent
   random access points, e.g. per 0.5 to 1 second, to allow new
   receivers to tune-in or existing users to switch from another
   multicast session.  Random access points typically contain intra-
   coded pictures, for which the compression efficiency is
   significantly, e.g., several to ten times, lower than inter-coded
   pictures.  Therefore, the less the random access points, the higher
   the coding efficiency.  When RAMS is in use, random access period
   length no longer affects the tune-in or channel switching delay.
   This means that the video random access point frequency can be
   significantly reduced, which means significantly improved
   compression efficiency.

   Nevertheless, RAMS has the following constraints:

   o  At some point, if the receiver directly joins the multicast
      group, the received multicast stream may start exactly at a
      random access point or at a point that is very close to the next
      random access point.  In this case, the use of the RAMS method
      actually increases the acquisition delay.  Unfortunately, the
      receiver has no means to know how far the next random access
      point in the multicast stream is before it joins the multicast
      group, otherwise it could choose to either use RAMS or directly
      join the multicast group, whichever is better.

   o  The request for the unicast burst stream may be lost.  Even if
      the request is retransmitted and finally received, the
      acquisition delay gets increased.













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   o  Part or all of the RI may be lost.  Again, the lost information
      could be retransmitted, which increases the acquisition delay.
      If the RI or part of it gets finally lost in any case, the
      received data in the unicast burst stream cannot be processed
      until the next random access point.  In this case, the
      acquisition delay would also be lower if the receiver had chosen
      to directly join the multicast group without trying to request
      the unicast burst stream.  Unfortunately, there is no way for
      the receiver to know what loss could happen before the
      occurrence of the loss.

   To solve the above problems, this document proposes an improved
   RAMS method, wherein the receiver simultaneously requests the
   unicast burst stream and joins the multicast group.  When both the
   unicast burst stream and the multicast stream are transmitted to
   the receiver, the downlink bandwidth needed is at least twice as
   high as the media rate (including the overhead due to network
   protocol headers).  Different than the original RAMS method in [I-
   D.ietf-avt-rapid-acquisition-for-rtp], herein the unicast burst
   stream does not need to be transmitted at a rate higher than the
   media rate, though a higher rate can still be used if possible.

   The proposed scheme is rationalized based on the following
   observations.

























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   o  A user who has a certain network accessing bandwidth can
      typically upgrade the access bandwidth without upgrade of the
      network accessing equipment.  This means that the network access
      equipment can typically support higher bandwidth.  On the other
      hand it may not be a major issue for the network provider to
      send data to the user at a bandwidth higher than the single
      stream to the user, unless there is limitation on the data sent
      by the network provider.  In the context of unicast based rapid
      acquisition of multicast streams, as the data of the unicast
      burst stream is just a copy of the multicast stream, there is no
      additional cost for the data itself (as content) if both streams
      are obtained.  Therefore, it is feasible both technically and
      economically (maybe at some added cost) for the user to
      simultaneously receive the unicast burst stream and the
      multicast stream.  In particular, as the acquisition process
      involving receiving both streams is short, in the magnitude of a
      few seconds, it is likely that network providers, which in many
      cases are also content providers and services providers, are
      willing to allow the momentary use of higher bandwidth than
      usual, either freely to users (i.e. users still pay for the
      usual bandwidth) or under a new contract that explicitly covers
      such momentary uses of higher bandwidth.  Their reasoning will
      be to supply better user experience when they compete with other
      delivery technologies.

   o  In a digital home with multiple TVs and possibly other connected
      equipments such as PCs, more than one TV program on different
      TVs may be watched simultaneously in addition to other network
      uses under one network accessing contact.  In such a common
      scenario, the bandwidth available can easily be as at least
      twice high as the media rate.

   Note that there will still be cases wherein available bandwidth is
   not enough for transmission of both the unicast burst stream and
   the multicast stream simultaneously.  Therefore, it should still be
   allowed for receivers to switch between the proposed improved
   method, the original RAMS method, and the conventional method (i.e.
   directly joining the multicast group).

2. Conventions

   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].




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3. Improved Rapid Acquisition of Multicast RTP Sessions

   The improved RAMS method is described by the following steps
   (referring to Figure 1, based on the same terminology in [I-D.ietf-
   avt-rapid-acquisition-for-rtp]):

   1) Request: RR sends an RAMS-R message to the RS to request for the
      unicast burst session of the new multicast RTP session, and an
      SFGMP (i.e. IGMP or MLD) Join message to the Router to join the
      new multicast session.  Preferably, the RAMS-R and SFGMP Join
      messages are sent simultaneously.  However, the RAMS-R and SFGMP
      Join messages can also be sent at different temporal locations
      but should be reasonably close to each other, and there is no
      restriction to the temporal order of sending the two messages.

   2) Response: RS receives the RAMS-R message and decides whether to
      accept it or not.  RS sends one or more RAMS-Information (RAMS-I)
      messages to the receiver.  If the request is accepted by RS, it
      starts sending the unicast burst stream.  The unicast burst can
      be sent to receiver either after or together with RAMS-I message.
      At the same time or at a slightly different time, the multicast
      stream starts to flow to RR from the Multicast Source.

   3) Updated Request or Updated Response: RR MAY send updated RAMS-R
      messages to RS.  RS MAY send updated RAMS-I messages to RR.
























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     +-----------+   +----------------+   +----------+   +------------+
     | Multicast |   | Retransmission |   |          |   |    RTP     |
     |  Source   |   |     Server     |   |  Router  |   |  Receiver  |
     |           |   |      (RS)      |   |          |   |    (RR)    |
     +-----------+   +----------------+   +----------+   +------------+
         |                   |                 |                |
         |-- RTP Multicast ------------------->|                |
         |-- RTP Multicast ->|                 |                |
         |                   |                 |<~ SFGMP Join ~~|
         |                   |<'''''''''''''''''' RTCP RAMS-R ''|
         |                   |                 |                |
         |                   |'' (RTCP RAMS-I) ''''''''''''''''>|
         |                   |                 |                |
         |                   |.. Unicast RTP Burst ............>|
         |-- RTP Multicast ------------------------------------>|
         |                   |                 |                |
         |                   |<''''''''''''''''''(RTCP RAMS-R)''|
         |                   |                 |                |
         |                   |'' (RTCP RAMS-I) ''''''''''''''''>|
         |                   |                 |                |
         |                   |<'''''''''''''''''' RTCP RAMS-T ''|
         |                   |                 |                |
         |                   |<''''''''''''''''''' (RTCP NACK)''|
         |                   |                 |                |
         |                   |.. (Unicast Retransmissions) ....>|
         |                   |                 |                |
         |                   |<''''''''''''''''''' (RTCP BYE) ''|
         |                   |                 |                |

     '''> Unicast RTCP Messages
     ~~~> SFGMP Messages
     ...> Unicast RTP Flow
     ---> Multicast RTP Flow

                 Figure 1 Flow of the improved RAMS method



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   4) Process: For the received unicast stream and the received
      multicast stream, the one that can be processed first is chosen.
      A stream can only be processed from a correctly received random
      access point.  If both the received unicast stream and the
      received multicast stream contain correctly received random
      access points, then either can be chosen.  If the multicast
      stream is chosen, then the unicast stream is terminated
      immediately.  In this case, all received packets of the
      multicast stream are processed (depacketized and decoded).
      Otherwise (i.e. the unicast stream is chosen), the unicast
      stream is terminated when it catches the beginning of the
      received multicast stream, i.e. after the packet in the unicast
      stream having OSN equal to SNm-1 is received, where OSN stands
      for Original Sequence Number as defined in [I-D.ietf-avt-rapid-
      acquisition-for-rtp], SNm is the Sequence Number (SN) of the
      first packet in the received multicast stream.  In this case,
      all received packets of the unicast stream having OSN equal to
      or greater than SNm are discarded, and other received packets of
      the unicast stream and all received packets of the multicast
      stream are processed.

   5) Terminate: In the above step, the unicast stream is terminated
      by sending an RAMS-T message to RS.  To terminate the unicast
      stream immediately, RR sends an RAMS-T message without an RTP
      sequence number.  To instruct RS to terminate the unicast stream
      after catching the multicast stream, RR SHALL include in the
      RAMS-T message the sequence number of the first received RTP
      packet in the received multicast stream.  When RR is receiving
      the unicast stream, and if RR becomes no longer interested in
      the multicast stream, RR sends an RTCP BYE message to RS to
      terminate the RTP retransmission session (which contains both
      the unicast burst stream as well as the retransmission stream
      for lost packets).

4. Security Considerations

   TBD.

5. IANA Considerations

   TBD.

6. Acknowledgements

   TBD.



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   This document was prepared using 2-Word-v2.0.template.dot.

7. References

   [I-D.ietf-avt-rapid-acquisition-for-rtp]
             Steeg, B., Begen, A., Caenegem, T., and Z. Vax, "Unicast-
             Based Rapid Acquisition of Multicast RTP Sessions",
             draft-ietf-avt-rapid-acquisition-for-rtp-01 (work in
             progress), June 2009.

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

8. Authors' Addresses

   Ye-Kui Wang
   Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
   400 Somerset Corp Blvd, Suite 602
   Bridgewater, NJ 08807
   USA

   Phone: +1-908-541-3518
   EMail: yekuiwang@huawei.com


   Jinliang Dai
   Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
   BuildingNO.17, Zpark
   Hai-Dian District, Beijing
   P. R. China

   Phone: +86-10-82829100
   EMail: daijinliang@huawei.com


   Jiangping Feng
   Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
   BuildingNO.17, Zpark
   Hai-Dian District, Beijing
   P. R. China

   Phone: +86-10-82829092
   EMail: fengjiangping@huawei.com






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