Stefano Battista

MPEG-4: a multimedia standard for the third millennium. 1

MPEG-4 defines a multimedia system for interoperable communication of complex scenes containing audio, video, synthetic audio, and graphics material. In part 1 of this two-part article (Battista et al., 1999) we provided a comprehensive overview of the technical elements. In part 2 we describe an application scenario based on digital satellite television broadcasting, discuss the standards envisaged evolution, and compare it to other activities in forums addressing multimedia specifications.

Scalable Media Coding Enabling Content-Aware Networking

Increasingly popular multimedia services are expected to play a dominant role in the future of the Internet. In this context, it is essential that content-aware networking (CAN) architectures explicitly address the efficient delivery and processing of multimedia content. This article proposes the adoption of a content-aware approach into the network infrastructure, thus making it capable of identifying, processing, and manipulating media streams and objects in real time to maximize quality of service (QoS) and experience (QoE). Our proposal is built on the exploitation of scalable media coding technologies within such a content-aware networking environment. This discussion is based on four representative use cases for media delivery (unicast, multicast, peer-to-peer, and adaptive HTTP streaming) and reviews CAN challenges, specifically flow processing, caching/buffering, and QoS/QoE management.

Scalable video coding and transcoding

Scalable video coding (SVC) is standardized as H.264/AVC Annex G by the Joint Video Team (JVT) of ISO/IEC MPEG and ITU-T VCEG. SVC extends the features of its base specification H.264/AVC by flexible scalability features in all directions (temporal, spatial and SNR) while maintaining high compression efficiency. This paper investigates scalable video coding, general transcoding techniques and SVC to H.264/AVC transcoding with emphasis on the conversion of SNR scalability layers in SVC to a single layer H.264/AVC stream.

Scalable video coding guidelines and performance evaluations for adaptive media delivery of high definition content

Scalability within media coding allows for content adaptation towards heterogeneous user contexts and enables in-network adaptation. However, there is no straightforward solution how to encode the content in a scalable way while maximizing rate-distortion performance. In this paper we provide encoding guidelines for scalable video coding based on a survey of media streaming industry solutions and a comprehensive performance evaluation using four state of the art scalable video codecs with a focus on high-definition content (1080p).

A multimedia terminal for adaptation and End-to-End QoS control

This paper addresses multimedia end user system design for content distribution over heterogeneous networks and terminals, with particular focus on end-to-end quality of service (QoS) control. A multimedia terminal comprising content-related metadata processor, usage environment characteristics provider, end user QoS monitor and H.264psilas extension scalable video coding (SVC) audio-visual player in coordination under a terminal middleware, has been conceived and implemented. This end user terminal enables end-to-end QoS control for content adaptation solution both in semantic and physical approaches to maximize end userpsilas perceptual experience and minimize resources. Such design approach illustrates a possible architecture for next generation multimedia end user terminal supporting MPEG-21 and H.264psilas extension SVC codec standards.

A Multimedia Terminal Supporting Adaptation for QoS Control

This paper addresses the end-to-end quality of service (QoS) guarantees and control for multimedia content delivery over heterogeneous networks, with a particular focus on end user terminal perspective. A multimedia terminal which embeds different probes to monitor network conditions and end user perceptual characteristics has been conceived and implemented. A series of QoS mapping between perception and adaptation spaces are yielded by means of the parameters provided by the QoS probes, facilitating content adaptation enabled by any generic adaptation server or intermediate service. Such a design approach illustrates a possible architecture for next-generation multimedia end user system supporting QoS control and content adaptation over a heterogeneous delivery chain.

Distributed adaptation decision-taking framework and Scalable Video Coding tunneling for edge and in-network media adaptation

Existing and future media ecosystems need to cope with the ever-increasing heterogeneity of networks, devices, and user characteristics collectively referred to as (usage) context. The key to address this problem is media adaptation to various and dynamically changing contexts in order to provide a service quality that is regarded as satisfactory by the end user. The adaptation can be performed in many ways and at different locations, e.g., at the edge and within the network resulting in a substantial number of issues to be integrated within a media ecosystem. This paper describes research challenges, key innovations, target research outcomes, and achievements so far for edge and in-network media adaptation by introducing the concept of Scalable Video Coding (SVC) tunneling.

Hybrid natural and structured audio coding for 3D scenes

Natural and structured audio representations can be characterized by the lack or presence of a model describing the sound, respectively; combination of the two approaches can lead to efficient and improved storage and transmission of both speech and music, mixing less efficient but general technologies with more compact and specialized models. Integration of natural audio tracks with structured sound and 3D spatial processing is a challenging effort, especially when the audio, scene requires high quality and precise synchronization with video and graphic information, as it is the case in professional multimedia and virtual reality frameworks. In this paper natural and structured sound are surveyed and a new player is presented, which supports all the mentioned technologies in a normative context.