3048764
A network-conscious approach to end-to-end video delivery over wide area networks using proxy servers
In this paper we present a novel network-conscious approach to the problem of end-to-end video delivery over wide-area networks using proxy servers situated between local-area networks (LANs) and a backbone wide-area network (WAN). We develop a novel and effective video delivery technique called video staging via intelligent utilization of the disk bandwidth and storage space available at proxy servers. We also design several video staging methods and evaluate their effectiveness in reducing the backbone WAN bandwidth requirement. Our results demonstrate that the proposed proxy-server-based, network-conscious approach provides an effective and scalable solution to the problem of the end-to-end video delivery over wide-area networks.
33893889
Supporting stored video: reducing rate variability and end-to-end resource requirements through optimal smoothing
Variable-bit-rate (VBR) compressed video can exhibit significant multiple-time-scale bit-rate variability. In this paper we consider the transmission of stored video from a server to a client across a network, and explore how the client buffer space can be used most effectively toward reducing the variability of the transmitted bit rate. Two basic results are presented. First, we show how to achieve the greatest possible reduction in rate variability when sending stored video to a client with given buffer size. We formally establish the optimality of our approach and illustrate its performance over a set of long MPEG-1 encoded video traces. Second, we evaluate the impact of optimal smoothing on the network resources needed for video transport, under two network service models: deterministic guaranteed service (Chang 1994; Wrege et al. 1996) and renegotiated constant-bit-rate (RCBR) service (Grossglauser et al. 1997). Under both models, the impact of optimal smoothing is dramatic.
14053219
Distributed Algorithm for Service Replication in Service Overlay Network
The service overlay network (SON) is an effective mean to deploy end-to-end QoS guaranteed content delivery services on the current Internet. We model the content delivery service on a SON as a service delivery tree (SDT). Previous studies have addressed the optimal distribution tree formulation issues. In this paper, we focus on the problem of maximizing the total operation profit of the SON. In [1], authors introduced a cost model for optimal bandwidth provisioning in SON. In this paper, we extended this concept and propose an alternative approach to maximize the total effective throughput of SDT as well as to minimize the QoS violation penalty of the SON by service replication. We present both centralized and distributed algorithms for the placement of replicated servers on the SDT. Experiments are carried to quantify the merit, effectiveness and the scalability of the proposed service replication algorithm. In particular, the performance gain is very close to the exhaustive search. The algorithm performs well when we scale up the service overlay networks. Finally, we show that one only needs to perform a small number of replications to attain the optimal gain.
5876943
Adaptive packet sampling for flow volume measurement
Traffic measurement and monitoring are an important component of network management and traffic engineering. With high-speed Internet backbone links, efficient and effective packet sampling techniques for traffic measurement and monitoring are not only desirable, but also increasingly becoming a necessity. Since the utility of sampling depends on the accuracy and economy of measurement, it is important to control sampling error. In this paper we propose and analyze an adaptive, stratified random packet sampling technique for flow-level traffic measurement. In particular, we address the theoretical and practical issues involved. Through theoretical studies and experiments, we demonstrate that the proposed sampling technique provides unbiased estimation of flow size with controllable error bound, in terms of both packet and byte counts for elephant flows, while avoiding excessive oversampling.
3065647
A core stateless bandwidth broker architecture for scalable support of guaranteed services
We present a novel bandwidth broker architecture for scalable support of guaranteed services that decouples the QoS control plane from the packet forwarding plane. More specifically, under this architecture, core routers do not maintain any QoS reservation states, whether per-flow or aggregate. Instead, the QoS reservation states are stored at and managed by a bandwidth broker. There are several advantages of such a bandwidth broker architecture. Among others, it avoids the problem of inconsistent QoS states faced by the conventional hop-by-hop, distributed admission control approach. Furthermore, it allows us to design efficient admission control algorithms without incurring any overhead at core routers. The proposed bandwidth broker architecture is designed based on a core stateless virtual time reference system developed recently. This virtual time reference system provides a unifying framework to characterize, in terms of their abilities to support delay guarantees, both the per-hop behaviors of core routers and the end-to-end properties of their concatenation. We focus on the design of efficient admission control algorithms under the proposed bandwidth broker architecture. We consider both per-flow end-to-end guaranteed delay services and class-based guaranteed delay services with flow aggregation. Using our bandwidth broker architecture, we demonstrate how admission control can be done on a per domain basis instead of on a "hop-by-hop" basis. Such an approach may significantly reduce the complexity of the admission control algorithms. In designing class-based admission control algorithms, we investigate the problem of dynamic flow aggregation in providing guaranteed delay services and devise a new apparatus to effectively circumvent this problem. We conduct detailed analyses to provide theoretical underpinning for our schemes as well as to establish their correctness. Simulations are also performed to demonstrate the efficacy of our schemes.
14141879
Improving VoIP quality through path switching
The current best-effort Internet cannot readily provide the service guarantees that VoIP applications often require. Path switching can potentially address this problem without requiring new network mechanisms, simply by leveraging the robustness to performance variations available from connectivity options such as multi-homing and overlays. In this paper, we evaluate the effectiveness and benefits of path switching in improving the quality of VoIP applications, and demonstrate its feasibility through the design and implementation of a prototype gateway. We argue for an application-driven path switching system that accounts for both network path characteristics and application-specific factors (e.g., codec algorithms, playout buffering schemes). We also develop an application path quality estimator based on the ITU-T E-model for voice quality assessment, and an application-driven path switching algorithm that dynamically adapts the time scales over which path switching decisions are made to maximize voice quality. Through network emulation and experiments over a wide-area multi-homed test bed, we show that, with sufficient path diversity, path switching can yield meaningful improvements in voice quality. Hence by exploiting the inherent path diversity of the Internet, application-driven path switching is a viable option in providing quality-of-service to applications.
26488480
Eye Gaze Correction with Stereovision for Video-Teleconferencing
The lack of eye contact in desktop video teleconferencing substantially reduces the effectiveness of video contents. While expensive and bulky hardware is available on the market to correct eye gaze, researchers have been trying to provide a practical software-based solution to bring video-teleconferencing one step closer to the mass market. This paper presents a novel approach that is based on stereo analysis combined with rich domain knowledge (a personalized face model). This marriage is mutually beneficial. The personalized face model greatly improved the accuracy and robustness of the stereo analysis by substantially reducing the search range; the stereo techniques, using both feature matching and template matching, allow us to extract 3D information of objects other than the face and to determine the head pose in a much more reliable way than if only one camera is used. Thus we enjoy the versatility of stereo techniques without suffering from their vulnerability. By emphasizing a 3D description of the scene on the face part, we synthesize virtual views that maintain eye contact using graphics hardware. Our current system is able to generate an eye-gaze corrected video stream at about 5 frames per second on a commodity PC.
32960689
On Maximal Shadows of Members in Left-compressed Sets
Whereas Stanley, Proctor and others studied Sperner properties of the poset L(k,m) we consider shadows of left-compressed sets and derive asymptotic bounds on their sizes.
14590836
Eye gaze correction with stereovision for video-teleconferencing
The lack of eye contact in desktop video teleconferencing substantially reduces the effectiveness of video contents. While expensive and bulky hardware is available on the market to correct eye gaze, researchers have been trying to provide a practical software-based solution to bring video-teleconferencing one step closer to the mass market. This paper presents a novel approach: based on stereo analysis combined with rich domain knowledge (a personalized face model), we synthesize, using graphics hardware, a virtual video that maintains eye contact. A 3D stereo head tracker with a personalized face model is used to compute initial correspondences across two views. More correspondences are then added through template and feature matching. Finally, all the correspondence information is fused together for view synthesis using view morphing techniques. The combined methods greatly enhance the accuracy and robustness of the synthesized views. Our current system is able to generate an eye-gaze corrected video stream at five frames per second on a commodity 1 GHz PC.
7981159
Extraction of temporally correlated sources with its application to non-invasive fetal electrocardiogram extraction
This letter addresses the problem of fetal electrocardiogram (FECG) extraction. A class of source extraction algorithms is proposed and it uses a combination of two different approaches: Barros's source extraction approach and Hyvarinen's fixed-point approach. The proposed algorithms can rapidly extract the desired FECG with little noise, and can work well in some poor situations. The validity and performance of the algorithms are confirmed by extensive computer simulations and experiments on real-world data.
206618709
Building an Ontology for Financial Investment
Intelligent agent technologies hold great promise for the financial services and investment industries such as portfolio management. In financial investment, a multi-agent system approach is natural because of the multiplicity of information sources and the different expertise that must be brought to bear to produce a good recommendation (such as a stock buy or sell decision). The agents in a multi-agent system need to coordinate, cooperate or communicate with each other to solve a complex problem. However, ontologies are a key component in how different agents in a multi-agent system can communicate effectively, and how the knowledge of agents can develop. This paper presents a case study in building an ontology in financial investment. The lessons we learned from the construction process are discussed. Based on our ontology development experience and the current development of ontologies, a framework of next generation ontology construction tools, which is aimed to facilitate the ontology construction, is proposed.