An experimental multimedia information exchange system

Abstract

The authors summarize the lessons learned during a research project that aimed at understanding the practical problems encountered in building multimedia communication systems. An overview of the architecture and components of an experimental multimedia system is given. The prototype has both real-time and online communication capabilities. It supports both the peer-to-peer model and the client-server model. The authors have implemented various applications with very different requirements and made them coexist in the system. Two examples presented here are real-time video capture and multicasting, and online consultation of full-motion video clips residing in a multimedia server.<>