A comprehensive multimedia control architecture for the Internet

The Internet and intranets have been used to deliver continuous media, both stored and live, for a number of years. Most of the attention has focused on providing guaranteed quality of service (RSVP) and end-to-end data transport (RTP), with every application using its own control protocol. The author describe a control architecture that offers most standard advanced telephony features and integrates stored and conference multimedia. The protocol re-uses much of the "infrastructure" of HTTP, including its security and proxy mechanisms. The architecture is instantiated by two related, but independent protocols: the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) for inviting participants to a multimedia session and the Real-Time Stream Protocol (RTSP) to control playback and recording for stored continuous media.