A new hierarchical architecture for multimedia distribution in integrated services networks

Due to their large bandwidth demand and synchronization requirements, multimedia applications, in general, consume huge buffer sizes which prevent potential customers from using multimedia services. We recognize the problem and propose a hierarchical architecture to reduce the buffer size. The architecture can be applied to both 1-n and n-n applications. We establish the architecture by first determining neighbor sets and then applying a grouping algorithm and renegotiation process. This architecture is also able to meet the synchronization requirements of multimedia applications. We evaluate the performance of the hierarchical architecture through simulation and compare with the direct connection architecture. The result shows that the hierarchical architecture reduces the buffer size significantly without serious penalty on the total bandwidth or introducing extra hot-spots.