Optimization model for the delivery of interactive multimedia documents

The delivery of multimedia information over future public networks may require sophisticated control facilities. In order both to minimize segment delivery latencies and to maximize network utilization, the delivery control facility must preallocate and release network resources based on dynamic models of both the interactive multimedia document and the network topology. It is shown that, by expressing these models as labeled access graphs that incorporate the relevant statistics, the algorithm for optimized delivery can be specified by a small set of rules. An optimization mechanism that utilizes the algorithm is described, and how it should obtain its input parameters and how it should be executed are specified. The practical validity of the mechanism is discussed for a group of services which includes video-on-demand and interactive electronic magazines.<>