Course objectives:

This course will enable students to:

• Gain fundamental knowledge in understanding the basics of different multimedia networks and
applications.
• Understand digitization principle techniques required to analyze different media types.
• Analyze compression techniques required to compress text and image and gain knowledge of DMS.
• Analyze compression techniques required to compress audio and video.
• Gain fundamental knowledge about multimedia communication across different networks.

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23-09-2022 Yashwanth J, ECE, VVCE, Mysuru 2
Course Outcomes:
After studying this course, students will be able to:
• Explain the basic concepts of different media types, networks
and applications.
• Describe the digitization principle and analyze the multimedia
types.
• Interpret the concepts of Distributed multimedia systems and
compression techniques.
• Analyze the compression techniques and standards used in
text, image, audio and video.
• Apply the knowledge of multimedia communication across
different networks.

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 Module 1:

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1.“Multimedia Communications, applications, networks, protocols
and standards”, Fred Halsall, Pearson, 2001. ISBN: 978-81-317-
0994-8.
2. “Multimedia Communication Systems”, K.R Rao, Zoran S. Bojkovic,
Dragorad A. Milovanovic, Pearson Education, 2004.ISBN:
9788120321458

1. “Multimedia: Computing, Communications and Applications”,

Raifsteinmetz, Klara Nahrstedt, Pearson education, 2002. ISBN -
9788177584417
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1.1 Introduction
1.2 Multimedia Information Representation
1.3 Multimedia Networks
1.4 Multimedia Applications
1.5 Applications and Network Terminology

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Multimedia ?
“Multi”= Many or more than one.
“Media”= Medium of Communication.
The term “multimedia” is used to indicate that the information / data being
transferred over the network may be composed of one or more of the
following media types:
 Text
 Images
 Audio
 Video

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Text:
Text is the form of words, sentences, and paragraphs is used to
communicate thoughts, ideas and facts in daily life.
 It includes both Unformatted text and Formatted text.
Unformatted text (Plain text): comprising strings of fixed-sized characters
from a limited character set.
Formatted Text (Rich text): Comprising Strings of characters of different
styles, size and shape together with tables, graphics and image inserted at
appropriate point.
Examples: .TXT, .RTF, .DOCX, .PDF

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Images: these include computer-generated images: comprising lines,
curves, and circles, and digitized images of documents and pictures.
Examples: .JPG, .GIF, .PNG
Audio: these includes both low-fidelity speech signal as used in
telephony, and high-fidelity stereophonic music as used with compact discs.
Examples: .MP3, .WAV, .WMA
Video: these includes short sequences of moving images also known as
video clips and complete movies/ films.
Examples: .MP4, .MOV, .AVI

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• Multimedia is the field concerned with the computer-controlled
integration of text, graphics, drawings, still and moving images (Video),
animation, audio, and any other media where every type of information
can be represented, stored, transmitted and processed digitally.

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 Multimedia applications involve either person to person communications
or person to system communications.

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 In general, two people communicate with each other through suitable
terminal equipment (TE), while a person interacts with a system using
either multimedia personal computer (PC) or workstation (servers).

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• All types of multimedia information are stored and processed within a
computer in a digital form.
• In case of textual information consisting of strings of characters entered at
a keyboard , (each character is represented by a unique combination of a
fixed number of bits – known as a codeword) and hence the complete text
by a string of such codewords.
• Similarly computer generated graphical images are made up of a mix of
lines, circles, squares and so on , each represented in a digital form.
• A line for example is represented by means of the start and end
coordinators of the line relative to the complete image, each coordinate
being defined in the form of a pair of digital values.
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Five basic types of Communication networks are used to provide
multimedia services are:
1. Telephone Networks
2. Data networks
3. Broadcast television networks
4. Integrated Service Digital Networks (ISDN)
5. Broadband Multiservice Networks

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 Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)
 PSTN is the worldwide collection of interconnected public telephone
network that was designed primarily for analog telephone calls.
 It is also referred as Landline / Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS).
 PSTN is a circuit Switched Network, that means a dedicated path or circuit
is established for duration of a telephone call.
 Switched: is used to indicate that a subscriber can make a call to any other
telephone that is connected to the total network.
 Telephones located in the home or in a small business are connected
directly to their nearest Local Exchange / End office (LE).
 Telephones those located in a medium or large office are connected to a
private switching office Known as a private branch exchange (PBX).
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 Home/ Small
Analog
Business
Access ckt
Radio Analog
Access National Access
PSTNs
LE LE

PSTN PSTN
GMSC LE IGE IGE IGE

Cellular
LE LE
Mobile
Digital Inter-
Network
connection Ckt

LE: Local Exchange

PBX: Private Branch
Exchange PBX
IGE: International
Gateway Exchange Private Site-wide
GMSC: Gateway Mobile Telephone
Switching Center Network
PSTN: Public Switched
Telephone Network

Figure 1.1 Telephone Network : a) Network Components

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 The PBX provides a switched service between any two telephones that are
connected to it and also to the PSTN users through LE.
 More recently, Cellular Phone Networks have been introduced which
provide a similar services to a mobile subscriber by using Mobile Switching
Centre's (MSCs) in cellular networks.
 Finally, international calls are routed through International Gateway
Exchanges (IGEs).
 Since, PSTN operates in circuit mode which means a dedicated path or
circuit is set up through the network of required capacity for the duration
of call.
 So we are moving for Digital mode were a stream of binary 1s and 0s are
converted to analog signals by using modem.
 Modems which have high bit rates can also be integrated for wide range of
multimedia
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applications. Yashwanth J, ECE, VVCE, Mysuru 17
 Digital
Digital Analog Streams
Streams Access Analog
Access

PSTN

Modem Modem
LE
LE

Figure 1.2 Telephone Network : b) Digital Transmission using Modems

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 Analog
access
Home
PSTN
Low Bit rate
H-S H-S channel
Modem Modem

High bit rate

channel

STB
SERVER
TV

HSM: High Speed

Modem
STB: Set Top Box

Figure 1.3 Telephone Network : c) Multiple Service via an H-S Modem

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 Designed to provide basic data communication services such as electronic
mail (e-mail) and general file transfers.
 Most widely deployed networks are: X.25 network and the Internet.
 X.25 network is restricted to relatively low bit rate data applications and
hence is unsuitable for most multimedia applications.
 Communication Protocols
 Internet service provider (ISPs)
 Enterprise-wide Private Network / Intranet
 Single site / LAN
 Inter-site Backbone Network
 Internet backbone network
 Gateway
 Packet Mode
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 Intranet
Site LAN Site LAN

Inter Site
Backbone
Site LAN Site LAN

Access via
Gateway
PSTN with
modem or ISDN
Global Internet
Home Backbone

Gateway Gateway

ISP: Internet Service Provider

ISP Network ISDN: Integrated Services
Digital Network Site
LAN: Local Area Network LAN

Small Business

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 These networks were designed to support analog television and radio
programs throughout wide geographical areas.
 In the case of a large town or city, the broadcast medium is a cable
distribution network.
 And for larger areas, the broadcast medium is a satellite / terrestrial
broadcast network.
 As we can see in fig 3.1 (a), the set-top box attached to the cable
distribution network provides not only control of the television channels
that are received but also provides access to other services.
 For Ex: When the cable modem is integrated into the STB this provides
both a low bit rate channel and a high bit rate channel from the Cable
head-end.
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 Home

Cable STB
Distribution
PSTN Cable Head Network
End

The Internet

STB: Set-top box with integral modem

Figure 3.1: (a) Cable Networks
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 Low bit rate channel is used to connect the subscriber to a PSTN and the
high bit rate channel is used to connect the subscriber to the Internet.
 Hence in addition to providing basic broadcast radio and television
services, cable distribution networks also provides access to range of
multimedia services.
 Similarly, in case of satellite/Terrestrial broadcast networks, when high-
speed PSTN modem is integrated into the STB this provides the subscriber
with an interaction channel- “Interactive Television”
Example: Game Playing, online shopping.

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 PSTN

Home

Program
Source STB

Internet

Figure 3.2: (b) Satellite /Terrestrial Broadcast Networks

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 It was started to deployed in the early 1980s and were originally designed
to provide PSTN users with the capability of having additional services.
 This is achieved firstly, by converting the access circuits that connect user
equipment to the network.
Ex: Telephone to all digital form.
 Secondly, by providing two separate communication channels over these
circuits.
 These allows users either to have two different calls such as a telephone
call and a data call.
 Therefore, with an ISDN the access circuit is known as Digital Subscriber
Line (DSL).

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 The digitization of a telephone-quality analog speech signal produces a
constant bit rate of binary streams referred as “ Bit stream of 64Kbs”.
 Hence, the basic DSL of the ISDN known as the Basic rate access (BRI) :
Supports two 64 Kbps Channels. These can either be used independently
or as a single combined 128kbs channel.
 Addition box of electronics- Aggregation function.
 Primary rate access (PRA) – 1.5 or 2 Mbps.
 Services as been Enhanced and now supports a single switched channel of
P*64Kbps where p=1,2…..30.
 Digitization- Cost is higher.
 Supports range of multimedia applications.

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 Digital Subscriber Line
(DSL) Single 128 Kbps
Switched Channel
Px64 Kbps Switched
Channels)
NTE
NTE
NTE
Two Independent
Channels
NTE
Integrated Services
NTE
Single 1.5/2.0 Mbps Digital Network
Channel (ISDN)
(Primary Rate Access) Two 64 Kbps
Channels
(Basic Rate Access)
NTE NTE

NTE
Single 64 Kbps Px64 Kbps
Switched Channel Switched Channels

Conventional
NTE – Network Termination equipment. Analog Signal

Figure 4.1: Alternative services provided by an ISDN

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 ATM ATM: Asynchronous
MAN transfer mode
LAN: Local Area Network
MAN: Metropolitan area
Network
IWU: Interworking Unit

Figure 5.1: Example of an ATM broadband multiservice networks

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 Broadband multiservice networks were designed in the mid – 1980’s for
use as PSTN to support a wide range of multimedia communication
applications.
 Broadband was used to indicate that the circuits associated with a call
could have bit rates in excess of the maximum bit rate of 2Mbps – 30x64
kbps – provided by an ISDN.
 As such, they were designed to be an enhanced ISDN and hence were
called B –ISDN or sometimes N-ISDN.
 At first B-ISDN – No video services – Compression
 Multiservice networks: the network should support multiple services.
 Different multimedia applications requires – different bit rates.
 The switching and transmission methods that are used within these
networks must be more flexible. – digital form
23-09-2022 Yashwanth J, ECE, VVCE, Mysuru 30
 These are then integrated together and the resulting binary stream is
divided into multiple fixed – sized packets known as cells.
 Variable size packets
 Since the different multimedia applications generate cell streams of
different rates, this mode of operation means that the rate of transfer of
cells through the networks also varies and this mode of transmission is
known as the Asynchronous Transfer Mode or ATM or Cell – switching
Networks.
 ATM LANs
 ATM MANs

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 There are many applications that involve multiple media types. However,
they can be broadly placed under one of the following Categories:
1. Interpersonal Communications
2. Interactive applications over the Internet
3. Entertainment applications

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 Interpersonal communications may involve speech, image, text or video
etc.
 In some cases just a single type of medium is involved while in others two
or more media types are integrated together.
 Some Examples are:
a. Speech only
b. Image only
c. Text only
d. Text and images
e. Speech and video

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 Traditionally, interpersonal communications involves speech.
 This can be provided by using telephones that are connected either to a
PSTN/ISDN/Cellular mobile network or a PBX.
 Alternatively, by using a multimedia PC equipped with a microphone and
speakers, the user can take part in telephone calls through the PC.
 This requires a telephone interface card and associated software and is
known as computer telephony integration or CTI.
 In addition to telephony, many public and private networks support
additional services such as Voice Mail and teleconferencing.

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 Voice – Mail: called party being unavailable.
 Voice- Mail Box, Voice-mail Server ( central repository)
 Conference Call – Teleconferencing call or Audio conferencing Call. – Audio
Bridge ( central unit which support to set up a conference call
automatically).
 Telephone over internet is also Known as Packet Voice or VoIP.
 Telephone Gateway

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Speech-only: Interpersonal Communications: public & private switched telephone networks.

Audio
Voice
Bridge
Cellular Mail
Mobile Server
Networks
PSTN/ISDN

Private Site-wide
Telephone
Voice Network
Audio Mail
Bridge Server

PBX

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 Interpersonal Communications: Telephone over the Internet

G/W G/W
Global
LAN Internet ISP
Network
G/W G/W

Packet Mode

G/W
Circuit Mode

PSTN/ISDN

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 An alternative form of interpersonal communications over PSTN or an
ISDN is by the exchange of electronic images of documents. This type of
services is known as facsimile or fax.
 PC fax.

23-09-2022 Yashwanth J, ECE, VVCE, Mysuru 38

 Fax machine

PSDN or ISDN
PC Fax

Analog or digital
access Ckt

Fig: Image-only interpersonal Communication: Facsimile (fax) example

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 Email.
 Mailbox
 Email Server

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 Text Only E-mail: Interpersonal Communication

Private Network

E-mail
Server

G/W

Global
Home Internet

G/W G/W

Campus LAN
E-mail E-mail
Server Server

ISP Network

Small Business

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 An example of an application that involves both text and images
integrated together is computer–supported cooperative working ( CSCW).
 The network used is an enterprise network, a LAN, or the Internet.
 Group of people working on same project.
 The user terminal is either a PC or a workstation and a window on each
person’s display is used as a shared workspace. – known as a shared
whiteboard.
 And normally, the display comprises text and images integrated together.

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 The software associated with CSCW comprises a central program – known
as the whiteboard program, and a linked set of support programs, one in
each PC/workstation.
 It comprises of two parts: a change-notification part and an update
control part.
 Whenever a member of the group updates the contents of his or her
whiteboard, the change notification part sends details of the changes to
the whiteboard program.
 This relays the changes to the update – control in each of the other PCs/
workstations and these in turn updates the contents of their copy of the
whiteboard.
23-09-2022 Yashwanth J, ECE, VVCE, Mysuru 43
 Change Update Control
Notification
Shared Whiteboard
program

Enterprise-wide
Private Network / LAN
or Internet

Shared Whiteboard/ workspace

Fig: Text-and-image Computer Supported Co-operative Working

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 PSTN / ISDN / LAN / Enterprise Network

Two-way simultaneous Multimedia PC/workstation

integrated speech and video with Video Camera,
information streams Microphone and Speakers

Fig: Speech & Video Interpersonal Communications: a) Two party video telephone call

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 PSTN/ISDN/LAN/ Enterprise Network

MCU

Two-way simultaneous speech

and video information streams
Multimedia PC with Video
Camera, Microphone and
Speakers

Fig: Speech & Video Interpersonal Communications: b)videoconferencing using an MCU

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 PSTN/ISDN/LAN/ Enterprise Network

Two-way simultaneous speech

and video information streams
Multimedia PC with Video
Camera, Microphone and
Speakers

Fig: Speech & Video Interpersonal Communications: c) videoconferencing using a broadcast network

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23-09-2022 Yashwanth J, ECE, VVCE, Mysuru 48
In addition to a range of interpersonal communication applications, the
Internet is also used to support a range of interactive applications, the most
widely used being for interactions with a World Wide Web (WWW) or simply
Web server.

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 Interactive Application over the Internet

WWW

Internet

ISP LAN

Intranet

Multimedia
Information
PCs with
Server
Browser
software

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Entertainment applications can be one of two types:
a. Movie / video on demand.
b. Interactive Television.
a. Movie / video on demand:

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 Interaction with Video Server: Video on Demand

PSTN / Cable Access Network

Low bit rate Interactive Channel

STB

Video Server

High bit rate Channel for video stream

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 b. Interactive Television
Cable
Distribution
PSTN Network

Cable Head Home

End STB

Internet

IPTV: Interactive Television with Cable Distribution Network

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 Interactive Television : Satellite Terrestrial Broadcast Network

PSTN/ISDN

STB
TV Server
Program Satellite Computer
Source Interface

Internet

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1. Media Types
a) Continuous mode Media
b) Block mode media
2. Communication Modes
a. Simplex
b. Half Duplex
c. Duplex
d. Broadcast and Multicast
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 3. Network Types
a) Circuit-mode
b) Packet-mode
4. Multipoint Conferencing
a) Centralized
b) Decentralized
c) Hybrid

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It is used to measure the overall performance of service.
1. Network QoS
2. Application QoS

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• The operational parameters associated with a communication channel
through a network.
• QoS parameters associated with circuit switched network are different
from packet switched network.
A. Circuit Switched Network:
1. Bit rate: is the number of bits that are transmitted or conveyed per
unit of time.
Ex: 1bps,Kbps,
2. Mean bit error rate (BER): of a channel is the probability of a bit
being corrupted during transmission across the channel in the defined
time interval.
Ex: A mean BER of 𝟏𝟎−𝟑 means, on average for every 1000 bits that are
transmitted, 1 of these bits will be corrupted.
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• In general, if BER probability is P and the number of bits in a block is N, then
assuming random errors, the probability of a block containing a bit error,
𝑷𝑩 , is given by:
𝑷𝑩 = 1- (𝟏 − 𝑷)𝑵
Which approximates to N x P is less than 1.
• Unreliable service or best – try or best – effort service.
• Reliable service
3. Transmission Delay: delays that occur in the terminals/ computer network
interfaces (codec delays) plus the propagation delay of the digital signals as
they pass from the source to the destination across the network.

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Ex 1: Derive the maximum block size that should be used over a
channel which has a mean BER probability of 𝟏𝟎−𝟒 if the
probability of a block containing an error – and hence being
discarded – is to be 𝟏𝟎−𝟏 .

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Ex 2: Determine the propagation delay associated with the
following communication channels:
i) A connection through a private telephone network of 1 km,
ii) A connection through a PSTN of 200 km
Assume that the velocity of propagation of a signal in each case is
𝟐𝑿𝟏𝟎𝟖 m/s.

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B. Packet Switched Networks:
1. Maximum packet size: It is the payload section of the packet which contains
the actual data being transferred.
Ex: The maximum size of an IP packet payload is 65,535 bytes.
2. Mean packet transfer rate: is a measure of the average number of packets
that are transferred across the network per second.
3. Mean packet error rate or PER: is the probability of a received packet
containing one or more bit errors.
4. Mean packet transfer delay: Sum of the mean store and forward delays in
each PSE / router contributes to the overall transfer delay of the packet across
the network.

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5. Jitter or delay variation: is the worst case variation in the delay.
6. Transmission Delay: Same as circuit switching Network.

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Ex: Application involving images: The parameters may include a minimum
image resolution and size.
1. The required bit rate or mean packet transfer rate: is a measure of the
average number of packets that are transferred across the network per
second.
2. Maximum start-up delay: For interactive application, the start up delay
defines the amount of time that elapses between an application making a
request to start a session and the confirmation being received from the
application at the destination (server).
3. Maximum end to end delay: time taken for a packet to be transmitted
across a network from source to destination.

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4. Maximum delay variation/ jitter: delay between selected packets in a flow
with any lost packets being ignored.
5. Maximum round trip delay: is the length of time it takes for a signal to be
sent plus the length of time it takes for an acknowledgement of that signal to
be received.

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Ex-3: A Web page of 50Mbytes is being retrieved from a Web server.
Neglecting the delays within the server and trunk network, determine the
time required to transfer the page over the following types of access circuit:
(i) a PSTN modem operating at 28.8 kbps.
(ii) a primary rate digital network access line operating at 1.5 Mbps.
(iii) a high speed modem operating at 6Mbps.

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