Internet Multimedia Architecture

Jim Chou and Thinh Nguyen

February 12, 2002

Outline
Overview
Multimedia Applications
Signaling Protocols (SIP/SDP, SAP, H.323,
MGCP)
Streaming Protocols (RTP, RTSP, HTTP, etc.)
QoS (RSVP, Diff-Serv, IntServ)
Conclusions

Multimedia protocol stack

Signaling

Quality of Service

Media Transport

H.323

SDP

RTSP

Reservation

Measurement

RSVP

RTCP

SIP

H.261, MPEG
RTP

TCP

Application daemon

MGCP/Megaco

UDP

network

IPv4, IPv6
kernel

link

PPP

physical

Sonet

AAL3/4

AAL5

ATM

PPP

Ethernet

V.34

Multimedia applications
Audio
Speech (CELP type codecs)
Music (MP3, WAV, WMA, Real)

Video (MPEG 1, 2, 4)

Streaming done using HTTP/TCP (MP3), or

RTP/UDP (Video).

Multimedia applications (cont.)

Wireless network
Gateway
9.6 kbps
Media server
1 Mbps

PSTN

28 kbps

Signaling protocols
VoIP predominantly uses two:
SIP/SDP
H.323

Session initiation protocol (SIP)

Developed in mmusic Group in IETF
Proposed standard RFC2543, February 1999
Work began 1995
Part of Internet Multimedia Conferencing Suite (MBONE)

Main Functions
Invite users to sessions
Find the users current location, match with their capabilities and
preferences in order to deliver invitation
Carry opaque session descriptions

Modification of sessions
Termination of sessions

SIP overview
TRIP
LDAP

PSTN gateway lookup

Address lookup

SIP
SDP

Next-Hop

DNS

May
trigger

SIP
SDP

Sets up

RSVP
RTP
UDP

RSVP
RTP
UDP

SIP components
User Agent Client (UAC)
End systems
Send SIP requests

User Agent Server (UAS)

Listens for call requests
Prompts user or executes program to determine response

User Agent
UAC plus UAS

SIP components (cont.)

Redirect Server
Network server - redirects users to try other server

Proxy Server
Network server - a proxy request to another server can fork
request to multiple servers, creating a search tree

Registrar
Receives registrations regarding current user locations

SIP architecture
Request

Response
columbia.edu

Media

SIP Redirect
Server

Location Service

2
3

berkeley.edu

sip.com
5

sip:alice@eecs.berkeley.edu

11
12
13

SIP Client

SIP Proxy

sales.sip.com

10

SIP Proxy
8

14

bob@mypc.sales.sip.com

SIP Client
(User Agent Server)

Sip architecture (cont.)

SIP state-less proxies (near core of network)
used for re-direction

SIP state-ful proxies (near periphery of network)

Keeps track of state of call
Useful for billing/logging, authentication

Routing
Registration database, external database
TRIP

SIP architecture (cont.)

DB

On Startup, SIP UA Sends

REGISTER to Registrar
Registration Data Provides
Addresses to Reach User
Registration Database Forms a
Dynamic Routing Database of
Users

Registrar
SQL/LDAP/?

Proxy Farm

INVITE

Centralized Store is Desired for

Scalability

SIP architecture (cont.)

SIP INVITE Can Contain Phone Numbers
sip:17325551212@domain.com
tel:17325551212
Do Not Correspond to Users on IP Network, but PSTN
Terminals
tel:19735551212

sip:19735551212@
longdistance.com

Call Must Be Routed to Gateway

Gateways Often Arranged
Through Peering
Which One to Use Based on Prefixes
(Domestic = gw1, Europe = gw2)
Route Table is Mapping From Prefixes to Next Hop IP
address/port/transport
Plus URL Rewrite Rules

1-732

regional.com

longdistance.com

international.com

SIP architecture (cont.)

Gateways

Inter-domain Protocol for

Gateway Route Exchange
Completed February 2000

TRIP Supports Various Models

Bilateral agreements
Centralized settlements provider

Location
Server
ISP B
TRIP

End
Users
ISP A
Front
End

SIP call flow example

USER A

PROXY

PROXY

USER B

INVITE
407 Proxy Authenticate
ACK
INVITE

INVITE
100 Trying

INVITE
100 Trying
180 Ringing
180 Ringing

180 Ringing

200 OK
200 OK

200 OK
ACK
ACK
ACK
BOTH WAY RTP
BYE
BYE
BYE
200 OK

200 OK
200 OK

Session Description Protocol (SDP)

Used to specify client capabilities
Example (client can support MPEG-1 video
codec, and MP3 codecs)

Session Anouncement Protocol

(SAP)
Originated around same time as SIP
Used to announce multimedia sessions
Announcement goes to users in a multicast group
Announcements can contain start time of session,
duration of session, etc.

Multimedia Gateway Control Protocol

(MGCP)
Decompose gateway into a controlling signalling
component and a controlled media component.
Can be used in phones or gateways in
conjunction with SIP

H.323
May 1995 - H.323 work started
June 1996 - Decided by ITU-T
Designed for exchanging multimedia over IP
networks (4 versions of H.323)

H.323 Components
Terminals
Gatekeepers
Gateways (H.323 to H.320/H.324/POTS)
MCUs
Multipoint Controller (MC)
Multipoint Processor (MP)

H.323 Gatekeeper
Address Translation
H.323 Alias to transport (IP) address based on terminal
registration
email-like names possible
phone number like names possible

Admission control
Permission to complete call
Can apply bandwidth limits
Method to control LAN traffic

H.323 Gatekeeper (cont.)

Management of gateway
H.320, H.324, POTS, etc.

Call Signaling
May route calls in order to provide supplementary
services or to provide Multipoint Controller
functionality

Call Management/Reporting/Logging

H.323 Gateway
Provide world wide connectivity and
interoperability from LAN
H.320, H.324, regular POTS telephones

Map Call Signaling (Q.931 to H.225.0)

Map Control (H.242/H.243 to H.245)
Media Mapping (FEC, multiplex, rate matching,
audio transcoding)

H.323 MCU
Media Distribution
Unicast - send media to one terminal (centralized in
MP; traditional model)
Multicast - send to each receiver directly
Hybrid - some of each

Manage Ad Hoc multipoint calls

Join, invite, control of conference modes

Multiprotocol via Gateways

H.323 protocol stack

Control

Data

Audio Video

A/V Cntl Control

Gatekeeper

G.7xx H.26x

RTCP

H.225.0 H.245 T.120

RTP

TCP

UDP

IP

Reg,
Adm,
Status
(RAS)

H.323 protocol stack (cont.)

H.323 - System Document
H.225.0 - Call Signaling, Packetization
Gatekeeper Registration, Admission, and Status

H.245 - Control (also used in H.324, H.310)

T.120 - Data and Conference Control

H.323 example
A Call Setup Example
a point to point call
One Gatekeeper using the Direct Call Model

H.323 example (cont.)

GK

(1) ARQ
Can I call
Bob?

(3) ACF
Yes, use this
IP Address
Bill

(2a) GK resolves Bob

to IP address through H.323
registration or external
name service
(e.g. DNS, ULS, etc..)
(2b) Admission Policy
Applied
PictureTel

Bob

H.323 example (cont.)

GK
(5) ARQ
May I answer?

(6) ACF
Yes
(4) SETUP (Create)
(7) ALERTING

PictureTel

(8) CONNECT (User answers)

Bill

Bob

H.323 example (cont.)

PictureTel

(9) H.245 connection established

Bill

- Capability Exchange
- Open Logical
Channels (audio, video)

Bob