A CORBA-based quality of service management framework for distributed multimedia services and applications

Abstract

For distributed multimedia services, it is essential that quality of service be guaranteed system-wide, including end systems, communication systems, and networks. Although many researchers have addressed issues of QoS management, little attention has so far been paid to the QoS management services in distributed multimedia services and applications. To address this deficiency, we have designed a layered model for end-to-end QoS management called the QoS management framework. Our framework, which is CORBA-based, includes a generic QoS MIB for the QoS parameterization of various multimedia services and the services needed to perform various QoS functions. A key component of this framework is the QoS management service object (QMSO), which orchestrates resources at endpoints, coordinating resource management across layer boundaries. Services such as translation, monitoring, admission, and negotiation are provided by the QMSO. To validate this concept, we have developed a QoS management system for managing and controlling the QoS of a distributed multimedia system called MAESTRO. The QoS management system has been implemented through CORBA objects and provides an interface to multimedia applications, which can be dynamic negotiation and renegotiation of QoS by users. Some performance results in QoS negotiation and renegotiation are also presented.