Adaptive Multimedia Research Articles

EM‐SON: efficient multimedia service over self‐organising Wi‐Fi network

This study presents eM-SON, an adaptive framework for providing efficient multimedia services over self-organising, hybrid Wi-Fi networks. In this reconfigurable architecture, multimedia services can be received via a Wi-Fi router, Wi-Fi hotspot, or Wi-Fi direct (i.e. device-to-device) mode. Experimental studies are performed to obtain user equipment (UE) battery discharge and QoS/QoE parameters for adaptive multimedia service (transmission, reception, and playback) over each of these Wi-Fi configurations. These experiments are conducted on different types of UEs (smartphone, tablets) with multimedia content encoded at several quality and scalability levels, and transmitted on each of the Wi-Fi configurations over varying load conditions and dynamic channel allocation. A centrally controlled framework is developed to optimise the multimedia content (adaptive transcoding) and network resource allocation (dynamic Wi-Fi configurations and channel allocation) based on the dynamic UE and network resource constraints. The proposed solution combinedly improves the QoS (throughput, number of retransmissions, and delay), QoE, and energy-efficiency performance of the UEs, while effectively serving an increased number of users in the system.

Correction to: A Multimedia Adaptive Tutoring System for Mathematics that Addresses Cognition, Metacognition and Affect

The Publisher regrets a spelling error in the family name of the third author. “Winslow Burelson” should be “Winslow Burleson”.

Enhanced Adaptive Multimedia Data Forwarding for Privacy Preservation in Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks Using Authentication Group Key

Enhanced Adaptive Multimedia Data Forwarding for Privacy Preservation in Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks Using Authentication Group Key

Adaptive Multimedia Data Forwarding for Privacy Preservation in Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks

Vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs) have drawn much attention of researchers. The vehicles in VANETs frequently join and leave the networks, and therefore restructure the network dynamically and automatically. Forwarded messages in vehicular ad-hoc networks are primarily multimedia data, including structured data, plain text, sound, and video, which require access control with efficient privacy preservation. Ciphertext-policy attribute-based encryption (CP-ABE) is adopted to meet the requirements. However, solutions based on traditional CP-ABE suffer from challenges of the limited computational resources on-board units equipped in the vehicles, especially for the complex policies of encryption and decryption. In this paper, we propose a CP-ABE delegation scheme, which allows road side units (RSUs) to perform most of the computation, for the purpose of improving the decryption efficiency of the vehicles. By using decision tree to jointly optimize multiple factors, such as the distance from RSU, the communication and computational cost, the CP-ABE delegation scheme is adaptively activated based on the estimation of various vehicles decryption overhead. Experimental results thoroughly demonstrate that our scheme is effective and efficient for multimedia data forwarding in vehicular ad-hoc networks with privacy preservation.

Analytical Study of Using Multimedia Techniques for Helping Learning Disabilities Students: The Case of Centers in Bahrain

This paper examines the use of multimedia techniques to help students with learning disabilities. The paper makes use of previous studies to research the effect of multimedia techniques on students in Bahrain. The research draws on information from the Ministry of Development and also from Private Centers in Bahrain which have students with learning disabilities. It is noticed that Bahrain’s Private Centers for learning disabilities have a large number of students with disabilities, the majority of whom are males. About 60% of these students are autistic children with learning disabilities whereas the rest represent children with mental impairment and Down syndrome respectively. The objective of this research is to investigate the influence of multimedia on the students facing difficulties in learning. It was known that the Centers in Bahrain are using multimedia techniques and that they were being helpful in making the conditions better for them. Thus, this shows that multimedia could be the right tool to choose to help the betterment of those students. Various ways of using multimedia tools were found through the previous studies which can be used to help improve the learning of the students’ with disabilities. The multimedia social stories, visual aids can be used as tools for making the students learn as shown by the results of the previous studies. This paper describes the development of an adaptive multimedia eLearning system for autistic learners that improves their learning skills and serves as eLearning environment for learning disabilities also. It helps enhancing the user’s social skills such as the communication skills which are a good practice for the autistic children.

Object-Oriented Network: A Named-Data Architecture Toward the Future Internet

Recently, many applications (e.g., wearable cognitive assistance) with the devices of Internet of Things (IoT) (e.g., Apple Watch and Google Glass) have been fast developed. However, the current Internet may not be suitable for the future IoT applications due to the limited capabilities of the data caching and content processing services with the existing Internet architecture. In this paper, we extend the named data networking and develop the object-oriented network (OON) as a novel Internet architecture to implement both the native data caching and content processing in the network layer. The datagrams with processable payloads as well as the cached contents are both referred to as the operable object s in OON for abstraction. With the proposed OON architecture, operable object s can be processed and transmitted by forwarding them to the subroutines of content processing programs and the interfaces of content deliveries, respectively, according to the proposed naming rules. For performance evaluation, we implement the dynamic adaptive multimedia streaming application atop the proposed OON architecture in ns-3. Our simulation results show that the proposed OON architecture can effectively increase the potential quality of experience for mobile users.

HaMA

Nowadays, multimedia documents are omnipresent at any time from and to any devices. However, mobile devices heterogeneity and the various contexts of the user require their adaptation. In this context, the existing systems transform contents to comply with the target constraints. Nevertheless, the current solutions do not exploit the profile semantic benefits to reason upon the context for assisting the adaptation. Furthermore, there is no work that care of adapting HTML pages containing CSS and changing in time, where time specification is declarative (e.g. by means of timesheets). This paper provides an adaptation approach called “Handicap-based Multimedia Adaptation” (HaMA), in which each context constraint corresponds to handicap types in order to discover adaptation services. Thus, a generic ontology is introduced to reason upon the context and then deduces the corresponding handicap in order to infer the suitable adaptation guideline. Also, we propose a method for selecting appropriate services with respect to quality criteria. To validate HaMA, scenarios were implemented.

Survey of Transportation of Adaptive Multimedia Streaming service in Internet

World Wide Web is the greatest boon towards the technological advancement of modern era. Using the benefits of Internet globally, anywhere and anytime, users can avail the benefits of accessing live and on demand video services. The streaming media systems such as YouTube, Netflix, and Apple Music are reining the multimedia world with frequent popularity among users. A key concern of quality perceived for video streaming applications over Internet is the Quality of Experience (QoE) that users go through. Due to changing network conditions, bit rate and initial delay and the multimedia file freezes or provide poor video quality to the end users, researchers across industry and academia are explored HTTP Adaptive Streaming (HAS), which split the video content into multiple segments and offer the clients at varying qualities. The video player at the client side plays a vital role in buffer management and choosing the appropriate bit rate for each such segment of video to be transmitted. A higher bit rate transmitted video pauses in between whereas, a lower bit rate video lacks in quality, requiring a tradeoff between them. The need of the hour was to adaptively varying the bit rate and video quality to match the transmission media conditions. Further, The main aim of this paper is to give an overview on the state of the art HAS techniques across multimedia and networking domains. A detailed survey was conducted to analyze challenges and solutions in adaptive streaming algorithms, QoE, network protocols, buffering and etc. It also focuses on various challenges on QoE influence factors in a fluctuating network condition, which are often ignored in present HAS methodologies. Furthermore, this survey will enable network and multimedia researchers a fair amount of understanding about the latest happenings of adaptive streaming and the necessary improvements that can be incorporated in future developments.

IoT 환경에서 컨텍스트 기반 적응적 멀티미디어 스트리밍 기법

IoT 환경에서 컨텍스트 기반 적응적 멀티미디어 스트리밍 기법

무선 단말의 처리능력과 동적 네트워크 환경을 고려한 에이전트 기반의 적응적 멀티미디어 스트리밍 기법

무선 단말의 처리능력과 동적 네트워크 환경을 고려한 에이전트 기반의 적응적 멀티미디어 스트리밍 기법

Transportation mobility management

Today, the world has observed a remarkable growth in the use of transportation mobile communications for road safety. While a user in a vehicle moves to a new communication cell, a wireless terminal requests a handoff for new channel in the new cell. Due to that movement, some of the challenges issues are developed such as, the increase in traffic volumes and demand for high speed transportation mobile communications call for fast, seamless and high performance handoff in mobile communications network. When a wireless user in a vehicle moves from one base station cell to another, handoff protocols reroute the existing active connections in the new transportation cell. The future challenges in next generation high speed transportation mobile networks are to minimize the packet loss and to provide efficient use of the network resources while maintaining quality of service assurances. Therefore, the performance of efficient management and a successful handoff operation in transportation mobile networks become an important issue for road safety traffic. This work shows analytical handoff management for transportation users in a high speed mobile communications network. We demonstrate the performance of handoffs with mobility consideration using several metrics including the alteration of states prior to reaching a transportation mobility cell boundary, the speed of transportation mobile terminal, and the distance between a transportation mobile terminal and a transportation cell boundary. We illustrate the performance evaluation for the factor of transportation mobility with taking into account the high speed status of a mobile vehicle user. Numerical results of the transportation performance analysis and the probability of requiring a handoff are demonstrated using Maple. Figure 1 shows a shaped region of a cellular network and the cellular handoff model with mobility. In this abstract, we modeled the cellular handoff for multimedia users with taking the high speed mobility into account in wireless mobile networks. The performance results in terms of state probabilities and the probability that a mobile terminal reached a cell boundary were investigated. The mobilized analysis involved with number of issues such as the alternation of states before a mobile unit reached a cell boundary, the distance between the mobile terminal and a cell boundary and the speed of the vehicle. Based on the assumption of the alternation of states, there were four situations for a vehicle to reach a cell boundary. Performance results were accurately analyzed based on these four situations. It was clearly showing that for a vehicle that experienced the change of states, the outcome chance of reaching a cell boundary was proportional to the distance in between the mobile terminal and a cell boundary and inversely propositional to the speed of the vehicle.

SVCEval-RA: an evaluation framework for adaptive scalable video streaming

Multimedia content adaption strategies are becoming increasingly important for effective video streaming over the actual heterogeneous networks. Thus, evaluation frameworks for adaptive video play an important role in the designing and deploying process of adaptive multimedia streaming systems. This paper describes a novel simulation framework for rate-adaptive video transmission using the Scalable Video Coding standard (H.264/SVC). Our approach uses feedback information about the available bandwidth to allow the video source to select the most suitable combination of SVC layers for the transmission of a video sequence. The proposed solution has been integrated into the network simulator NS-2 in order to support realistic network simulations. To demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed solution we perform a simulation study where a video sequence was transmitted over a three network scenarios. The experimental results show that the Adaptive SVC scheme implemented in our framework provides an efficient alternative that helps to avoid an increase in the network congestion in resource-constrained networks. Improvements in video quality, in terms of PSNR (Peak Signal to Noise Ratio) and SSIM (Structural Similarity Index) are also obtained.

Energy-efficient device-differentiated cooperative adaptive multimedia delivery solution in wireless networks

There is very much interest in balancing remote delivered multimedia quality and energy consumption in a heterogeneous wireless network environment. This paper proposes a solution for Energy-efficient Device-differentiated Cooperative Adaptive Multimedia Delivery over wireless networks (EDCAM), a hybrid innovative approach which combines multimedia quality adaptation and content sharing mechanisms to save energy at client devices according to their different characteristics. EDCAM relies on an automatic application-aware device profiling, which is proposed to assess individual device energy constraints. These constraints along with QoS delivery scores are used as metrics for the multimedia delivery quality adaptation. Devices make use of content sharing partners with which retrieve the content cooperatively, reducing the usage of high energy consuming networks and therefore increase the delivery energy efficiency.Simulation tests in a WiFi and LTE-based heterogeneous wireless network environment with increasing number of video flows and users show how the proposed EDCAM solution results in significant improvements of up to 40% in terms of energy efficiency in comparison with three other state-of-the-art solutions, while maintaining the performance of multimedia content delivery and estimated user perceived quality at the highest levels.

Contextualizing Basic Science, Preclinical, and Clinical Concepts via Adaptive Multimedia Networks: 'BlueLink,' a Novel Approach to Interdisciplinary Education

Two issues affecting the efficacy of higher education are: (a) a dearth of genuine context to help students relate information as it is acquired and assimilated, and (b) relatively low levels of student participation in reading print texts. While these issues are related, a solution for one may not necessarily ameliorate the other. To help solve these issues we are developing BlueLink, a portal that dynamically networks and tailors multimedia (images, videos, screencasts, assessment modules, etc.) to the individual learner. The navigator is not live, but a wealth of materials are developed. We are testing these materials with a M1 audience at the University of Michigan and assessing their effectiveness. Results indicative a strong positive correlation between BlueLink material usage and student success.

Multimedia networking issues for digital video libraries

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a tutorial and survey on recent advances in multimedia networking from an integrated perspective of both video networking and building digital video libraries. The nature of video networking, coupled with various recent developments in standards, proposals and applications, poses great challenges to the research and industrial communities working in this area. Design/methodology/approach – This paper presents an insightful analysis for recent and emerging multimedia applications in digital video libraries and on video coding standards and their applications in digital libraries. Emphasis is given on those standards and mechanisms that enable multimedia content adaptation fully interoperable according to the vision of Universal Multimedia Access vision. Findings – The tutorial helps elucidate the similarities and differences among the considered standards and networking applications. A number of research trends and challenges are identified, and selected promising solutions are discussed. This practice would needle further thoughts on the development of this area and open-up more research and application opportunities. Research limitations/implications – The paper does not provide methodical studies of networking application scenarios for all the discussed video coding standards and Quality of Service (QoS) management mechanisms. Practical implications – The paper provides an overview of which technologies/mechanisms are being used broadly in networking scenarios of digital video libraries. The discussed networking scenarios bring together video coding standards and various emerging wireless networking paradigms toward innovative application scenarios. Originality/value – QoS mechanisms and video coding standards that support multimedia applications for digital video libraries need to become well-known by library managers and professional associations in the fields of libraries and archives. The comprehensive overview and critiques on existing standards and application approaches offer a valuable reference for researchers and system developers in related research and industrial communities.

Adaptive multimedia streaming in information-centric networks

ICN has received a lot of attention in recent years, and is a promising approach for the Future Internet design. As multimedia is the dominating traffic in today's and (most likely) the Future Internet, it is important to consider this type of data transmission in the context of ICN. In particular, the adaptive streaming of multimedia content is a promising approach for usage within ICN, as the client has full control over the streaming session and has the possibility to adapt the multimedia stream to its context (e.g. network conditions, device capabilities), which is compatible with the paradigms adopted by ICN. In this article we investigate the implementation of adaptive multimedia streaming within networks adopting the ICN approach. In particular, we present our approach based on the recently ratified ISO/IEC MPEG standard Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP and the ICN representative Content-Centric Networking, including baseline evaluations and open research challenges.

Cross-layer QoE-driven admission control and resource allocation for adaptive multimedia services in LTE

This paper proposes novel resource management mechanisms for multimedia services in 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks aimed at enhancing session establishment success and network resources management, while maintaining acceptable end-user quality of experience (QoE) levels. We focus on two aspects, namely admission control mechanisms and resource allocation. Our cross-layer approach relies on application-level user- and service-related knowledge exchanged at session initiation time, whereby different feasible service configurations corresponding to different quality levels and resource requirements can be negotiated and passed on to network-level resource management mechanisms. We propose an admission control algorithm which admits sessions by considering multiple feasible configurations of a given service, and compare it with a baseline algorithm that considers only single service configurations, which is further related to other state-of-the-art algorithms. Our results show that admission probability can be increased in light of admitting less resource-demanding configurations in cases where resource restrictions prevent admission of a session at the highest quality level. Additionally, in case of reduced resource availability, we consider resource reallocation mechanisms based on controlled session quality degradation while maintaining user QoE above the acceptable threshold. Simulation results have shown that given a wireless access network with limited resources, our approach leads to increased session establishment success (i.e., fewer sessions are blocked) while maintaining acceptable user-perceived quality levels.

A Multimedia Adaptive Tutoring System for Mathematics that Addresses Cognition, Metacognition and Affect

This article describes research results based on multiple years of experimentation and real-world experience with an adaptive tutoring system named Wayang Outpost. The system represents a novel adaptive learning technology that has shown successful outcomes with thousands of students, and provided teachers with valuable information about students’ mathematics performance. We define progress in three areas: improved student cognition, engagement, and affect, and we attribute this improvement to specific components and interventions that are inherently affective, cognitive, and metacognitive in nature. For instance, improved student cognitive outcomes have been measured with pre-post tests and state standardized tests, and achieved due to personalization of content and math fluency training. Improved student engagement was achieved by supporting students’ metacognition and motivation via affective learning companions and progress reports, measured via records of student gaming of the system. Student affect within the tutor was measured through sensors and student self-reports, and supported through affective learning companions and progress reports. Collectively, these studies elucidate a suite of effective strategies to support advanced personalized learning via an intelligent adaptive tutor that can be tailored to the individual needs, emotions, cognitive states, and metacognitive skills of learners.

Joint Optimization of User-Experience and Energy-Efficiency in Wireless Multimedia Broadcast

This paper presents a novel cross-layer optimization framework to improve the quality of user experience (QoE) and energy efficiency of the heterogeneous wireless multimedia broadcast receivers. This joint optimization is achieved by grouping the users based on their device capabilities and estimated channel conditions experienced by them and broadcasting adaptive content to these groups. The adaptive multimedia content is obtained by using scalable video coding (SVC) with optimal source encoding parameters resulted from an innovative cooperative game. Energy saving at user terminals results from using a layer-aware time slicing approach in the transmission stage. A trade-off between energy saving and QoE is observed, and is incorporated in the definition of a utility function of the players in the formulated heterogeneous user composition and physical channel aware game. An adaptive modulation and coding scheme is also optimally incorporated in order to maximize the reception quality of the broadcast receivers, while maximizing the network broadcast capacity. Compared to the conventional broadcast schemes, the proposed framework shows an appreciable improvement in QoE levels for all users, while achieving higher energy-savings for the energy constrained users.

Subjective Assessment of Region of Interest-Aware Adaptive Multimedia Streaming Quality

Adaptive multimedia streaming relies on adjusting the video content's bit-rate meet network conditions in the quest to reduce packet loss and resulting video quality degradations. Current multimedia adaptation schemes uniformly adjust the compression over the entire image area. However, research has shown that user attention is focused mostly on certain image areas, denoted areas of maximum user interest (AMUI), and their interest decreases with the increase in distance to the AMUI. The region of interest-based adaptive multimedia streaming scheme (ROIAS) is introduced to perform bit-rate adaptation to network conditions by adjusting video quality relative to the AMUI location. This paper also extends ROIAS to support multiple areas of maximum user interest within the same video frame. This paper presents the performance analysis of ROIAS in terms of the impact on user perceived video quality measured using subjective video quality assessment techniques based on human subjects. The tests use a wide range of video clips, which differ in terms of spatial and temporal complexity and region of interest location and variation. A comparative evaluation of both subjective and objective video quality test results is performed and demonstrate the benefit of using ROIAS for adaptive video quality delivery.