IPTV

This document considers the consequences of moving the underlying network architecture from the current Internet to an Information- Centric Networking (ICN) architecture on video distribution. As most of the traffic in future networks is expected to be video, we consider how to modify the existing video streaming mechanisms. Several important topics related to video distribution over ICN are presented. The wide range of scenarios covered includes the following: evolving Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH) to work over ICN and leverage the recent ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) standard, layering encoding over ICN, introducing distinct requirements for video using Peer-to-Peer (P2P) mechanisms, adapting the Peer-to-Peer Streaming Protocol (PPSP) for ICN, creating more stringent requirements over ICN because of delay constraints added by Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), and managing digital rights in ICN. Finally, in addition to considering how existing mechanisms would be impacted by ICN, this document lists some research issues to design ICN-specific video streaming mechanisms.

This document describes a Uniform Resource Name (URN) namespace for the Open IPTV Forum (OIPF) for naming persistent resources defined within OIPF specifications. Example resources include technical documents and specifications, eXtensible Markup Language (XML) schemas, classification schemes, XML Document Type Definitions (DTDs), namespaces, style sheets, media assets, and other types of resources produced or managed by the OIPF.

Annex E of the Digital Video Broadcasting - IPTV (DVB-IPTV) technical specification defines an optional Application-Layer Forward Error Correction (AL-FEC) protocol to protect the streaming media transported using RTP. The DVB-IPTV AL-FEC protocol uses two layers for FEC protection. The first (base) layer is based on the 1-D interleaved parity code. The second (enhancement) layer is based on the Raptor code. By offering a layered approach, the DVB-IPTV AL-FEC protocol offers good protection against both bursty and random packet losses at a cost of decent complexity. This document describes how one can implement the DVB-IPTV AL-FEC protocol by using the 1-D interleaved parity code and Raptor code that have already been specified in separate documents. This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is published for informational purposes.

This memo specifies how Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN) can be used with the Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) running over UDP, using the RTP Control Protocol (RTCP) as a feedback mechanism. It defines a new RTCP Extended Report (XR) block for periodic ECN feedback, a new RTCP transport feedback message for timely reporting of congestion events, and a Session Traversal Utilities for NAT (STUN) extension used in the optional initialisation method using Interactive Connectivity Establishment (ICE). Signalling and procedures for negotiation of capabilities and initialisation methods are also defined. [STANDARDS-TRACK]

The Rapid Acquisition of Multicast RTP Sessions (RAMS) solution is a method based on RTP and the RTP Control Protocol (RTCP) that enables an RTP receiver to rapidly acquire and start consuming the RTP multicast data. Upon a request from the RTP receiver, an auxiliary unicast RTP retransmission session is set up between a retransmission server and the RTP receiver, over which the reference information about the new multicast stream the RTP receiver is about to join is transmitted at an accelerated rate. This often precedes, but may also accompany, the multicast stream itself. When there is only one multicast stream to be acquired, the RAMS solution works in a straightforward manner. However, when there are two or more multicast streams to be acquired from the same or different multicast RTP sessions, care should be taken to configure each RAMS session appropriately. This document provides example scenarios and discusses how the RAMS solution could be used in such scenarios. This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is published for informational purposes.

In most RTP-based multicast applications, the RTP source sends inter- related data. Due to this interdependency, randomly joining RTP receivers usually cannot start consuming the multicast data right after they join the session. Thus, they often experience a random acquisition delay. An RTP receiver can use one or more different approaches to achieve rapid acquisition. Yet, due to various factors, performance of the rapid acquisition methods usually varies. Furthermore, in some cases, the RTP receiver can do a simple multicast join (in other cases, it is compelled to do so). For quality reporting, monitoring, and diagnostic purposes, it is important to collect detailed information from the RTP receivers about their acquisition and presentation experiences. This document addresses this issue by defining a new report block type, called the Multicast Acquisition (MA) report block, within the framework of RTP Control Protocol (RTCP) Extended Reports (XRs) (RFC 3611). This document also defines the necessary signaling of the new MA report block type in the Session Description Protocol (SDP). [STANDARDS-TRACK]

When an RTP receiver joins a multicast session, it may need to acquire and parse certain Reference Information before it can process any data sent in the multicast session. Depending on the join time, length of the Reference Information repetition (or appearance) interval, size of the Reference Information, and the application and transport properties, the time lag before an RTP receiver can usefully consume the multicast data, which we refer to as the Acquisition Delay, varies and can be large. This is an undesirable phenomenon for receivers that frequently switch among different multicast sessions, such as video broadcasts.

In this document, we describe a method using the existing RTP and RTP Control Protocol (RTCP) machinery that reduces the acquisition delay. In this method, an auxiliary unicast RTP session carrying the Reference Information to the receiver precedes or accompanies the multicast stream. This unicast RTP flow can be transmitted at a faster than natural bitrate to further accelerate the acquisition. The motivating use case for this capability is multicast applications that carry real-time compressed audio and video. However, this method can also be used in other types of multicast applications where the acquisition delay is long enough to be a problem. [STANDARDS-TRACK]

This document describes a Uniform Resource Name (URN) namespace for the Digital Video Broadcasting Project (DVB) for naming persistent resources defined within DVB standards. Example resources include technical documents and specifications, eXtensible Markup Language (XML) Schemas, classification schemes, XML Document Type Definitions (DTDs), namespaces, style sheets, media assets, and other types of resources produced or managed by DVB. This memo provides information for the Internet community.