Design and implementation of a novel peer-to-peer approach to multipoint video conferencing

Abstract

I present a distributed implementation of a novel approach to multipointvideoconferencing rooted in a peer-to-peer model of media transmission. In this thesis,principals of the peer-to-peer system that I developed are described together with itsperformance evaluation. Besides, a formal verification for the proposed approach hasbeen done. The system focuses on the needs of participants with symmetric, lowbandwidth connections to the Internet. It does not require additional hardware, as inMultipoint Control Units, or network infrastructure support such as multicast. Withalmost no additional demands on the networking and computing resources needed for apoint-to-point videoconference, the new approach would be able to extend a point-to-point conference into a multipoint videoconference. In comparison to offered approach, Ialso include a brief survey on existing peer-to-peer solutions for interactive mediaapplications.Mostly, it is not fair to share equal responsibility among all users, since it is a wellknown fact that Internet provides an environment where various users (categorizedaccording to the computing power or bandwidth capacity) interact together. So, for thesake of performance and solution applicability, it will be good to share responsibilityamong users according to their available resources. Thus, this thesis also offers anoptimization over the proposed peer-to-peer video dissemination solution where routingis done considering the hosts? resources.