Issues Around Support of Multimedia

[Fernando Cuervo]

Tom,

What are we supposed to do from the point of view of the charter? Would it
suffice to have a warm-fuzzy feeling that the protocol is extensible (this
could be possible by having one or more "reasonable" proposals to handle
Context "behaviour" and sychronisation between contexts but not necessarily
reaching an agreement on the "best" way to do it)

Fernando
> ----------
> From:         Taylor, Tom-PT [CAR:5V00-I:EXCH]
> Sent:         April 5, 1999 12:09 PM
> To:   megaco at BayNetworks.COM; itu-sg16 at mailbag.cps.intel.com
> Subject:      Issues Around Support of Multimedia
>
> I have suggested some directions for exploration of solutions to the
> problem
> of support of multimedia over the past week, but I suspect such
> suggestions
> go beyond my role as WG Chair.  Hence I am taking a step backward and
> simply
> summarizing the issues for others to resolve.
>
> Issue 1: representation of connection topologies for multiple media types.
>
> It seems to me that contexts are not topologies themselves, but rather
> represent envelopes within which different topologies will be realized
> depending on the mode settings for the associated terminations.
>
> Requirements:
>   a) Coordinate between different media streams (e.g. for lip-synch,
> stereo).
>   b) Represent degenerate cases simply (e.g. audio-only connections,
> two-point connections).
>   c) Support multicast.
>
> Issue 2: support for different multipoint, medium-specific bridging
> methods.
>
> For audio, the most obvious bridging method sums all inputs except that of
> the party to which the signal is being sent.  For video, one can have
> continuous presence, most recent speaker, and probably lots of others.
>
> Issue 3: support for Chair-controlled conferences.
>
> We most assuredly do not want to develop yet another conference control
> protocol.  Nevertheless, we must understand conference control and how it
> could affect the messaging between the MG and MGC.
>
> Issue 4: support for T.120 multipoint data conferencing service.
>
> T.120 assigns roles to individual nodes within a conference network.  Can
> the MG infer its role from the context cardinality (two-point vs.
> multipoint), or is additional information required?
>
> Meta-issue: where do Megaco's interests stop and those of SG 16 take over?
> Are we reaching the stage where some things have to be marked "for further
> study", or do we work through all the issues now to make sure our base
> solution will cover all needs?
>
>
> Tom Taylor
> E-mail: taylor at nortelnetworks.com  (internally Tom-PT Taylor)
> Tel.: +1 613 765 4167     (internally 395-4167)
>   This is frequently forwarded to my residence.
>