An agent based synchronization scheme for multimedia applications

Synchronization of multimedia streams is one of the important issue in multimedia communications. In this paper, we propose an adaptive synchronization agency for synchronization of streams by using an agent based approach. The synchronization agency triggers one of the three synchronization mechanisms, point synchronization or real-time continuous or adaptive synchronization in order to adapt to the run-time and life-time presentation requirements of an application. The scheme or agency employs static and mobile agents for the following purpose: to estimate the network delays in real-time based on sustainable stream loss, to compute the skew, to monitor the loss and estimate the playout times of the presentation units. We have experimentally evaluated the scheme by using IBM Aglets and verified its functioning in terms of synchronization loss and mean buffering delays. The benefits of this agent based scheme are: asynchronous and autonomous delay estimation, flexibility, adaptability, software re-usability and maintainability. 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.