Multi-media communication system: Upper layers in the OSI reference model

The structuring, services, and major protocol functions that are required in the upper layers of the OSI reference model in order to support end-to-end multimedia communication, assuming a simple transport service, are examined. It is assumed that variable-bit-rate (VBR) coding techniques will be used in future multimedia systems. Mutual stream synchronization, integral management, and multiparty connections, which appear to be crucial issues in multimedia communication, are addressed. Important implementation and performance issues are discussed