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DEVELOPMENT OF UNIVERSAL MEDIA PLAYERFACILITATOR
PROF. SUBRAT KAR(DEPT. OF ELECTRICAL
ENGINEERING)

• BY
• ATUL GARG (2004EE10319)
• ADITYA KAWATRA (2004EE10313)
• PIYUSH MAHESHWARI (2004EE10335)

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INTRODUCTION

• We expect that most modern networks will try to
  achieve convergence / unification of media in one
  form or the other.
• It is probable that this convergence will occur
  through the conversion of everything-to-IP.
• We have been displaying different streams using
  dedicated players e.g. video streams in Video
  player, audio streams in audio players, T.V.
  using dedicated T.V tuner cards, Fax using Fax
  software and Multifunction devices (scanner
  printer Fax).
• The development of a universal media player,
  which can play all type of inputs (Video, Audio
  or Data), therefore gains importance.

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OBJECTIVE

• We wished to develop, as Open Source / GPL (GNU
  Public License), a universal media player to
  integrate and develop separate GUIs for streams
  originating from audio, video and importantly
  other data source such as Fax, telephone.
• In this particular project, we worked primarily
  for the implementation of the media player on
  Nokia Mobile series 60 cell phones.

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APPROACH

• This presentation has been divided into the
  following sections
• Series 60 platform and Symbian OS
• Using VLC media player as server for streaming
• J2ME Player Application
• http connection
• UDP connection
• Socket Connection
• Real Time Streaming
• Using two players
• Pipe data structure
• Thin internet technology

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Series 60 platform and Symbian OS

• Series 60 Platform is a complete smart phone
  reference design that includes a host of wireless
  applications.
• The platform builds on the Symbian operating
  system (Symbian OS), complementing it with a
  configurable graphical user interface library.

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Symbian OS - Features

• A 32-bit multitasking operating system
• Performance Symbian OS is designed to make
  minimal demands on batteries and to have low
  memory consumption
• Multi-tasking Telephony and universal messaging
  are fundamental components .All applications are
  designed to work seamlessly in parallel
• Standards The use of technologies based on
  agreed-upon standards, ensuring that
  applications are portable and interoperable
• Object-oriented software architecture
• E.g. a phone call may interrupt a user composing
  an e-mail message, a user may switch from e-mail
  to a calendar application in the middle of a
  telephone conversation

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Streaming using VLC media player

• There are two methods of streaming using VLC
  media player.
• Using the Wizard.
• Streaming using Graphical User Interface (GUI)
• Wizard offers easy to use menus but provides a
  restricted set of options. Following steps are
  used
• 1) Launch the wizard
• 2) Select input
• 3) Select streaming methods
• 4) Transcoding options
• 5) Encapsulation methods
• 6) Save to file

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Streaming using the GUI

• A second way to set up a streaming instance using
  VLC is using Stream Output panel in the Open...
  dialog of the wxWindows (Windows / GNU Linux.)

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• Stream output methods

• Play locally This allows to display the stream
  you are actually streaming on your screen.
  Effects of transcoding, rescaling, etc. can be
  monitored locally using this function.
• File Save the stream to a file. The Dump raw
  input option allows to save the input stream as
  it read by VLC, without any processing.
• HTTP Specify the IP address and TCP port number
  on which to listen.
• MMSH This access method allows to stream to
  Microsoft Windows Media Player. Specify the IP
  address and TCP port number on which to listen.
• UDP Stream in unicast or in multicast by
  providing an address in the suitable range.
• RTP Use the Real-Time Transfer Protocol. Like
  UDP, it can use both unicast and multicast
  addresses.

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Mobile Media API (MMAPI) background

• The MMAPI is built on a high-level abstraction of
  all the multimedia devices that are possible in a
  resource-limited device. This abstraction is
  manifested in three classes
• Player and Control interfaces, and Manager
  class.
• Manager is the central class for creating players
  and it provides three methods to indicate the
  source of media.
• These methods are createPlayer(DataSource
  source), createPlayer(InputStream stream, String
  type) and createPlayer(String locator).

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Supported Protocols and Syntax
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Media Player States and their Transitions

• Player goes through various stages
• Realization is the process in which the player
  examines the source or destination media
  resources and has enough information to start
  acquiring them.
• Prefetching happens after realization and the
  player actually acquires these media resources.
• Both processes may be time- and
  resource-consuming, but doing them before the
  player is started ensures that there is no
  latency when the actual start happens.
• Then player is started, using the start()
  method, and is processing media data.

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UDP and Socket connection

• Following set of abstractions can be used at the
  programming level
• Device manufacturers that work with
  circuit-switched networks require stream-based
  connections such as the Transport Control
  Protocol (TCP), a connection-oriented protocol.
• Device manufacturers that work with
  packet-switched networks require datagram-based
  connections such as the User Datagram Protocol
  (UDP), a connectionless protocol.
• Other hand-held devices have specific mechanisms
  for communications.

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Various connections

• The following figure shows the relationships of
  the interfaces in an inheritance hierarchy.
• Most of the application's code remains the same
  regardless of the protocol one uses.

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Low-Level IP Networking Support in MIDP 2.0

• A call like Connector.open("socket//hostport")
  returns a SocketConnection, and a call like
  Connector.open("socket//port") returns a
  ServerSocketConnection.
• A MIDlet specifies a host when requesting an
  outbound client connection and omits the host
  when requesting an inbound server connection.
• If one leaves out the port parameter when
  obtaining a server socket as in
  Connector.open("socket//") an available port
  number is assigned dynamically. One can use the
  getLocalPort method to discover the assigned port
  number, and the getLocalAddress method to
  discover the local address to which the socket is
  bound.
• A call like Connector.open("datagram//hostport")
  returns a UDP Datagram Connection.
• The SocketConnection interface defines the socket
  stream connection. One uses it when writing
  MIDlets that access TCP/IP servers
• The ServerSocketConnection interface defines the
  server socket stream connection. One uses it when
  requesting an inbound server connection

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Real Time Streaming

• Real time streaming means that the stream
  (audio/video), which is coming over any protocol
  (http, UDP, RTP etc.) is played directly without
  any delay.
• We put our efforts in developing the real time
  streaming using the following methods
• Playing the stream using two Players.
• Playing the Stream using Pipe Data Structure.
• Thin Internet Technology.

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Playing the stream using two Players

• At a time one player is prefetching the stream
  and second player is playing the prefetched
  stream.
• When1st player is prefetching the video stream
  and 2nd player is playing its prefetched video
  stream section. When 2nd player gets null then
  1st player will start playing its prefetched
  video stream section.
• This process will go on until whole of media
  stream is played. So player will switch from one
  screen to another screen.

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Pipe Data Structure

• A data structure which resembles a pipe, i.e. one
  can write the data at one end and take i.e. read
  the data from the other end.
• There can be two possible types of Pipes.
• One can either write or read at an end.
• One can read and write both at an end
• We required only the first type of the Pipe data
  structure as we only wanted the phone to play the
  feed and not respond back to its source.
• There is not a suitable way to implement Pipe
  data structure in J2ME and so this line of
  thought was snubbed.

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Thin Internet Technology

• The ThinEncoder converts standard audio and video
  files into mobile streaming media clips.
  ThinEncoder can convert any video files that are
  available in all video formats. Video files are
  first edited using high performance video
  editors.
• Audio or video files can be converted into any
  format using Thinencoder.
• Through Thin internet technology we can create a
  live mobile broadcast by capturing a live
  broadcast signal (satellite or cable) and
  transcode it for
• playback on a mobile device.
• Various Bit-rates can be supported.
• The dynamic bit rate adaptation mechanism works
  to automatically adjust the encoding and
  transmission parameters of the mobile delivery
  system based on network performance
  characteristics and terminal capabilities. The
  adaptation functioning is activated by the server
  after receiving feedback information from the
  client.

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CONCLUSIONS

• We implemented a code to play video streams
  coming over the internet through the http
  protocol and it successfully plays the video.
• We tested it using sun java wireless toolkit
  2.3 for the following url
• http//java.sun.com/products/java-media/mma/
  media/test-mpeg.mpg
• however, depending upon the network speed,
  it has some time delay, which
• is quite noticeable.
• Also, UDP and socket connection was not supported
  in the Suns MIDP. Hence, we had to restrict
  ourselves to the http connection only.
• Real time streaming was not supported

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THANK YOU