UNIVERSITY OF GHANA

B.SC INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

CSIT 402 CONCEPTS OF MULTIMWEDIA PROCESSING & TRANSMISSION

GROUP 15

TOPIC: CLOUD COMPUTING FOR MULTIMEDIA SERVICES

SESSION OVERVIEW

 This session describe how Cloud computing has revolutionized service models by
providing elastic resources in data centers, enabling users to access computing
infrastructure and software from remote providers.
 Also, this session explores the new computing paradigm, cloud-based multimedia
services, and Microsoft's Cloudcoder, which offers new opportunities and mitigates
overhead for enterprises.
SESSION OUTLINE

The key topic to be covered in the session are as follows:

• Multimedia content sharing with cloud storage

• Multimedia computation offloading to the cloud
• To analyze the function of the cloud in the new wave of interactive multimedia services,
cloud gaming will be used as a case study.

Topic One
Cloud Computing Overview

• Cloud computing enables coherence and economies of scale by sharing resources. Users
can run applications on server clusters, with software easily deployed. Data storage is
made possible by storing data in the cloud, reducing the need for local hardware and
software installations. Resource virtualization and sharing maximize the utilization of
aggregated physical resources, with each user having their own dedicated virtual space.
• For example: Cloud services cater to different business hours, providing dedicated virtual
spaces for European and North American users.
• Cloud services can be public or private, with public clouds offering efficiency and
resource sharing over the public Internet, while private clouds maintain services and
infrastructure on a private network, offering security and control but requiring company
maintenance.

• On-demand self-service. A user can independently allocate computing capabilities, such

as server time and network storage, without requiring interaction with each service
provider.
• Resource pooling and rapid elasticity: Providers pool resources dynamically, assigning
and reassigning physical and virtual resources according to user demand, offering
unlimited provisioning options for cloud users.
• Measured service. Cloud systems optimize resource use by utilizing metering capabilities,
ensuring transparency for both providers and users by monitoring, controlling, and
reporting resource usage.
• Broad network access: The service provides reliable and high-quality network access to
various client platforms such as mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and workstations.
A conceptual overview of cloud computing
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• Cloud services are offered in three fundamental models: Infrastructure as a Service

(IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS), with recent
additions enabling a telecommunication centric cloud ecosystem.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

• IaaS is a fundamental cloud service, offering a pool of computation resources, including

physical and virtual machines, and services like Elastic Compute Cloud and Simple
Storage Service. Its billing is based on resource allocation and consumption.

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

• PaaS provides development environments as a service, reducing the costs and complexity
of hardware and software management and enabling automatic scalability of resources to
meet application demands.

Software as a Service (SaaS)

• SaaS (Software as a Service) is a widely used cloud service model that allows
applications to run on the cloud's infrastructure, reducing IT operational costs and
simplifying maintenance. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a popular cloud computing
platform, offering services like S3 for storage and EC2 for computation.
 • Leading cloud computing platform Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides a variety of
services, including IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS. Businesses of all sizes utilize AWS to support a
variety of applications.

Cloud service models

Topic Two

Multimedia Cloud Computing

❖ Cloud and multimedia services require multimedia-aware computing for enhanced QoS
support and optimized resource utilization for content storage, processing, adaptation, and
rendering in the cloud.

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Topic Three

Cloud-Assisted Media Sharing

❖ Cloud-based media sharing services like YouTube are rapidly developing, making
resource provisioning a challenge. Cloud services offer reliable, elastic, and cost-effective
"pay-as-you-go" services, allowing designers to start small but scale large. Sharing is
integral, with live media sources and dynamically leased servers. However, there are
theoretical and practical issues, such as predicting server leases and terminations to
minimize costs.

Impact of Globalization

❖ Media sharing services have become highly globalized, causing diverse user behaviours
and demands. For example, PPTV's live media streaming systems, CCTV3 and Dragon
Ball, had different peak times depending on time zones. To address this, cloud computing
should be combined with Content
❖ Distribution Network (CDN) solutions to serve users with geo-distributed servers.
Amazon's CloudFront, a cloud-based CDN integrated into AWS, uses edge locations to
cache static content close to viewers, lowering latency and offering high data transfer
rates. Dynamic content requests can be carried back to origin servers, monitored by
Amazon, and reused for optimal performance.

Case Study: Netflix

• Netflix, a media sharing application, successfully transitioned to the cloud in 2007,

utilizing Amazon's AWS for services. The company faced challenges due to its growing
scale and the need for staff and skills to manage a large, high-growth data centre
infrastructure. Netflix developed a global video distribution system using AWS cloud to
handle high traffic and unpredictable demand bursts.
 • Content Conversion. Netflix converts digital films into over 50 different versions using
EC2 cloud machines, targeting various client video players, DVD players, and game
consoles connected to television.
• Content Storage. Netflix has over 1 petabyte of data stored on Amazon, including master
copies and converted copies, in S3.
• Content Distribution. Netflix uses content delivery networks like Akamai, Limelight, and
Level 3 to serve worldwide users. It offers Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP
(DASH) for streaming. Services are distributed across three AWS availability zones.
Netflix uses Amazon's cloud and CDNs to respond faster to user demand and pay by byte
for computation, bandwidth, and storage resources.

Topic Four

Computation Offloading for Multimedia Services

• Cloud computing offers a rich resource for transferring computation-intensive tasks to the
cloud, allowing users to pay for the cost on demand. This expands the usability of local
devices, particularly mobile devices, beyond their physical limits. However, mobile
terminals will not completely replace desktop computers in the near future due to limited
computation capability and unique operating systems and hardware architectures.
• Combining cloud strength with mobile terminals' convenience is a promising route, as
seen in Apple's Siri service, MAUI, and Clone Cloud. These services achieve energy
savings and performance speedups while also enabling fine-grained offloading of mobile
codes to the cloud.

Requirements for Computation Offloading

• The process of assembling local resources and remote clouds to make offloading
transparent to end users requires consideration of motivation, gain, and decision-making.
Offloading can be static or dynamic, and QoS requirements must be respected. Complex
 enterprise applications, such as mobile terminals, may not benefit from offloading the
entire computation module to the remote cloud.

Service Partitioning for Video Coding

➢ Video encoding and compression are crucial in mobile multimedia applications,

but direct uploading of raw video results in high bandwidth costs and energy
consumption. Offloading the task to the cloud is not practical due to limited
bandwidth. Motion estimation is the most computation-intensive module, and
decoupling it from other tasks is challenging. Case Study: Cloud-Assisted Motion
Estimation
➢ Cloud-Assisted Motion Estimation (CAME) uses mesh-based motion estimation
to efficiently upload data to the cloud. It partitions a frame into a coarse-grained
mesh sketch and estimates one motion for each mesh node. This design offloads
computation-intensive parts, simplifying local motion estimation for macroblocks.
➢ The study compares the transmission costs of three standard video sequences with
baselines like AoM and raw uploading. AoM has the lowest cost, while raw
uploading has the largest. CAME introduces more transmission but saves 60% on
total data transmission. It offloads computation-intensive tasks to cloud servers,
achieving up to 30% total energy savings.

Topic Five

Interactive Cloud Gaming

▪ Cloud technology has enabled the offloading of traditional computation and complex tasks
like high-definition 3D rendering, making Cloud Gaming a reality. Cloud gaming allows
players to interact with applications through thin clients, allowing them to enjoy high-
quality video games without local computation. This technology also reduces customer
support costs and offers better Digital Rights Management.
Issues and Challenges of Cloud Gaming

▪ Cloud gaming involves sending player commands over the internet, converting them into
in-game actions, and processing them into a rendered scene. These operations must be
kept short to ensure interactivity, but higher network latency can negatively affect player
experience.
▪ Interaction Delay Tolerance: Studies reveal that gaming styles have varying tolerances for
maximum delay, with first-person games like Counter-Strike having lower tolerances and
third-person games like RPGs and massive multiplayer games having higher tolerances.
▪ Cloud gaming, unlike traditional systems, requires a maximum interaction delay of
200ms or less to accommodate players' tolerance for delays.
▪ Video Streaming and Encoding: Cloud gaming and live video streaming require quick
encoding and compression of incoming frames, but limited buffer capacity necessitates a
high-compression video encoder. Major providers like Gaikai and OnLive use
H.264/MPEG-4 AVC encoders.

Real-World Implementation

• OnLive and Gaikai are pioneers in cloud gaming, enabling resource-limited users to play
exclusive games on high-end PCs and consoles. Sony's new PlayStation 4 will use
Gaikai's cloud platform, while OnLive’s workflow uses a private cloud environment for
better performance.
• The study shows that using OnLive results in a modest boost in image quality, but
network latency is over 50ms. which negatively impacts the user experience. Game logic,
video encoders, and streaming software all need to be improved for the system to
advance.
• Hardware manufacturers are developing specialized solutions for quick rendering and
encoding of game scenes, demonstrating the future potential of cloud gaming, which is a
rapidly developing technology.
Challenges
  Latency: The reliance on remote cloud servers can introduce latency in real-time
multimedia services, impacting the user experience.
 Data Security: Storing and transmitting sensitive multimedia data on the cloud raises
concerns about data security and privacy.
 Network Congestion: High network traffic can lead to congestion, affecting the quality of
multimedia content delivery.
 Service Reliability: Dependence on cloud service providers' infrastructure raises concerns
about service availability and potential outages.

Architectural Considerations

 Microservices Architecture: Breaking down multimedia services into microservices

allows independent scaling and enhances fault tolerance.
 Edge Computing: Leveraging edge servers at the network edge reduces latency for real-
time multimedia applications.
 Hybrid Cloud: Combining public and private clouds facilitates a balance between cost
efficiency and data security for multimedia services.

Use Cases

 Video Streaming Services: Platforms like Netflix and YouTube rely on cloud
infrastructure to deliver high-quality streaming content to millions of users
simultaneously.
 Video Conferencing: Cloud-powered video conferencing services like Zoom and
Microsoft Teams enable remote collaboration through multimedia communication
channels.
 Gaming: Cloud-based gaming services utilize multimedia streaming to deliver high-
quality gaming experiences to users on various devices.

Case Study
  Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Multimedia Services: This section explores how AWS
provides a suite of services for multimedia applications, including Amazon S3 for
storage, Amazon Elastic Transcoder for transcoding, and Amazon CloudFront for content
delivery.

Future Trends

 5G Integration: The rollout of 5G networks will further enhance the feasibility of real-
time multimedia services on the cloud.
 Cloud computing has emerged as a pivotal technology for the advancement of multimedia
services. Its benefits in terms of scalability, cost-efficiency, and innovation are
significant, although challenges related to latency and security must be addressed. As
cloud computing continues to evolve, it will undoubtedly shape the future of multimedia
services, enhancing user experiences and driving technological innovation.

Conclusion

 Cloud computing has emerged as a pivotal technology for the advancement of multimedia
services. Its benefits in terms of scalability, cost-efficiency, and innovation are
significant, although challenges related to latency and security must be addressed. As
cloud computing continues to evolve, it will undoubtedly shape the future of multimedia
services, enhancing user experiences and driving technological innovation.

REFERENCE LIST

1. Cloud Computing for Multimedia Services: Author’s Last Name, Author's Initials (Year) Title
of the presentation. [PowerPoint presentation].

2. Scalability and resource allocation: Author’s Last Name, Author's Initials (Year) Title of the
section. Author's Last Name, Author's Initials (Eds.), Title of the Presentation (pp. xx-xx)
[PowerPoint presentation].

3. Content Distribution: Enhancing Multimedia Services with CDNs and Cloud

Infrastructure Author’s Last Name, Author's Initials (Year) Title of the section. Author's Last
Name, Author's Initials (Eds.), Title of the Presentation (pp. xx-xx) [PowerPoint presentation].

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Daniel JUNIOR GBORGBOR (10825326).

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