Session Management and Transport Protocols for Multimedia Services over IP Networks

In the last couple of years, there has been a rapid increase in the number of users consuming media content through multimedia services over IP networks. This chapter aims at introducing the protocols used in and the application questions related to such services. First, a brief overview is given on an IPTV system, a typical and popular multimedia system. This introductory section is followed by the description of application layer transport protocol (RTP - Real-time Transport Protocol) and session management protocols (RTCP - Real-time Control Protocol and RTSP - Real-time Streaming Protocol) of IPTV (and other similar services). Apart from the protocols themselves, implementation and application issues related to an IPTV environment are also discussed. The discussions presented might be a useful starting point for the analysis of other multimedia services.