THE MULTIMEDIA INTERNET TERMINAL (MINT)

The Multimedia Internet Terminal (MINT)(1) is a flexible multimedia to ol set that allows the establishment and control of multimedia session s across the Internet. The system architecture is fully distributed, w ith no central components. For each participant, a coordinating applic ation manages a set of loosely coupled media and control agents. Using the coordinating application, session members can control the sending and receiving of several audio and video streams, invite other users to the session and negotiate the order in which members are allowed to speak. The different components of MINT are separate processes that a re independent from one another, yet can easily communicate with each other using a simple interprocess communication protocol based on loca l multicast. Individual components can be replaced without affecting t he operation of other components. The same media agents can be used in applications ranging from media-on-demand retrieval to Internet telep hony and distance learning, simply by using different control tools. T o improve the quality of service of the multimedia sessions MINT is en hanced with a suite of QoS control mechanisms including resource reser vation based on RSVP, adaptive media control and the ability to send v ideo data in hierarchically layered streams. Thus, the tool set can ac commodate a range of capabilities and available network bandwidths in heterogeneous environments.