Developing adaptive buffer-level synchronization algorithm by Petri nets for improving quality of multimedia related services

Multimedia synchronization is one of the key issues to be resolved in order to provide a good quality of multimedia related services, such as video on demand (VoD) and lecture on demand (LoD). The authors introduce the Adaptive Buffer-Level Synchronization Algorithm, which is modeled and analyzed by ExSpect, a Petri net based simulation tool. In the suggested algorithm, the audio and video buffers are divided to 5 different levels, and the pre-defined play-out speed controller tries to make the buffer level normal in different temporal relations between multimedia streams. The suggested algorithm is able to handle and support various communication restrictions between providers and users, and offers little jitter play-out to many users in networks having limited transmission capability. The performance of the developed algorithm is analyzed in various network conditions using a Petri net simulation tool. Some important aspects of simulation results compared to other approaches are also presented.