An architecture for a modular videoconferencing terminal supporting video cell loss

A configurable architecture for a low-cost videoconferencing terminal usable on an ATM network has been developed which provides a high degree of performance in a modular manner. Considerable research has been conducted in order to provide support for the loss of any compressed video which is transferred between such terminals. This work enables lost video to be concealed using a simple processing algorithm operating only on the received data. Additional features, such as multiparty conferencing support, can be added if required to adapt the terminal to both the users´ needs and the underlying network capabilities. An example terminal was designed and built to demonstrate the architecture. This was based on a PC with additional hardware support for video and networking functions