Simple access signaling for ATM-based video-on-demand services

A simple and cost-effective signaling protocol is needed in order to facilitate commercial deployment of video-on-demand (VOD) services. Signaling is used to establish connections for video program transmission and control. This paper proposes an access signaling protocol which, together with proxy signaling, presents a simple access signaling approach for ATM-based VOD services. Taking advantage of the fact that only a small finite set of connection types are needed in providing VOD services, the proposed simple access signaling protocol is able to keep the message length short so that every message fits into a single ATM cell. Because single-cell messages are less prone to error, the AAL layer protocol is simplified. Single-cell messages and a simple AAL protocol reduce the signaling processing requirement of the set-top box significantly. The simple access signaling protocol is shown to be bandwidth efficient and flexible