A Simulation of IEEE1394c-Based Multi-Channel Home Streaming Service with Fast Ethernet and IEEE1394a

This paper introduces software architectures of streaming server and client, which can operate on both an Ethernet and IEEE1394 network for IEEE1394c-based in-home multimedia streaming service, and describes simulation results with Fast Ethernet and IEEE1394a. The emerging IEEE1394c specification allows its hardware physical layer to automatically detect and choose between gigabit Ethernet and IEEE1394b mode. Accordingly, IEEE1394c devices should be able to operate on both networks. The IEEE1394 has a characteristic isochronous transmission mode containing good physical features for multi-channel streaming services in a home, but has not been used for common IP streaming applications. Hence, this paper proposes a software solution for an IP-based multi-channel streaming service in a home with an IEEE1394c network. We modified a RTSP server and client to use either an isochronous transmission of IEEE1394 or Ethernet for their streaming. The isochronous streaming session is also managed by IP-based RTSP protocol. The implemented RTSP server and client can be used as references of an IEEE1394c streaming application. This paper is the first report concerning IEEE1394c software.