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First Published: August 12, 2014
This module contains information on configuring video and data sessions on the Cisco StadiumVision Mobile Streamer, and contains the following sections:
The Cisco StadiumVision Mobile (SVM) solution enables the reliable delivery of low-delay video and data streams to fans’ Wi-Fi devices at venues. Figure 1 illustrates a high-level view of the Cisco StadiumVision Mobile solution, which has the following attributes:
Figure 1 Cisco StadiumVision Mobile Architecture
The Cisco StadiumVision Mobile Streamer is a critical component in the Cisco StadiumVision Mobile solution that provides the following benefits:
Cisco Sample App: A standalone mobile application available to a Stadium Operator for testing and evaluating the Cisco StadiumVision Mobile solution.
Repair: In the context of Cisco StadiumVision Mobile, an application-layer mechanism that allows Cisco StadiumVision Mobile Clients to recover lost packets
Stadium Operator: The entity hosting and configuring the Cisco StadiumVision Mobile solution
SVM: Cisco StadiumVision Mobile
SVM Reporter: A standalone appliance used to collect Cisco StadiumVision Mobile Client statistics.
SVM Session: The protocol and associated parameters which define the sender and receiver configuration for the streaming of content
SVM Session Announcement/Discovery: Methods used by the Cisco StadiumVision Mobile Streamer and SVM Client to allow a mobile device to obtain the list of available sessions and associated session metadata
SVM Session Triplet key : A specific combination of “Venue”, “Content Owner”, and “App Developer” used by the SVM Streamer and SVM Client to limit session discovery and content consumption to authorized applications. The triplet key components are defined as follows:
SVM Streamer: A standalone appliance used to aggregate and send content to mobile applications with an embedded Cisco StadiumVision Mobile Client.
SVM System: An end-to-end solution for the delivery of video and data streams, consisting of specific products (Video Encoder, Cisco StadiumVision Mobile Streamer, Cisco StadiumVision Mobile Reporter), wireline and wireless infrastructure (Connected Stadium, Connected Stadium Wifi) and mobile apps with an embedded Cisco StadiumVision Mobile Client.
An important feature of the Cisco StadiumVision Mobile solution is to limit the consumption of Cisco StadiumVision Mobile encoded video and data content to authorized mobile applications. Consider the following situation:
Content Owner A (e.g., sports team) wishes to use the Cisco StadiumVision Mobile solution to deliver live camera feeds to fans throughout a venue during the team’s home games. Content Owner B (e.g., entertainment company) plans to host events at the same venue at a different time and also wishes to deliver live feeds to their fans. The two Content Owners each want to limit content consumption to their chosen and therefore authorized, Application Developer. The reasons for needing to limit content consumption to authorized mobile apps are many. For example, the app may need to be purchased or it may be sponsored by an advertiser. As a result, Cisco StadiumVision Mobile video and data streams configured for Content Owner A’s mobile app must not be consumed by Content Owner B’s mobile app and vice-versa.
The Cisco StadiumVision Mobile Streamer includes a (Venue/Content Owner/App Developer) Triplet in each announced video and data session. Only mobile apps with the identical Triplet will be able to discover Cisco StadiumVision Mobile sessions and consume the associated content. The Streamer may be configured to support multiple “Content Owner” and ”App Developer” combinations, though only a singe Triplet may be active at any one time.
NoteThe Stadium Operator is responsible for correctly configuring the Streamer and working with Content Owners / App Developer to enable content consumption.
The manner in which video and data sessions are associated with a specific Triplet is covered in the “Session Configuration” section.
The following sections provide instructions for using the Cisco StadiumVision Mobile Streamer.
Each of the referenced windows and the associated fields are described in detail in the Accessing the Cisco StadiumVision Mobile Streamer UI section.
To access the Cisco StadiumVision Mobile Streamer, complete the following steps:
Step 1 Enter the following URL in a web browser:
http://[Streamer IP Address]/streamer
Step 2 Specify the login ID and password
The Cisco StadiumVision Mobile UI includes four screens to view, configure and analyze Cisco StadiumVision Mobile sessions:
Figure 2 shows the Cisco StadiumVision Mobile Streamer window with one active stream.
Figure 2 Streaming Sessions Summary Window
Use the following steps to set up the initial configuration of the streamer. You can also use these steps to:
Note The content owner/app developer paring must match the values hard coded into the specific SDK for the app developer contracted for a particular venue.
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Click Save configuration file in the Streaming Sessions window. |
The Defaults screen is used to view/modify the Venue name and Content Owner/App Developer pairs (all three together are called the triplet key). Figure 3 shows an example of the Defaults screen.
The Defaults screen is also used to view/ modify the default settings to be applied when creating a session. Changing the default settings applies only to sessions to be created, and does not affect previously created sessions. Note that all sessions must be stopped before default setting changes may be applied.
The Venue, Content Owner, Application Developer (also referred to as a Triplet key) settings are critical to enabling content consumption on mobile devices. The Streamer settings must match those used by the App Developer for content to be discovered and consumed by a mobile app. App Developers must be notified of a change in Venue name so that their app may be updated. Conversely, if the App Developer has already deployed the app, app developers must also be notified if the associated App Developer / Content Owner setting on the Streamer is modified.
The triplet key (Venue, Content Owner, and Application Developer) are configured in the Defaults screen. Figure 1 shows an example of the triplet key settings fields.
Modify the Triplet setting using the following procedure:
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First delete the Content Owner/App Developer pair, and then click Add New to create a new pair. |
Selecting the Add New button displays a dialog box that allows you to enter new Content Owner and App Developer names. Figure 2 shows a an example of the Creating the New Content Owner dialog box.
NoteThe Content Owner cannot be edited. The Content Owner / App Developer pair should be deleted if the Content Owner is modified.
Figure 2 Creating the New Content Owner
This section describes how to create, configure, start, and stop streamer sessions.
The Create a New Session dialog box is displayed upon selecting the Create a new session button. Figure 3 shows a an example of the Streaming Session screen. The operator must enter all new session parameters to successfully create a new session. All other session attributes are inherited from the Defaults screen.
Figure 3 Streamer Session Creation
Follow these steps to create and start a session:
Table 2 lists the Streaming Session field descriptions.
Clicking on a session name on the Session Summary screen displays the associated Session Configuration screen. Displayed fields are dependent on the session type (video or data). All modifications made on this screen are for the selected session only. Figure 4 shows the session configuration window.
Figure 4 Session Configuration Screen
Table 3 lists the video session configuration field descriptions for both input and output sources.
Refer to the “Streamer Session Default Field Descriptions” section, as the Advanced Session fields are identical to those listed in this section.
Data sessions are generally assumed to complement the video streaming experience. The transmission of data session packets is consequently controlled to minimize Wi-Fi multicast congestion and ease client reception/recovery of data objects.
Two parameters play a critical role in controlling the data session transmission:
The Session Bandwidth for each data session determines the rate at which source and repair stream packets are sent for the data session. A Session Bandwidth value of 100 kbps is typical and helps to minimize burst transmissions which could otherwise impact video sessions.
The Protection Window for each data session is important in signaling to a Cisco StadiumVision Mobile Client the duration to wait before recovering a data session object. If the Protection Period is too small the Cisco StadiumVision Mobile Client may not receive enough packets before attempting to recover the object. Too large a value and the mobile can unnecessarily delay when an object is recovered and presented to the application. A value of 1-2 seconds is reasonable, but as shown on the next page, the Stats Summary must be checked to confirm correct operation.
The product of the Session Bandwidth and Protection Window effectively specifies the maximum amount of source and repair data that may be sent for each object within a data session. It is therefore important to know the approximate size of objects to be sent over the network. The Stats Summary provides a quick view on the data session packet statistics.
Objects fetched for data sessions (e.g., out of town scores) are generally expected to small, e.g., 20-200 KB, and are further reduced when compressed by the Streamer for a typical delivered size of 2-50 KB.
Configuring the Session Bandwidth and Protection Window requires some trial and error since data objects typically vary in size and the compression achieved for each object can also vary. As noted on the previous page, the Stats Summary provides guidance on the size of the delivered object and appropriate configuration settings. Here is an example to illustrate this point:
– Assume a data session packet size of 1,500 bytes = 12,000 bits
– Assume a Session Bandwidth of 120 kbps. Packets would then be sent every 100 ms
– Assume a total of 30 source and repair packets for every data object (from example below)
A three second protection window would be required to extend the StadiumVision Mobile client’s reception window to match the Streamer transmission window. Table 5 contains the data session configuration field descriptions.
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Name of input data source. It may reflect the encoder name or the actual video source (e.g., EndZone, ESPN). |
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Input data source URL.This could be an RSS feed, for example: http://rss.cnn.com/rss/cnn_topstories.rss |
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The interval, in seconds, at which the Streamer polls the input URL. |
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The IP Multicast address of the session to be transmitted by the streamer. |
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The number associated with this session. Must be unique per Content Owner. |
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The maximum data rate per second to be allocated for sending the session. |
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Refer to the “Streamer Session Default Field Descriptions” section, as the Advanced Session fields are identical to those listed in this section. |
To view the statistics gathered for each session, click Statistics beside the desired button in the streaming session window under Active sessions. Statistics can be viewed only for active sessions. Figure 6 shows an example of a Session Statistics screen.
Before you delete a session, you must stop the session. Use the following procedure to stop or delete a session:
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Click Stop next to the desired Active session in the Streaming Sessions window. |
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Click Delete next to the desired inactive session in the Streaming Sessions window. |
To view the session content owners, use the following procedure:
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Select the desired content owner in the content owner drop-down menu in the Streaming Sessions window. |
To view or modify the session configuration, use the following procedure. Figure 5 shows an example of the session configuration window.
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Select the desired content owner in the content owner drop-down menu in the Streaming Sessions window. |
Figure 5 Session Configuration Window
This section contains descriptions of the various fields used to configure the Cisco StadiumVision Mobile Streamer.
Table 5 lists the streamer session default fields and a description of each field.
To configure the initial failover setup for between two Cisco StadiumVision Mobile Streamers, use the following procedures.
Step 1 Install two Cisco StadiumVision Mobile Streamers, referred to here as primary and secondary. Assign each Cisco StadiumVision Mobile Streamer its own unique IP address.
Step 2 Configure all streams, triplets, etc on the primary Cisco StadiumVision Mobile Streamer only.
To perform a manual failover from one Cisco StadiumVision Mobile Streamer to another. use the followig procedure:
Step 1 Copy the primary Cisco StadiumVision Mobile Streamer configuration file to your laptop using the documented backup procedure (see the “Peforming a Manual Backup or Restore” section).
NoteIf the reason for initiating a failover is that the primary server has failed, then you may not be able to retrieve the config file. Hence it is recommended to perform a backup everytime a config change is made to the primary.
Step 2 Copy the primary config file from your laptop to secondary Streamer, using the documented restore procedure (see the “Peforming a Manual Backup or Restore” section).
Step 3 To failover simply stop the SVM streaming service from the TUI (see the “Services Control” section), and start the same service on the secondary.
NoteNever have the SVM streaming service running simultaneously on both the primary and secondary Cisco StadiumVision Mobile Streamers.
Step 4 Start the relevant streaming sessions from the web UI on the secondary streamer(see the “Working With Streamer Sessions” section).
Figure 6 Session Statistics Window