As the complexity of SoC increases rapidly, embedded memory becomes one of the critical components in current SoC design. In this thesis, we develop a memory generator so that users can easily integrate proper embedded memory circuits into SoC chips. The generator is based on a low-power multi-voltage-source memory architecture that partitions the complete memory into two parts to avoid unnecessary operations. In addition, we also address the modification of the memory architectures in order to provide more efficient data accessing in multimedia applications such as DCT, JPEG-2000 and 3D graphics. The developed memory generator can produce all the necessary files required in the traditional cell-based design flow, including behavior model, Synopsys library, LEF file, Spice netlists and layouts, so that the designers can easily utilize the generated memory units in their ASIC designs.

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High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) is a cellular system that was standardized by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). HSDPA can support data rates of up to 14.4 Mbps through the use of a shared channel. Due to its high transmission rates, the highly popular multimedia applications are converging over this network. Moreover, as the shared channel is assigned to a single user in a given time interval, the scheduling decision is considered as a crucial one. Conventional HSDPA scheduling schemes utilize the fluctuations in channel condition to maximize system throughput by selecting users with relatively good radio conditions. However, this raises the issue of fairness as users with relatively poor channel conditions might not be served and consequently may suffer from starvation. Furthermore, Real-Time (RT) applications have strict delay constraints and require that packets are transmitted within a certain delay threshold. In this thesis, a Delay Based Scheduler (DBS) is proposed for HSDPA which aims at minimizing the average queuing delay at the packet scheduler without compromising system throughput and fairness. In addition, the scheme can balance the tradeoff between throughput maximization and the minimization of queuing delay through the attunement of a parameter, thus allowing the service provider to choose between these two metrics. The DBS maintains the delay constraints of RT applications by defining delay thresholds for each traffic class and dropping packets that exceed their delay limit. The DBS accommodates Quality of Service (QoS) prioritization by defining and utilizing desired QoS parameters in the scheduling assignment. Finally, it was mathematically shown that the DBS can converge to a Non-Real-Time (NRT) scheme known as the Max CIR algorithm, allowing the scheduler to support RT and NRT applications simultaneously. The performance of the DBS was evaluated and compared to other well known schemes. It was found that the DBS can minimize the aggregate queuing delay of the system and maintain similar throughput and fairness. / Thesis (Master, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2007-08-15 16:12:36.22

Multimedia workloads have always held an important role in embedded applications. Products are multifarious, such as various modeling mobile phone, MP3 player which is deft and convenient to carry and PDA which is popular with workers. We touch them all the time in our life. So these kinds of products are usually not high price. If their design cost and production cost are lower than others, then they can earn profits in this competition market. In so much multimedia applications, the most popular MP3 is our research goal. The design methods of multimedia audio application are using high performance CPU or combining general purpose processor with a DSP. Their performance satisfied the demand of multimedia application really, but the system hardware cost will increase at the same time. It is not the best solution in embedded products which emphasizing that low cost is better than high performance. So, my thesis will focus on MP3 algorithm optimization. We analyzed MP3 decoder algorithms, and found out the key operation. Using the SIMD operation feature of low cost multimedia processor development from our lab (It¡¦s named ME-MCU) to accelerate the processor speed. Then, I don¡¦t need a strong CPU or DSP, and I also can complete the MP3 decode operations as well. When I optimized the MP3 algorithm, I hope to provide some suggestion for ME-MCU modification. And the multimedia application will more agree with ME-MCU.

Current Audio-Video (A-V) players are limited to pausing, resuming, selecting and viewing a single video stream of a live broadcast event that is orchestrated by a professional director. The main objective of this research is to investigate how to create a new custom-built interactive A V player that enables viewers to personalise their own orchestrated views of live events from multiple simultaneous camera streams, via interacting with tracked moving objects, being able to zoom in and out of targeted objects, and being able to switch views based upon detected incidents in specific camera views. This involves research and development of a personalisation framework to create and maintain user profiles that are acquired implicitly and explicitly and modelling how this framework supports an evaluation of the effectiveness and usability of personalisation. Personalisation is considered from both an application oriented and a quality supervision oriented perspective within the proposed framework. Personalisation models can be individually or collaboratively linked with specific personalisation usage scenarios. The quality of different personalised interaction in terms of explicit evaluative metrics such as scalability and consistency can be monitored and measured using specific evaluation mechanisms.

Pervasive computing implies the invisibility of the technology involved in providing ubiquity, such that technology is integrated into the environment and non-intrusive. In such a manner, computing and networking resources become diffused into physical environments, enabling users to exploit their provided functionalities such that functionality is distributed, enabling it to be controlled, monitored, managed, and extended beyond what it was initially designed to do. Moreover, computer awareness moves towards user-centricity, whereby systems seamlessly adapt to the characteristics, preferences, and current situations of users and their respective surrounding environments. Users exploit such functionalities in the form of a virtual device, whereby a collection of heterogeneous devices in the vicinity of the user are behaving as one single homogeneous device for the benefit of the user in solving some given task. This dissertation investigates the problem of dynamic composition and management of virtual devices for ad hoc multimedia service delivery and proposes an autonomous policy driven framework for virtual device management. The framework consists of a hierarchical structure of distributed elements, including autonomic elements, all working towards the self-management of virtual devices. The research presented in this dissertation addresses the functionalities of these components. More specifically, contributions are made towards the autonomous management of virtual devices, moving away from infrastructure based schemes with heavy user involvement to decentralized and zero touch (i.e., no user involvement) solutions. In doing so, the components and methodology behind a policy-driven autonomous framework for the dynamic discovery, selection, and composition of multimodal multi-device services are presented. The framework operates in an ad hoc network setting and introduces a Service Overlay Network (SON) based definition of a virtual device. Furthermore, device and service discovery, composition, integration, and adaptation schemes are designed for Mobile Ad hoc Network Environments (MANETs) enabling users to generate, on-the-fly, complex strong specific systems, embedding in a distributed manner, QoS models providing compositions that form the best possible virtual device at the time of need. Experimental studies are presented to demonstrate the performance of the proposed schemes.

Pervasive computing implies the invisibility of the technology involved in providing ubiquity, such that technology is integrated into the environment and non-intrusive. In such a manner, computing and networking resources become diffused into physical environments, enabling users to exploit their provided functionalities such that functionality is distributed, enabling it to be controlled, monitored, managed, and extended beyond what it was initially designed to do. Moreover, computer awareness moves towards user-centricity, whereby systems seamlessly adapt to the characteristics, preferences, and current situations of users and their respective surrounding environments. Users exploit such functionalities in the form of a virtual device, whereby a collection of heterogeneous devices in the vicinity of the user are behaving as one single homogeneous device for the benefit of the user in solving some given task. This dissertation investigates the problem of dynamic composition and management of virtual devices for ad hoc multimedia service delivery and proposes an autonomous policy driven framework for virtual device management. The framework consists of a hierarchical structure of distributed elements, including autonomic elements, all working towards the self-management of virtual devices. The research presented in this dissertation addresses the functionalities of these components. More specifically, contributions are made towards the autonomous management of virtual devices, moving away from infrastructure based schemes with heavy user involvement to decentralized and zero touch (i.e., no user involvement) solutions. In doing so, the components and methodology behind a policy-driven autonomous framework for the dynamic discovery, selection, and composition of multimodal multi-device services are presented. The framework operates in an ad hoc network setting and introduces a Service Overlay Network (SON) based definition of a virtual device. Furthermore, device and service discovery, composition, integration, and adaptation schemes are designed for Mobile Ad hoc Network Environments (MANETs) enabling users to generate, on-the-fly, complex strong specific systems, embedding in a distributed manner, QoS models providing compositions that form the best possible virtual device at the time of need. Experimental studies are presented to demonstrate the performance of the proposed schemes.

Pervasive computing implies the invisibility of the technology involved in providing ubiquity, such that technology is integrated into the environment and non-intrusive. In such a manner, computing and networking resources become diffused into physical environments, enabling users to exploit their provided functionalities such that functionality is distributed, enabling it to be controlled, monitored, managed, and extended beyond what it was initially designed to do. Moreover, computer awareness moves towards user-centricity, whereby systems seamlessly adapt to the characteristics, preferences, and current situations of users and their respective surrounding environments. Users exploit such functionalities in the form of a virtual device, whereby a collection of heterogeneous devices in the vicinity of the user are behaving as one single homogeneous device for the benefit of the user in solving some given task. This dissertation investigates the problem of dynamic composition and management of virtual devices for ad hoc multimedia service delivery and proposes an autonomous policy driven framework for virtual device management. The framework consists of a hierarchical structure of distributed elements, including autonomic elements, all working towards the self-management of virtual devices. The research presented in this dissertation addresses the functionalities of these components. More specifically, contributions are made towards the autonomous management of virtual devices, moving away from infrastructure based schemes with heavy user involvement to decentralized and zero touch (i.e., no user involvement) solutions. In doing so, the components and methodology behind a policy-driven autonomous framework for the dynamic discovery, selection, and composition of multimodal multi-device services are presented. The framework operates in an ad hoc network setting and introduces a Service Overlay Network (SON) based definition of a virtual device. Furthermore, device and service discovery, composition, integration, and adaptation schemes are designed for Mobile Ad hoc Network Environments (MANETs) enabling users to generate, on-the-fly, complex strong specific systems, embedding in a distributed manner, QoS models providing compositions that form the best possible virtual device at the time of need. Experimental studies are presented to demonstrate the performance of the proposed schemes.

Home-based rehabilitation has evolved in recent years as a cost-effective and convenient alternative to traditional clinical rehabilitation. Researchers have developed various types of sensors-based rehabilitation systems that incorporate Virtual Reality games aimed to offer the patient an entertaining and beneficial training experience from the comfort of home. This has consequently created the need to design reliable assessment and adaptation mechanisms that are able to measure and analyze the patient's performance and condition, and to accordingly make proper adjustments that conform to the abilities of the patient during the training. In this dissertation, we introduce our context-based adaptive home-based rehabilitation framework (CAHR) that offers the patients a rehabilitation environment that can adapt based on their physical, physiological, and psychological context, while taking into consideration the environmental conditions that may hinder their progress. CAHR is a generic framework that can be implemented to fit any of the upper or lower extremity rehabilitation. However, in this dissertation, we base our modeling and analysis mainly on the wrist. In CAHR, the physical condition of the patient is assessed by a fuzzy logic-based mechanism that uses the various kinematics captured during the training to provide a quantified value which reflects the Quality of Physical Performance of the patient. The rehabilitation task adaptation is achieved based on a special algorithm that defines how the physical training, psychophysiological responses, and environmental conditions must be manipulated in order to match the desired performance target parameters set by the therapist. The simulation results have shown that the proposed adaptation engine can properly adjust the rehabilitation environment based on different simulated performance behavior that might be produced by a patient. In addition, training with a special game that has been designed based on the developed framework has shown improvement in the physical capabilities of two patients suffering from upper extremity impairments.

Pervasive computing implies the invisibility of the technology involved in providing ubiquity, such that technology is integrated into the environment and non-intrusive. In such a manner, computing and networking resources become diffused into physical environments, enabling users to exploit their provided functionalities such that functionality is distributed, enabling it to be controlled, monitored, managed, and extended beyond what it was initially designed to do. Moreover, computer awareness moves towards user-centricity, whereby systems seamlessly adapt to the characteristics, preferences, and current situations of users and their respective surrounding environments. Users exploit such functionalities in the form of a virtual device, whereby a collection of heterogeneous devices in the vicinity of the user are behaving as one single homogeneous device for the benefit of the user in solving some given task. This dissertation investigates the problem of dynamic composition and management of virtual devices for ad hoc multimedia service delivery and proposes an autonomous policy driven framework for virtual device management. The framework consists of a hierarchical structure of distributed elements, including autonomic elements, all working towards the self-management of virtual devices. The research presented in this dissertation addresses the functionalities of these components. More specifically, contributions are made towards the autonomous management of virtual devices, moving away from infrastructure based schemes with heavy user involvement to decentralized and zero touch (i.e., no user involvement) solutions. In doing so, the components and methodology behind a policy-driven autonomous framework for the dynamic discovery, selection, and composition of multimodal multi-device services are presented. The framework operates in an ad hoc network setting and introduces a Service Overlay Network (SON) based definition of a virtual device. Furthermore, device and service discovery, composition, integration, and adaptation schemes are designed for Mobile Ad hoc Network Environments (MANETs) enabling users to generate, on-the-fly, complex strong specific systems, embedding in a distributed manner, QoS models providing compositions that form the best possible virtual device at the time of need. Experimental studies are presented to demonstrate the performance of the proposed schemes.