Resource aware media framework for mobile ad hoc networks

In this paper we present a framework that acts as a distributed media encoder/decoder for real-time multimedia streams. The paper proposes an implementation of a Multimedia encoder/decoder that works by partitioning and distributing various tasks allocated to different stages of the encoder/decoder to different computers having the minimum required capabilities for that task. At the end the combined work by these different nodes creates the actual encoded/decoded multimedia stream. As encoding is a resource hungry process, we divide it into separable stages and perform their tasks on multiple nodes, while decoding is performed on the single intended target device if it is capable to do so. In case of less capable target device, the Middleware can convert the encoded video into a format suitable for the client node.