As we move toward the transition to the IPv6 next generation network environment, it is necessary to realize heterogeneous communications between IPv6 and IPv4 terminals without sacrificing any convenience or frameworks of current communication methods. Mechanisms that satisfy such requirements are called translators. This paper categorizes various translator mechanisms and clarifies their characteristics. As a result of analyses, this paper proposes a SOCKS-based IPv6/IPv4 Translator, and describes its design and implementation. Compared with other translator mechanisms, the SOCKS-based translator have small constraints and good characteristics. For example, it can integrate DNS name resolving procedures, which is an important mechanism for the transition. The translator has already been implemented and it has been proved that it can support typical communication services such as telnet, ftp, http, mail without any problems.

Internet is evolving to be an integrated service platform for promising future global information infrastructure. New multimedia services, e.g., Video-on-Demand, are expected to be provided on this platform, in conjuction with the existing rich information exchange and sharing services on Internet, such as E-mail, WWW. The paper proposes a service system architecture for Video-on -Demand on Internet, named MINS (Multimedia Internet Navigation System), which is capable of both realtime audio/video transmission and realtime and VCR like plya-out. MINS is composed of 1) servers maintaining both audio/video program lists and contents, and 2) clients retrieving the programs and play-out them. The paper focuses on the communication architecture in MINS, e.g., flow control, realtime media synchronization control, and audio/video session control. The performance of the prototype MINS is also evaluated in the paper.