In video conference systems over the Internet, audio and video data are often lost due to UDP packet losses, resulting in degradation of assurance. In this paper we describe a high-assurance video conference system applying the following two techniques: (1) packet loss recovery using convolutional codes, which improves the assurance of communication; and (2) Xcast, a multicast scheme that is designed for relatively small groups, reducing the bandwidth required for a multi-point conference. We added these functions to a GateKeeper (GK), a device used in conventional conference systems. Encoding/decoding and Xcast routing were then implemented as the upper layer for the UDP. We examined the functions of the system over the Internet in a multi-point conference between three sites around Tokyo, as well as a conference between Tokyo and Korea. We also investigated the effectiveness of the proposed system in experiments using an Internet simulator. Experimental results showed that the quality of received picture was improved in comparison with the case where no encoding schemes were applied.

This paper discusses distributed checkpointing with logging for practical applications running with limited resources. We present a discrete time model evaluating the total expected overhead per event where the number of available checkpoints that each process can hold is finite. The rollback distance is also bound to some finite interval in many actual applications. Therefore, the recovery overhead for the checkpointing scheme is described by using a truncated geometric distribution as the rollback distance distribution. Although it is difficult to analytically derive the optimal checkpoint interval, which minimizes the total expected overhead, substituting other simple probabilistic distributions instead of the truncated geometric distribution enables us to do this explicitly. Numerical examples obtained through simulations are presented to show that we can achieve almost minimized total overhead by using the new models and analyses.

This paper discusses hybrid state saving for applications in which processes should create checkpoints at constant intervals and can hold a finite number of checkpoints. We propose a reclamation technique for checkpoint space, that provides effective checkpoint time arrangements for a rollback distance distribution. Numerical examples show that when we cannot use the optimal checkpoint interval due to the system requirements, the proposed technique can achieve lower expected overhead compared to the conventional technique without considering the form of the rollback distance distribution.

This paper proposes statistical analysis of phase-only correlation functions between two signals with stochastic phase-spectra following bivariate circular probability distributions based on directional statistics. We give general expressions for the expectation and variance of phase-only correlation functions in terms of joint characteristic functions of the bivariate circular probability density function. In particular, if we assume bivariate wrapped distributions for the phase-spectra, we obtain exactly the same results between in case of a bivariate linear distribution and its corresponding bivariate wrapped distribution.