INTERACTIVE VIDEO COMMUNICATION OVER A PACKET DATA NETWORK

摘要

A system and method for communicating audio/video data in a packet-based computer network wherein transmission of data packets through the computer network requires variable periods of transmission time. The system comprises: (1) a packet assembly circuit for constructing a data packet from a portion of a stream of digital audio/video data corresponding to an audio/video signal and to a packet disassembly circuit, having a buffer associated therewith, for receiving the data packet from the backbone. The packet assembly circuit generates a position identifier indicating a temporal position of the portion relative to the stream, inserts the position identifier into the data packet and queues the data packet for transmission through a backbone of the computer network. The packet disassembly circuit inserts the portion into an absolute location of the buffer, the position identifier determining the location, the portion thereby synchronized with adjacent portions of the stream of digital audio/video data in the buffer to compensate for the variable periods of transmission time.