A general framework of multipath transport system based on application-level relay

Multipath transport has been shown to be an effective way to improve the efficiency of data delivery. However, current multipath transport methods either only apply to a specific kind of applications, or require specific network setting of terminal devices or behaviors of network devices. This paper presents a general framework of multipath transport system based on application-level relay (MPTS-AR), currently under the standardization within the IETF. The MPTS-AR framework defines three kinds of logical entities including user agent, relay and controller. It also defines a relay service control protocol named OpenPath in control plane to manage relay paths, and a profile of multipath transport protocol (MPTP) suite in data plane to facilitate multipath data transport. MPTP protocol suite is to meet the transmission requirements of various upper applications. This paper also illustrates how to apply the MPTS-AR framework to multimedia applications based on real-time transport protocol (RTP).