Streaming multimedia content over home network with an intelligent controller

A product to stream multimedia content with an intelligent control in a home network environment is designed and implemented. The home network used in this multimedia content streaming design consists of a multimedia center, client player (MP3 player or MPEG-I video set-top-box) and a remote control type device (palm pilot PDA). The multimedia center streams MP3 songs or MPEG-I video clips in multicasting mode using real time transport protocol (RTP). The client player receives RTP packets from the multicast channel and decodes the streaming data back to analog signals. Palm pilot PDA gets a list of songs and video clips from the multimedia center and indicates the client machines to playback the contents. The implementation of the whole environment and its operation are under Linux OS with various applications, tools and packages.