Image transfer: an end-to-end design

The transfer of digital images between data archives and scientific workstations is likely to consume a significant amount of network bandwidth in the very near future. This paper examines the image transfer problem from an end-to-end perspective, that is, it describes a complete image transfer protocol that takes into account both the nature of digital imagery and the properties of the underlying network. Specifically, it describes a simple algorithm for encoding images into network packets in such a way that the receiver from dropped packets without requiring the sender to retransmit them. Avoiding retransmissions has the advantages of improving response time and eliminating the need to buffer data at the sender.