QoS Requirements of Network Applications on the Internet

In this paper, we present quality of service (QoS) metrics for various network applications based on human factors and technology attributes. The first term, human factors, addresses human perception of different kinds of media, such as conventional text, audio and video. The second term, technology attributes, represents the different technological aspects of these network applications, such as time-dependence and symmetry. Both of these terms are key factors that lead to variations of requirements for QoS. Establishing these requirements is paramount to providing QoS on computer networks and the Internet. With the metrics presented in this paper we can provide the criteria necessary for such QoS assurance.