Bridging 5G and 6G for Multimedia IoT: Structural Limitations and Architectural Directions

The convergence of Multimedia and Internet of Things (IoT) (M-IoT) is driving a new class of applications that combine interactive, high-throughput content with real-time sensing, inference, and actuation. While 5G systems have introduced key enablers such as edge computing, network slicing, and broadcast/multicast delivery, current deployments reveal structural limitations when exposed to the heterogeneous demands of immersive Extended Reality (XR), cooperative perception, and holographic services. This paper consolidates M-IoT requirements from a system-level perspective and analyzes how 5G architectures respond to these demands through the modeling of physical resources of HD and 4K streaming workloads under unicast, sliced, Non-Public Network (NPN), and 5G Multicast/Broadcast Service (5MBS) delivery configurations. These results reveal structural limitations related to throughput saturation, rigid resource partitioning, and unidirectional delivery constraints that cannot be resolved through incremental enhancements alone. In this background, we provide a structured mapping of identified limitations to targeted 6G architectural directions aligned with IMT-2030 objectives, considering that future networks must move beyond capacity upgrades toward integrated support for compute-communication co-design, scalable radio access, and intelligent orchestration. These features are essential to meet the evolving needs of M-IoT and enable resilient, low-latency, and scalable media services.