UNIT V HYPERMEDIA 9

Multimedia authoring and user interface − Hypermedia messaging − Mobilemessaging − Hypermedia message
component − Creating hypermedia message −Integrated multimedia message standards − Integrated document
management −Distributed multimedia systems.

5.1 Multimedia authoring and User Interface

Multimedia Authoring Systems
Multimedia authoring systems are designed with two primary target users:
They are
(i) Professionals who prepare documents, audio or sound tracks, and full motion video clips for
wide distribution.
(il) Average business users preparing documents, audio recordings, or full motion video clips for
stored messages' or presentations.
The authoring system covers user interface. The authoring system spans issues such as data access, storage
structures for individual components embedded in a document, the user's ability to browse through stored
objects, and so on.
Most authoring systems are managed by a control application.
Design Issues for Multimedia Authoring
Enterprise wide standards should be set up to ensure that the user requirements are fulfilled with good
quality and made the objects transferable from one system to another.
So standards must be set for a number of design issues
1. Display resolution
2. Data formula for capturing data
3. Compression algorithms
4. Network interfaces
5. Storage formats.
Display resolution
A number of design issues must be considered for handling different display outputs. They are:
(a) Level of standardization on display resolutions.
(b) Display protocol standardization.
(c) Corporate norms for service degradations
(d) Corporate norms for network traffic degradations as they relate to resolution issuesSetting norms will
be easy if the number of different work station types, window managers, and monitor resolutions are
limited in number.But if they are more in number, setting norms will be difficult.Another consideration is
selecting protocols to use. Because a number of protocols have emerged, including AVI, Indeo, Quick
Time and so on.So, there should be some level of convergence that allows these three display protocols to
exchange data and allow viewing files in other formats.
File Format and Data Compression Issues
There are variety of data formats available for image, audio, and full motion video objects.
Since the varieties are so large, controlling them becomes difficult. So we should not standardize on a
single format. Instead, we should select a set for which reliable conversion application tools are available.
Another key design Issue is to standardize on one or two compression formula for each type of
data object. For example for facsimile machines, CCITT Group 3 and 4 should be included in the selected
standard. Similarly, for full motion video, the selected standard should include MPEG and its derivatives
such as MPEG 2.
While doing storage, it is useful to have some information (attribute information) about the object
itself available outside the object to allow a user to decide if they need to access the object data. one of
such attribute information are:
(i) Compression type (ii) Size of the object
(iii) Object orientation (iv)Data and time of creation
(v) Source file name (vi)Version number (if any)
(vii) Required software application to display or playback the object.
Service degradation policies: Setting up Corporate norms for network traffic degradation is difficult as
they relate to resolution Issues:
To address these design issues, several policies are possible. They are:
1. Decline further requests with a message to try later.
2. Provide the playback server but at a lower resolution.
3. Provide the playback service at full resolution but, in the case of sound and full motion video, drop
intermediate frames.
Design Approach to Authoring
Designing an authoring system spans a number of design issues. They include:
Hypermedia application design specifics, User Interface aspects, Embedding/Linking streams of objects
to a main document or presentation, Storage of and access to multimedia objects. Playing back combined
streams in a synchronized manner.
A good user interface design is more important to the success of hypermedia applications.
Types of Multimedia Authoring Systems
There are varying degrees of complexity among the authoring systems. For example, dedicated authoring
systems that handle only one kind of an object for a single user is simple, where as programmable systems
are most complex.
Dedicated Authority Systems
Dedicated authoring systems are designed for a single user and generally for single streams.
Designing this type of authoring system is simple, but if it should be capable of combining even two
object streams, it becomes complex. The authoring is performed on objects captured by the local video
camera and image scanner or an objects stored in some form of multimedia object library. In the case of
dedicated authoring system, users need not to be experts in multimedia or a professional artist. But the
dedicated systems should be designed in such a way that. It has to provide user interfaces that are
extremely intuitive and follow real-world metaphors.
A structured design approach will be useful in isolating the visual and procedural design components.
TimeLine –based authoring
In a timeline based authoring system, objects are placed along a timeline. The timeline can be drawn on
the screen in a window in a graphic manner, or it created using a script in a mann.er similar to a project
plan. But, the user must specify a resource object and position it in the timeline.
On playback, the object starts playing at that point in the time Scale.
Fig:TimeLinebased authoring
In most timeline based approaches, once the multimedia object has been captured in a timeline,.it is fixed
in location and cannot be manipulated easily, So, a single timeline causes loss of information about the
relative time lines for each individual object.
Structured Multimedia Authoring
A structured multimedia authoring approach was presented by Hardman. It is an evolutionary approach
based on structured object-level construction of complex presentations. This approach consists of two
stages:
(i) The construction of the structure of a presentation.
(ii) Assignment of detailed timing constraints.
A successful structured authoring system must provide the following capabilities for navigating through
the structure of presentation.
1.Ability to view the complete structure.
2.Maintain a hierarchy of objects.
3.Capability to zoom down to any specific component.
4.View specific components in part or from start to finish.
5.Provide a running status of percentage full of the designated length of the
presentation. 6.Clearly show the timing relations between the various components.
7.Ability to address all multimedia types including text, image, audio, video and frame based digital
images.
The author must ensure that there is a good fit within each object hierarchy level. The navigation design
of authoring system should allow the author to view the overall structure while examining a specific object
segment more closely.
Programmable Authoring Systems
Early structured authoring tools were not able to allow the authors to express automatic function for
handling certain routine tasks. But, programmable authoring system bas improved in providing powerful
functions based on image processing and analysis and embedding program interpreters to use image-
processing functious.
The capability of this authoring system is enhanced by Building user programmability in the authoring
tool to perform the analysis and to manipulate the stream based on the analysis results and also manipulate
the stream based on the analysis results. The programmability allows the following tasks through the
program interpreter rather than manually. Return the time stamp of the next frame. Delete a specified
movie segment. Copy or cut a specified movie segment to the clip board . Replace the current segment
with clip board contents.
Multisource Multi-user Authoring Systems
We can have an object hierarchy in a geographic plane; that is, some objects may be linked to other objects
by position, while others may be independent and fixed in position".
We need object data, and information on composing it. Composing means locating it in reference to other
objects in time as Well as space.
Once the object is rendered (display of multimedia object on the screen) the author can manipulate it and
change its rendering information must be available at the same time for display.If there are no limits on
network bandwidth and server performance, it would be possible to assemble required components on cue
at the right time to be rendered.
In addition to the multi-user compositing function A multi user authoring system must provide resource
allocation and scheduling of multimedia objects.
Telephone Authoring systems
There is an application where the phone is linking into multimedia electronic mail application
1.Tele phone can be used as a reading device by providing fill text to-speech synthesis capability so that
a user on the road can have electronic mail messages read out on the telephone.
2. The phone can be used for voice command input for setting up and managing voice mail messages.
Digitized voice clips are captured via the phone and embedded in electronic mail messages.
3. As the capability to recognize continuous speech is deploy phones can be used to create electronic mail
messages where the voice is converted to ASCII text on the fly by high-performance voice recognition
engines.
Phones provide a means of using voice where the alternative of text on a screen is not available. A phone
can be used to provide interactive access to electronic mail, calendar information databases, public
information databass and news reports, electronic news papers and a variety of other applications.
!ntegrating of all these applications in a common authoring tool requires great skill in planning.
The telephone authoring systems support different kinds of applications. Some of them are:
1.Workstation controls for phone mail.
2.Voice command controls for phone mail.
3.Embedding of phone mail in electric mail.

Hypermedia Application Design Consideration

The user interface must be highly intuitive to allow the user to learn the tools quickly and be able to use
them effectively. In addition, the user interface should be designed to cater to the needs of both
experienced and inexperienced user.
In addition to control of their desktop environments, user also need control of their system environment.
This control should include some of the following:
The ability to specify a primary server for each object class within a domain specified by the
system administrative. A domain can be viewed as a list of servers to which they have unrestricted
access.
The ability to specify whether all multimedia -objects or only references should be replicated.
The ability to specify that the multimedia object should be retrieved immediately for display
versus waiting for a signal to "play" the object. This is more significant if the object must be
retrieved from a remote server.
Display resolution defaults for each type of graphics or video object.
Essential for good hypermedia design:
1.Determining the type of hypermedia application.
2.Structuring the information.
3.Determining the navigation throughout the application.
4.Methodologies for accessing the information.
5.Designing the user interface.
Integration of Applications
The computer may be called upon to run a diverse set of applications, including some combination of
the following:
1.Electronic mail.
2.Word processing or technical publishing.
3.Graphics and formal presentation preparation software. .
4.. Spreadsheet or some other decision support software.
5.Access to a relational on object-oriented database.
6.Customized applications directly related to job function:
* Billing * Portfolio management * Others.
Integration of these applications consists of two major themes: the appearance of the applications and the
ability of the applications to exchange of data.
Common UI and Application Integration
Microsoft Windows has standardized the user interface for a large number of applications by providing
standardization at the following levels: Overall visual look and feel of the application windows
This standardization level makes it easier for the user to interact with applications designed for the
Microsoft Windows operational environment. Standardization is being provided for Object Linking and
Embedding (OLE), Dynamic Data Exchange (DOE), and the Remote Procedure Call (RPC).

Data Exchange
The Microsoft Windows Clipboard allows exchanging data in any format. It can be used to exchange
multimedia objects also. We can cut and copy a multimedia objects in one document and pasting in
another. These documents can be opened under different applications.The windows clipboard allows the
following formats to be stored:
.:. Text Bitrnap
.:. Image Sound
.:. Video (AVI format).
Distributed Data Access
If all applications required for a compound object can access the subobjects that they manipulate, then
only application integration succeeds.
Fully distributed data access implies that any application at any client workstation in the enterprise-wide
WAN must be able to access any data object as if it were local. The underlying data management software
should provide transport mechanisms to achieve transparence for the application.
Hypermedia Application Design
Hypermedia applicati'ons are applications consisting of compound objects that include the multimedia
objects. An authoring applicationn may use existing multimedIa objects or call upon a media editor to CD
create new object.
Structuring the Information
A good information structure should consist the following modeling primitives:
.:. Object types and object hierarchies.
.:. Object representations.
.:. Object connections.
.:. Derived connections and representations.
The goal of information Structuring is to identify the information objects and to develop an information
model to define the relationships among these objects.
Types and Object Hierarchies
Object types are related with various attributes and representations of the objects. The nature of the
information structure determines the functions that can be performed on that information set. The object
hierarchy defines a contained-in relationship between objects. The manner in which this hierarchy is
approached depends on whether the document is being created or played back.
Users need the ability to search for an object knowing very little about the object. Hypermedia application
design should allow for such searches.
The user interface with the application depends on the design of the application, particularly the navigation
options provided for the user.
Object representations
Multimedia objects have a variety of different object representations. A hypermedia object is a compound
object, consists of s~ information elements, including data, text, image, and video
Since each of these multimedia objects may have its own sub objects, the design must consider the
representation of objects.
An object representation may require controls that allow the user to alter the rendering of the object
dynamically. The controls required for each object representation must be specified with the object.
Object connection
In the relational model, the connections are achieved through joins, and in the object oriented models,
through pointers hidden inside objects. Some means of describing explicit connections is required for
hypermedia design to define the relationships among objects more clearly and to help in establishing the
navigation.
Derived Connections and Representations
Modeling of a hypermedia system should attempt to take derived objects into consideration for
establishing connection guidelines.
User Interface Design Multi media applications contain user interface design. There are four kinds
of user interface development tools. They are
1. Media editors
2. An authoring application
3. Hypermedia object creation
4. Multimedia object locator and browser
A media editor is an application responsible of the creation and editing of a specific multimedia object
such as an image, voice, or Video object. Any application that allows the user to edit a multimedia object
contains a media editor. Whether the object is text, ~voice, or full-motion video, the basic functions
provided by the editor are the same: create, delete, cut, copy, paste, move, and merge.
Navigation through the application
Navigation refers to the sequence in which the application progresses and objects are created, searched
and used.
Naviation can be of three modes:
(i) Direct: It is completely predefined. In this case, the user needs to know what to expect with successive
navigation actions.
Free-form mode: In this mode~ the user determines the next sequence of actions.
Browse mode: In this mode, the user does not know the precise question and wnats to get general
information about a particular topic. It is a very common mode in application based on large volumes of
non-symbolic data. This mode allows a user to explore the databases to support the hypothesis.
Designing user Interfaces
User Interface should be designed by structured following design guidelines as follows:
1.Planning the overall structure of the application
2.Planning the content of the application
3.Planning the interactive behavior
4.Planning the look and feel of the application
A good user interface must be efficient and intuitive by most users.
The interactive behaviour of the application determines how the User interacts with the application. A
number of issues are determined at this level.
They are Data entry dialog boxes
Application designed sequence of operation depicted by graying or enabling specific menu items Context-
Sensitive operation of buttons. Active icons that perform ad hoc tasks (adhoc means created for particular
purpose only)
A look and feel of the application
depends on a combination of the
metaphor being used to simulate
real-life interfaces, Windows
guidelines, ease of use, and aesthetic
appeal.
Special Metaphors for Multimedia
Applications
In this section let us look at a few key
multimedia user interface
metaphors.
The organizer metaphor
One must begin to associate the
concept of embedding multimedia
object in the appointment diary or
notepad to get obvious view of the
multimedia aspe.cts of the
organizer.
Other use of multimedia object in an organizer is to associate maps or voice mail directions with
addresses in address books.
The lotus organizer was the first to use a screen representation of the office diary type organizer
'Telephone Metaphor: The role of the telephone was changed b the advent of voice mail system. Voice
mail servers convert the analog voice and store it in digital form. With the standards for voice ~ail file
formats and digital storage of sound for computer. Now, computer system is used to manage the phone
system. The two essential components of a phone system are speakers and microphones. They are
included in most personal computers.
Figure 5.5 shows how a telephone can be created on a screen to make it a good user interface
The telephone keypad on the screen allows using the interface just as a telephone keypad is used. Push
buttons in dialog boxes and function selections in memos duplicate the function provided by the keypad.
Push buttons, radio buttons, list boxes, and data entry fields and menu selections allow a range of
functionality than can be achieved by the telephone.
Aural User Interface: A Aural user interface allows computer systems to accept speech as direct input
and provide an oral response to the user actions. Speech enabling is an important feature in this UI. To
design AUI system first, we have to create an aural desk top which substitutes voice and ear for the
keyboard and display and be able to mix and match them Aural cues should be able to represent icons,
voice, menus and the windows of graphical user interface.
AUl design involves human perception, cagnitive science and psycho-acoutic theory. AUI systems learn
systems to perform routine functions without user's feedback. An AUI must be temporal and use time
based metaphors.
AUI has to address the following issues
1. Recent user memory
2. Attention span
3. Rhythms
4. Quick return to missed oral cues
The VCR metaphor: The User interface metaphor for VCR is to draw a TV on screen and provide live
buttons on it for selecting channels, increasing sound volume and changing channel.
 User interface for functions suchas video capture, channel play, and stored video playback is to emulate
the camera, television and VCR on screen Fi5.6 shows all functions of typical video camera when it is in
a video capture mode.
Audio/Video Indexing Functions
Index marking allowed users to mark the location on tape in the case of both audio and video to which
they may wish to fast forward are rewind.
Other form of index marking is time based. In his form the tape counter shows playtime in hours,
minutes, and secondsfrom the time the counter was reset.
Three paradigms for indexing audio and video tapes are
Counter identify tape locations, and the user maintains index listingSpecial events are used as index
markersUsers can specify locations for index markings and the system maintains the index.Indexing is
useful only if the video is stored. Unless live video is stored, indexing information is lost since the video
cannot be repeated.In most systems where video is stored, the sound and video streams are decompressed
and managed separately, so synchronization for playback is important. The indexing information n\must
be stored on apermanent basis.
Information Access:
Access structure defines the way objects can be accessed and how navigation takes place through the
information objects.
The common forms of navigations for information access are:
Direct: Direct information accessis completely predefined. User must have knowledge about the object
that need to be accessed. That information includes object representations in a compound object.
Indexed: Index access abstracts the real object from the access to the object. If the object ID of the
object is an index entry that resolves to a filename on a specific server and disk partition, then the
information access mechanism is an indexed mechanism. \
Random Selection: In this fonn, the user can pick one of several possible items. The items need not
arranged in any logical sequence; and they need not to be displayed sequentially. The user need not have
much knowledge about the infonnation. They must browse through the infornlation.
Path selection or Guided tour: In guided tour, the application guides the user through a predefined path
acrosS a number of objects and operations. The user may pause to examine the objects at any stage, but
the overall access is controlled by the application. Guided tours can also be used for operations such as
controlling the timing for discrete media, such as slide show. It can be used for control a sound track or a
video clip.
Browsing: It is useful when the user does not have much knowledge about the object to access it directly.
Object Display Playback Issues: User expects some common features apart from basic functions
for authoring systems. And to provide users with same special control on the display/ playback of these
objects, designer have to address some of these issues for image, audio and video objects.
Image Display Issues Scaling: Image scaling is performed on the fly after decompressio The image is
scaled to fit in an application defined window at t:' full pixel rate for the window.The image may be scaled
by using factors. For eg: for the window 3600 x 4400 pixels can be scaled by a factor of 6 x 10 ie.60 x
440 (60 times).
Zooming: Zooming allows the user to see more detail for a specific area of the image. Users can zoom
by defining a zoom factor (eg: 2: 1,5: 1 or 10: 1). These are setup as preselected zoom values.
Rubber banding: This is another form of zooming. In this case, the user uses a mouse to define two
comers of the rectangle. The selected area can be copied to the clipboard, cut, moved or zoomed.
Panning: If the image window is unable to display the full image at the ·selected resolution for display.
The image can be panned left to right or right to left as wellas top to bottom or bottom to top. Panning is
useful for finding detail that is not visible in the full image.
Audio Quality: Audio files are stored in one of a number of formats, including WAVE and A VI. Playing
back audio requires that the audio file server be capable of playing back data at the rate of 480 kbytes/min
uncompressed or 48 kbytes/min for compressed 8 bit sound or 96 kbytes/min for 16 bit sound.
The calculation is based on an 8 MHz sampling rate and ADCPM compression with an estimated
compression ratio. 32 bit audio will need to be supported to get concert hall quality in stored audio. Audio
files can be very long. A 20 minute audio clip is over 1 MB long. When played back from the server, it
must be transferred completely in one burst or in a controlled manner.
Special features for video playback: Before seeing the features of video playback let us learn what is
isochronous playback. The playback at a constant rate to ensure proper cadence (the rise and fall in pitch
of a person's voice) is known as isochronous playback. But isochronous playback is more complex With
video than It is for sound. .
If video consists of multiple clips of video and multiple soundtracks being retrieved from different servers
and combined for playback by accurately synchronizing them, the problem becomes more complex.To
achieve isochronous playback, most video storage systems
use frame interleaving concepts. Video Frame Interleaving: Frame interleaving defines the structure o;the
video file in terms of the layout of sound and video components.
Programmed Degradation: When the client workstation is unable to keep up with the incoming data,
programmed degradation occurs. Most video servers are designed to transfer data from storage to the
client at constant rates. The video server reads the file from storage, separate the sound and video
components, and feeds them as a seperate streams over the network to the client workstations. Unless
specified by the user, the video server defaults to favoring sound and degrades video playback by dropping
frames. So, sound can be heard on a constant basis. But the video loses its smooth motion and starts
looking shaky. Because intermediate frames are not seen.
The user can force the ratio of sound to video degradation by changing the interleaving factor for playback;
ie the video server holds back sound until the required video frames are transferred. This problem becomes
more complex when multiple streams of video and audio are being played back from multiple source
servers. .
Scene change Frame Detection: The scene we see changes every few seconds or minutes and it replaced
by a new image.Even within the same scene, there may be a constant motion of some objects in a scene.
Reason for scene change detection: Automating scence change detection is very useful for browsing
through very large video clips to find the exact frame sequence of interest. Spontaneous scene change
detection provides an automatic indexing mechanism that can be very useful in browsing. A user can scan
a complete video clip very rapidly if the key frame for each new scene is displayed in an iconic (poster
frame) form in a slide sorter type display. The user can then click on a specific icon to see a particular
scene. This saves the user a significant amount of time and effort and reduces resource load by
decompressing and displaying only the specific scene of interest rather than the entire video.
Scene change detection is of real advantage if it can be performed without decompressing the video
object. Let us take a closer-look at potential techniques that can be employed for this purpose.
Techniques:
(i) Histogram Generation: Within a scene, the histogram changes as the subject of the scene mover. For
example, if a person is running and the camera pans the scene, a large part of the scene is duplicated with
a little shift. But if the scene changes from a field to a room, the histogram changes quite substantially.
That is, when a scene cuts over to a new scene, the histogram changes rapidly. Normal histograms require
decompressing the video for the successive scenes to allow the optical flow of pixels to be plotted on a
histogram. The foot that the video has tobe decompressed does help in that the user can jump from one
scene to the nect. However, to show a slide sorter view requires the entire video to be decompressed. So
this solution does not really of the job.
Since MPEG and JPEG encoded video uses DCT coefficients, DCT quantization analysis on
uncompressed video or Audio provides the best alternatives for scene change detection without
decompressing video
The efficiency can be managed by determining the frame interval for checks and by deciding on the
regions within the frame that are being checked. A new cut in a scene or a scene change can be detected
by concentrating on a very small portion of the frame
The scene change detection technology as is the case with video compression devices as well as devices
that can process compressed video, the implementations of scene change detection can be significantly
enhanced.
Video scaling, Panning and Zooming:
Scaling:
Scaling is a feature since users are used in changing window sizes. When the size of the video window is
changed, scaling take place.
Panning: Panning allows the user to move to other parts of the window. Panning is useful incombination
with zooming. Only if the video is being displayed at full resolution and the video
window is not capable of displaying the entire window then panning is useful. Therfore panning is useful
only for video captured using very high resolution cameras.
Zooming:
Zooming implies that the stored number of pixels is greater than the number that can be displayed in the
video window . In that case, a video scaled to show the complete image in the video window can be paused
and an area selected to be shown in a higher resolution within the same video window. The video can be
played again from that point either in the zoomed mode or in scaled to fit window mode.
Three Dimensional Object Display and VR(Virtual Reality)
Number of 3D effects are used in home entertainment a advanced systems used for specialized
applications to achieve find Ine results.
Let us review the approaches in use to determine the impact 0 multimedia display system design due to
these advanced systems.
Planar Imaging Technique: The planar imaging technique, used in computer-aided tomography (CAT
Scan) systems, displays a twodimensional [20] cut of X-ray images through multidimensional data
specialized display techniques try to project a 3D image constructed from the 2D data. An important
design issue is the volume of data being displayed (based on the image resolution and sampling rate) and
the rate at which 3D renderings need to be constructed to ensure a proper time sequence for the changes
in the data.
Computed tomography has a high range of pixel density and can be used for a variety of applications.
Magnetic resonance imaging, on the other hand, is not as fast, nor does it provide as high a pixel density
as CT. Ultrasound is the third technique used for 3D imaging in the medical and other fields. .
5.2 HYPER MEDIA MESSAGING
Messaging is one of the major multimedia applications. Messaging started out as a simple text-based
electronic mail application. Multimedia components have made messaging nuch more complex.
We see how these components are added to messages.
Mobile Messaging
Mobile messaging represents a major new dimension in the users interaction with the messaging system.
With the emergence of remote access from users using personal digital assistants and notebook computers,
made possible by wireless communications developments supporting wide ranging access using wireless
modems and cellular telephone links, mobile messaging has significantly influence messaging paradigms.
Hypermedia messaging is not restricted to the desktops; it is increasingly being used on the road through
mobile communications in metaphors very different from the traditional desktop metaphors.
5.3 Hypermedia Message Components
A hypermedia message may be a simple message in the form of text with an embedded graphics, sound
track, or video clip, or it may be the result of analysis of material based books, CD ROMs, and other on-
line applications. An authoring sequence for a message based on such analysis may consist of the
following components.
1. The user may have watched some video presentation on the material and may want to attach a part
of that clip in the message. While watching it, the user marks possible quotes and saves an
annotated copy.
2. Some pages of the book are scanned as images. The images provide an illustration or a clearer
analysis of the topic
3. The user writes the text of the message using a word processor. The text summarizes the highlights
of the analysis and presents conclusions.
These three components must be combined in a message using an authoring tool provided by the
messaging system. The messaging system must prompt the user to enter the name of the addressee forthe
message.
The message system looks up the name in an online directory and convert it to an electronic addresses
well as routing information before sending the message. The user is now ready to compose the message.
The first step is to copy the word processed text report prepared in step 3 above in the body area of the
message or use the text editor provided by the messaging system. The user then marks the spots where
the images are referenced and uses the link and embed facilitites of the authoring tool to link in references
to the images. The user also marks one or more spots for video clips and again uses the link and embed
facilities to add the video clips to the message
When the message is fully composed, the user signs it (electronic signature) and mails to the message to
the addressee (recipient). The addressing system must ensure that the images and video clips referenced
in the message are also transferred to a server "local' to the recipient.
Text Messages
In earlier days, messaging systems used a limited subset of plain ASCII text. Later, messaging systems
were designed to allow users to communicate using short messages. Then, new messaging standards have
added on new capabilities to simple messages. They provide various classes of service and delivery
reports.
Pratap
To : Karan
Copy to: Madhan Date : 01 Jan'07
subject: WISHING A HAPPY NEW YEAR
Hai Karan,
I wish you a very bright and prosperous new year. - Pratap Delivery notification: Normal Priority: High
Typical Electronic mail message
Other capabilities of messaging systems includ~ a name and address directory of all users accessible to
the messaging system.
Rich-Text Messages
Microsoft defined a standard for exporting and importing text data that included character set, font table,
section and paragraph formatting, document formatting, and color information-called Rich Text Format
(RTF), this standard is used for storage as well as Import and export of text files across a variety of word-
processing and messaging systems.
When sections of this document are cut and pasted into another application, the font and formatting
information is .retained. This allows the target application to display the text m the nearest equivalent
fonts and formats.
Rich-text messages based on the RTF formats provide the capability to create messages in one word
processor and edit in another at the recipient end. Most messaging systems provIde richtext capability for
the field of a message.

Voice Messages
Voice mail systems answer telephones using recorded messages and direct the caller through a sequence
of touch tone key operations until the caller is connected to the desired party or is able to leave a recorded
message.
Audio' (Music)
The Musical Instrument Digital interface (MIDI) was developed initially by the music industry to allow
computer control of and music recordings from musical instruments such as digital pianos and electric
keyboards. MIDI interfaces are now being used for a variety of peripherals, including digital pianos,
digital organs, video games with high-fidelity sound output, and business presentations.
Full-Motion Video Management
Use of full-motion video for information repositories and memos are more informative. More information
can be 'conveyed and explained in a short full-motion video clip than can be conveyed In a long text
document. Because a picture is equivalent to thousand words.
Full Motion video Authoring System
An authoring system is an important component of a multimedia messaging system. A good authoring
system must provide a number of tools for the creation and editing of multimedia objects. The subset of
tools that are necessary are listed below:
1. A video capture program - to allow fast and simple capture of digital video from analog sources
such as a video camera or a video tape. .
2. Compression and decompression Interfaces for compressing the captured video as it is being
captured.
3. A video editor with the ability to decompress, combine, edit, and compress digital video clips.
4. Video indexing and annotating software for marking sections of a videoclip and recording
annotations.
Identifying and indexing video clips for storage.
Full-Motion Video Playback Systems
 The playback system allows the recipient to detach the embedded vIdeo reference object, Interpret its
contents and retrieve the actual video clip from a specialized video server and launch the Playback
application. A number of factors are involved in playing back the video correctly.
They are:
1.How the compression format used for the storage of the video clip relates to the available
hardware and software facilities for decompression.
2.Resolution of the screen and the system facilites available for managing display windows. The
display resolution may be higher or lower than the resolution of the source of the video clip.
3.The CPU processing power and the expected level of degradation as well as managing the
degraded output on the fly.
4.Ability to determine hardware and software facilities of the recipient's system, and adjusting
playback, parameters to provide the best resolution and perfonnance on playback.
The three main technologies for playing full motion video are microsoft's video for windows:
Apple's Quicktime, and Intel's Indeo.
Video for Windows (VFW): It is the most common environment for multimedia messaging.
VFW provides capture, edit, and playback tools for full-motion video. The tools provided by VFW are:
The VidCap tool, designed for fast digital video capture.
The VidEdit tool designed for decompression, edition, and compressing full-motion digital video. The
VFW playback tool.
The VFW architecture uses OLE. With the development of DDE and OLE, Microsoft introduced in
windows the capability to link or multimedia objects in a standardized manner. Hence variety :;windows
based applications can interact with them. We can add full-motion video to any windows-based
application with the help ofVFW. The VFW playback tool is designed to use a number of codecs (software
encoder/decoders) for decompressing and playing video files. The default is for A VI files.
Apple's QuickTime
An Apple QuickTime product is also an integrated system for playing back video files. The QuickTime
product supports four compression methodologies.
Intel's Indeo
Indeo is a digital video recording format. It is a software technology that reduces the size of un compressed
video files through successive compression methodologies, including YUV sub sampling, vector
quantization, Huffman's run-length encoding, and variable content encoding. Indeo technology is
designed to be scalable for playing back video; It determines the hardware available and optimizes
playback for the hardware by controlling the frame rate. The compressed file must be decompressed for
playback. The Indeo technology decompresses the video file dynamically in real time for playback.
Number of operating systems provide Indeo technology as standard feature and with other software
products (eg. VFW).
Hypermedia Linking and Embedding
Linking and embedding are two methods for associating multimedia objects with documents.
Linking Objects
When an object is linked, the source data object, called the link source, continues to stay whenever it was
at the time the link was created. This may be at the object server where it was created, or where it has
been copied.
Only reference is required in the hypermedia document. The' reference is also known as link. This link
reference includes information about the multimedia object storage, its presentation parameters, and the
server application that is needed to dIsplay/play or edit it. When this document is copied, the link reference
is transferred. But the actual multimedia document remains in its original location. A linked object is not
a part of the hypermedia document and it does not takeup storage space within the hypermedia document.
If the creator, or authorised user edits the original stored multimedia object, subsequent calls to the linked
object bring the copy.
Embedded Objects
If a copy of the object is physically stored in the hypermedia document, then'the multimedia object :3 said
to be embedded. Any changes to the original copy of t4at object are not reflected in the embedded copy.
When the hypermedia document is copied, the multimedia object is transferred with it to the new
locations.
Graphics and images can be inserted in a rich-text document on embedded using such techniques as OLE
Voice and audio components can be included in a text message; or they cim be part of a full voice-recorded
message that has embedded text and other components.
5.4 Creating Hypermedia Messages
Hypermedia message is a complex collection of a variety of objects.
It is an integrated message consisting of text, rich text, binary files, images, bitmaps. voice and sound, and
full motion video. Creating of a hypermedia message requires some preparation. A hypermedia report is
more complex. It requires the following steps:
1. Planning
2. Creating each component
3. Integrating components
The planning phase for preparing the hypermedia message consists of determining the various sources
of input. These can include any of the following:
1. A text report prepared in a word-processing system.
2. A spreadsheet in a spreadsheet program.
3. Some diagrams from a graphics program. 4 .. Images of documents.
4. Sound dips.
5. Video clips.

We should determine which components are required for the message, in what sequence should they be,
and where in the text report they should be referenced. The length of each component should be
determined. Careful planning is necessary to ensure that the capabilities of the messaging system are used
appropriately.
Each component must be created using the authoring tool provided by the application used for creating it.
All applications Involved in creating various components must have common formats to allow combining
these various components. The various components must be authored, reviewed, and edited as needed,
checked for smooth flow when the user launches an embedded object and stored in the final format in
which it will become a part of the hyperrnedia message. The final step in this process is mailing the
hypermedia message.
5.5 Integrated Multimedia Message Standards
Let us review some of the Integrated Multimedia MessageStandards in detail.
Vendor Independent Messaging (VIM)
VIM interface is designed to facilitate messaging between VIM. enabled electronic mail systems as well
as other applications. The VIM interface makes mail and messages services available through a well
defined interface.
A messaging service enables its clients to communicate with each other in a store-and-forward manner.
VIM-aware applications may also use one-or-more address books.
Address books are used to store information about users, groups, applications, and so on. VIM
Messages:
VIM defines messaging as a stored-and-forward method of application-to-application all program-to-
program data exchange. The objects transported by a messaging system are caIled messages. The message,
along with the address is sent to the messaging system. The messaging system providing VIM services
accept the responsibility for routing and delivering the message to the message container of the recipient.
Message Definition:
Each message has a message type. The message type defines the syntax of the message and the type of
information that can be contained in the message.
A VIM message consists of message header. It may contain one or more message items. The message
header consists of header attributes: recipient address, originator address, time/date prior
A message item is a block of arbitrary-sized (means any size) data of a defined type. The contents of the
data block are defined by the data-item type.
The actual items in a message and its syntax and semantics are defined by the message type. The message
may also contain file attachments. VIM allows the nesting of messages; means one message may be
enclosed in another message.
A VIM message can be digitally signed so that we can ensure that the message 'received is without any
modification during the transit.
Mail Message: It is a message of a well-defmed type that must include a message header and may include
note parts, attachments, and other application-defined components. End users can see their mail messages
through their mail programs.
Message Delivery: If message is delivered successfully, a delivery report is generated and send to the
sender of the message if the sender requested the d~livei-y report. If a message is not delivered, a non-
delivered report is sent to the sender.
A message that delivered will be in a message container will be marked as 'unread', until the recipient
open and read it.
Message Container: Multiple users or applications can access one message container. Each message in
a message container has a reference number associated with it for as long as the message remains stored
in the message container.
VIM Services: The VIM interface provides a number of services for creating and mailing a message.
Some of them are:
.:. Electronic message composition and submission.
.:. Electronic message sending and receiving.
.:. Message extraction from mail system.
.:. Address book services.
MAPI Support (Multimedia Application Programmable Interface)
MAPI provides a layer of functionality between applications and underlying messaging systems. The
primary goals of MAPI are: Separate client applications from the underlying messaging services. Make
basic mail enabling a standard feature for all applic·ations. Support message-reliant workgroup
applications.
MAPI Architecture: MAPI Architecture provides two perspectives (i) A client API
(ii) A service provider interface. The Client API provides the link between the client applications
andMAPI. The service provider interface links MAPI to the messaging system.
The two interfaces combine to provide an open architecture such that any messaging application can use
any messaging service that has a MAPI driver. MAPI drivers are provided by microsoft or third party
developers.

Telephony API (TAPI)

TAPI standard has been defined by Microsoft and Intel. The telephone can be used for reading e-mail as
well as for entering e-mail messages remotely.
X 400 Message Handling Service
The CCITT X 400 series recommendations define the OSI message handling system, (MHS).
The MHS describes a functional model that provides end users the ability t6 send and receive electronic
messages. In the as I, an end user is an originator. He composes and sends messages.
Receiver is the one who receives messages. A User Agent (UA) is an entity that provides the end user
function for composing and sending messages and for delivering messages. Most user agent
implementations provide storage of mail, sorting directories, and forwarding.
A Message Transfer Agent (MTA) forwards messages from the originator UA to another MT A. A number
of MTAs are combine to form Message transfer System (MTS).
The MTAs in an MTS provide message routing services at intermediate nodes in a WAN.
Figure below shows the overall X 400 architecture and the relationships between the components.
X·500 Directory System Standards
The X·500 is the joint International Standard Organization
CCITT standard for a distributed directory system that lets users store information such as addresses and
databases on a local server and easily query, exchange, and update that information in an interoperable
networked environment.
The X 500 directory structure is described in the CCITT standard known as Data Communications
Network Directory, Recommendations X·500-X·521, 1988.
5 X·500 Directory System Architecture
Directory System Agents carryout updates and management operations. X ·500 defines a structured
information model, an objectoriented model and database schema.
The X ·500 architecture is based on a number of models, as follow'>:
The information model: It specifies the contents of directory entries, how they are identified, and the
way in which they are organized to form the directory information base.

The Directory model: It describes the directory and its users, the functional model for directory operation,
and the organization of the directory. .
The security model: It specifies the way in which the contents of the directory are protected from
unauthorised access and authentication methods for updates.
The X 500 directory system is designed to be capable of spanning national and corporate boundaries.
X 500 Directory System Components: All information in an X 500 database is organized as entries in
the Directory-Information Base(DlB). The directory system provides agents to manipulate entries in the
DIB.
X 500 directories consist of the following basic components:
1. Diretory Information Base (DIB); The DIB contains information about users, applications,
resources and the configuration of the directory that enables servers to locate one another.

2. Directory User Agents (DUA): A DUA issues inquiry and update requests, and accesses directory
information through the directory access protocol.

3.Directory Service Agents (DSAs): DSAs cooperate with one another to resolve user requests over
a distributed network. They interact through a specialized protocol called a directory system protocol.
5.6 Integrated Document Management
It is for managing integrated documents.
Integrated document Management for Messaging Specialized messaging system such as Lotus Notes
provide Integrated document management for messaging. The user can attach embed or link a variety of
multimedia objects.
When document is forwarded to other users, all associated multimedia objects are also forwarded and
avaiiable to the new receivers of the forward message.
Multimedia Object Server and Mail Server Interactions:
The mail server is used to store i'lll e-mail messages. It consists of a file server with mail files for each
user recipient. This file server act as a mail box.
All received mail is dropped in the user's mail file. The user can review or delete these mails. When mail
messages include references to multimedia objects, mail file contains only link information.

5.7 DISTRIBUTED MULTIMEDIA SYSTEMS

If the multimedia systems are supported by multiuser system, then we call those multimedia systems as
distributed multimedia systems.
A multi user system designed to support multimedia applications for a large number of users consists of
a number of system components. A typical multimedia application environment consists of the following
components:
1. Application software.
2. Container object store.
3. Image and still video store.
4. Audio and video component store.
5. Object directory service agent.
6. component service agent.
7. User interface and service agent.
8. Networks (LAN and WAN).
Application Software
The application software perfom1s a number of tasks related to a specific business process. A
business process consists ofa series of actions that may be performed by one or more users.
The basic tasks combined to form an application include the following:
(1) Object Selection - The user selects a database record or a hypermedia document from a
file system, database management system, or document server.
(2) Object Retrieval- The application ret:ieves the base object.
(3) Object Component Display - Some document components are displayed automatically
when the user moves the pointer to the field or button associated with the multimedia object.
(4) User Initiated Display - Some document components require user action before
playback/display.
(5) Object Display Management and Editing: Component selection may invoke a
component control subapplication which allows a user to control playback or edit the
component object.
Document store
A document store is necessary for application that requires storage oflarge volume of
documents. The following describes some characteristics of document stores.
1. Primary Document Storage: A file systems or database that contains primary document
objects (container objects). Other attached or embedded documents and multimedia objects
may be stored in the document server along with the container object.
2. Linked Object Storage: Embedded components, such as text and formatting information,
and linked information, and linked components, such as pointers to image, audio, and video.
Components contained in a document, may be stored on separate servers.
3. Linked Object Management: Link information contains the name of the component,
service class or type, general attributes such as size, duration of play for isochronous objects
and hardware, and software requirements for rendering.
Image and still video store
An image and still video is a database system optimized for storage of images. Most systems
employ optical disk libraries. Optical disk libraries consist of multiple optical disk platters that
are played back by automatically loading the appropriate platter in the drive under device driver
control.
The characteristics of image and still video stores are as follows:
(i) Compressed information (ii) Multi-image documents
(iii) Related annotations (iv) Large volumes
(v) Migration between high-volume such as an optical disk library and high-speed
media such as magnetic cache storages(vi) Shared access: The server software managing the
server has to be able to manage the different requirements.
Audio and video Full motion video store
Audio and Video objects are isochronous. The following lists some characteristIcs of audio
and full-motion video object stores:
(i) Large-capacity file system: A compressed video object can be as large as six to ten
M bytes for one minute of video playback.
(ii) Temporary or permanent Storage: Video objects may be stored temporarily on
client workstations, servers Providing disk caches, and multiple audio or video
object servers.
(iii) Migration to high volume/lower-cost media: migration and management of online
storage are much of greater importance and more complex than of images.
(iv) Playback isochronocity: Playing back a video object requires consistent speed
without breaks. Multiple shared access objects being played back in a stream mode
must be accessible by other users.
Object Directory Service Agent
The directory service agent is a distributed service that providea directory of all multimedia
objects on the server tracked by that element of the directoryy service agent.
The following describes various services provided by a directory service Agent.
(1) Directory Service: It lists all multimedia objects by class and server location.
(2) Object Assignment: The directory service agent assigns unique identification to
each multimedia object.
(3) Object Status Management: The directory service must track the current usage
status of each object.
(5) Directory Service Domains: The directory service should be modular to allow
setting up Directory Service Server Elements: Each multimedia object server must
have directory service element that reside on either server or some other resources.
(6) Network Access: The directory service agent must be accessible from any
workstation on the network.
Distributed client server operation
The agents so far we have discussed combine to form a distributed client-server system for
multimedia applications. Multimedia applications require functionality beyond the traditional
client server architecture.
Most client-server systems were designed to connect a client across a network to a
server that provided database functions. In this case, the client-server link was firmly
established over the network. There was only one copy of the object on the specified server.
With the development of distributed work group computing, the picture has changed for the
clients and servers. Actually in this case, there is a provision of custom views in large
databases. The advantage of several custom views is the decoupling between the physical data
and user.
The physical organization of the data can be changed without affecting the conceptual schema
by changing the distributed data dictionary and the distributed data repository.
Clients in Distributed Work Group Computing
Clients in distributed workgroup computing are the end users with workstations running
multimedia applications. The client systems interact with the data servers in any of the
following w3fs.
1. Request specific textual data.
2. Request specific multimedia objects embedded or linked in retrieved container objects.
3. Require activation of a rendering server application to display/ playback multimedia
objects.
4. Create and store multimedia-objects on servers.
Request directory information. on locations of objects on servers

Servers in Distributed Workgroup Computing

Servers are storing data objects. They provide storage for a variety f object classes, they transfer
objects on demand on clients. They rovide hierarchical storage for moving unused objects to
optical_ isk lirbaries or optical tape libraries. They provide system dministration functions for
backing up stored data. They provide le function of direct high-speed LAN and WAN server-
to-server ~ansport for copying multimedia objects.
Middleware in Distributed Workgroup Computing
The middleware is like interface between back-end database and font-end clients.The primary
role of middleware is to link back end database to front end clients in a highly flexible and
loosely connected network nodel. Middleware provides the glue for dynamically redirecting
client requests to appropriate servers that are on-line.
Multimedia Object Servers The resources where information objects are
storedareknown as servers. Other users (clients) can share the information stored in
these resources through the network.
Types of Multimedia ServersEach object type of multimedia systems would have its
own dedicated server optimized for the type of data maintained in the object. A network
would consist of some combination of the following types of servers.
(1) Data-processing servers RDBMSs and ODBMSs. (2) Document database
servers.
(3) Document imaging and still-video servers. (4) Audio and voice mail servers.
(5) Full motion video server.
Data base processing servers are traditional database servers that contain alphanumeric data.
In a relational database, data fields are stored in columns in a table. In an object-oriented
database these fields become attributes ofthe object. The database serves the purpose of
organizing the data and providing rapid indexed access to it. The DBMS can interpret the
contents of any column or attribute for performing a search.
Mass Storage for Multimedia Servers
RAID(Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks)
In terms of redundancy,RAID provides a more cost effective solution than disk mirroring.
RAID is a means of increasing disk redundancy, RAID systems use multiple and potentially
slower disks to achieve the same task as a single expensive large capacity and high transfer
rate disk.
In RAID high transfer rates are achieved by performing operations in parallel on multiple
disks. There are different levels of RAID available, namely disk striping(level 0), disk
mirroring(level 1, Bit interleaving of date(level 2), Byte interleaving (level 3), sector
interleaving(level 4), and block interleaving(level 5)RAID technology is faster than rewritable
optical disk and high data volumes can be achieved with RAID. RAID technology provides
high performance for disk reads for almost all types of applications.
Write Once Read Many Optical Drives: (WORM)
WORM Optical drives provide very high volumes of storage for
very low cost. Some important characteristics of WORM optical disks are:
Optical drives tend to be slower than magnetic drives by a factor of three to four. .
WORM drives can write once only; typically 5-10% of disk capacity m left free to
provide for changes to existing information.
They are useful for recording informations that would not change
very much. They are virtually indestructible in normal office use
and have long shelf lives.
They an be used in optical disk libraries (Juke boxes). A Juke box may provide
anywhere from 50-100 disk platters with two or more drives.
These characteristics make optical disks ideal candidates for on-line document
images (which change very little once scanned and do not have an isochronous
requirement) and archived data.
Rewritable Optical Disks:
Rewritable optical drives are produced by using the technologies like magneto-optical. It has
the advantage ofrewritability over the WORM where rewritable is not possible. It can be used
as primary or secondary media for storage of large objects, which are then archieved. (Placed
where documents are preserved) on WORM disks.
If it is used as primary media, it should be accompanied by highspeed magnetic disk cache.
This is to achieve acceptable video performance.

Optical Disk Libraries:

Optical disk libraries are nothing but juke boxes. Work disks and rewritables can be used in
optical disk libraries to achieve very high volumes of near-lines storage. Optical disk libraries
range from desk top juke boxes with one 5' 1/4" drive and I O-slot optical disk stack for upto
lOG Bytes of stroage of large libraries using as many as four 12" drives with an 80-s10t optical
disk stack for upto terabytes of storage. The disadvantage of optical disk library is the time
taken for a platter to be loaded into a drive and span to operating speed.
Network Topologies for Multimedia Object Servers
A number of network topologies are available Network topology is the geometric
arrangement of nodes and cable links in a network. We still study three different approaches
to setting up multimedia servers.
(i) Centralized Multimedia Server: A centralized multimedia object server performs as
a central store for multimedia objects. All user requests for multimedia objects are
forwarded by the applications to the centralized server and are played back from
this server. The centralizedserver may serve a particular site of the corporation or
the entire enterprise. Every multimedia object has a unique identity across the
enterprise and can be accessed from any workstation. The multimedia object
identifier is referenced in every data that embeds or links to it.

Dedicated Multimedia Servers: This is the approach where a video server is on a

separatededicated segmentIn this approach, when a workstation dumps a large video, the other
servers on the networks are not affected. Provides high performance for all local operations.
The isochronocity of the objects is handled quite well in a dedicated mode.
Disadvantage of this approach is that the level of duplication of objects.
Distributed multimedia servers:
In this approach multimedia object servers are distributed in such a manner that they are placed
in starategic locations on different LANs.They are replicated on a programmed basis to provide
balanced serviceto all users.
Multiserver Network Topologies
To distribute the full functionality of multimedia network wide there are vareity of network
topologies available. ' The primary topologies are Traditional LANs (Ethernet or Token Ring
Extended LANs (Using network switching hubs bridges and routers). ' High speed LANs
(ATM and FDDI II). WANs (Including LANs, dial-up links-including ISDN T1 and T3 lines-
etc.). ' I
Traditional LANS (Ethernet or Token Ring) Ethernet:
Ethernet: It is a Local Area Network hardware, communication, and cabling standard
originally developed by Xerox corporation that link up to 1024 nodes in a bus network. It is
ahigh speed standard using a baseband (single-channel) communication technique. It provides
for a raw data transfer rate of 10 Mbps, with actual throughput in the range of 2-3 Mbps. It
support a number of sessions ina mixof live video, audio electronic mail and so on.
Token Ring: It is a Local Area Network architecture that combines token passing with a hybrid
star/ring topology. It was developed by IBM. Token Ring Network uses a multistation Access
unit at its hub ..
ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode)
It is a network architecture that divides messages into fixed size units (called cells) of small
size and that establishes a switched connection between the originating and receiving stations.
A TM appears to be a potential technology for multimedia systems for connecting object
servers and user workstations. ATM is actually a good candidate for two reasons: as a hub and
spoke teclmology, it adapts very well to the wiring closest paradign; and it allows workstations
to operate at speeds defined by the workstation. Figure 5.12 below illustrates LAN topology
using an A TM Switching System.
FDDI II (Fiber Distributed Data Interface II)
It is a standard for creating highspeed computer networks that employ fiber-optic cable. FOOl
II operates exactly like token ring, . with one difference: FOOl employs two wires through all
the hosts in a network.
FOOl II is a single media LAN and its full bandwidth supports all users.
FOOl II appears to be a very useful high-speed technology for connecting servers on an
additional separate network and providing the dedicated high bandwidth necessary for rapid
transfer and replication of information objects. Figure 5.13 shows a multiievel network based
WANS (Wide Area Network)
This includes LANs, dial up ISDN, T1 (1.544 Mbits/sec) and T3 (45.3 Mbits/sec) lines and
regular telephone dial-up lines. The two big issues here are:
• :. W ANs may have a mix of networking and communication protocols.
• :. WAN has a variety of speeds at which various parts of it where it communicates.
Protocol Layering: Layering helps to isolate the network from the . application. Layering of
protocols started with the release ofthe ISO model.
Distributed Multimedia Databases:
A multimedia database consists of a member of different types of multimedia objects. These
may include relational database records, object-oriented databases with objects for
alphanumeric attributes, and s:orage servers for multimedia objects such &s images, still video,
audio, and full-motion video. Itis feasible to include an image or a video object as a binary
large object (BLOB) in a relational database. It is also feasible to include such an object as an
attribute in an object.
Database Organization for Multimedia Applications
Optical disk storage technology has reduced the cost of multimedia document storage by a
significant factor. Distributed architectures have opened the way for a variety of applications
distributed around a network accessing the safe database in an independent manner. The
following discussion addresses some key issues of the data organization for multimedia
systems.
Data Independence: Flexible access to a variety of distributed databases for one or more
applications requires that the data be independent from the application so that future
applications can access the data without constraints related to a previous application. Important
features of data independent design are:
1. Storage design is independent of specific applications.
2. Explicit data definitions are independent of application programs.
3. Users need not know data formats or physical storage structures .
4. Integrity assurance is independent of application programs.
5. Recovery is independent of application programs .

Common Distributed Database Architecture: Employment of Common Distributed

database architectured is presented by the insulation of data from an application and distributed
application access.
Key features of this architecture are:
1.The ability for multiple independent data structures
to co-exist in the system (multiple server classes).
2.Uniform distributed access by clients.
3.Single point for recovery of each database
server. 4.Convenient data re-organization to
suit requirements. 5.Tunability and creation
of object classes. 6.Expandibility.
Mnltiple Data Servers: A database server is a dedicated resource on a network accessible to a
number of apphcations, When a large number of users need to access the same resources,
problem arises
This problem is solved by setting up multiple data servers that have copies of the same
resources,
Transaction management for Multimedia Systems
It is defined as the sequence of events that starts when a user makes a request to create, render,
edit, or print a hypermedia document. The transaction is complete when the user releases the
hypermedia document and stores back any edited versions or discards the copy in memory or
local storage.
Use of object classes provides an excellent way for managing and tracking hypermedia
documents, Given that all components of a hypermedia document can be referenced within an
object as attributes, we can find a solution for the three-dimensional transaction management
problem also in the concept of objects.
Andleigh and Gretzinger expand on the basic concepts developed for the object request broker
(ORB) by the Object Management Group (OMG) and combine it with their transaction
management approach.
Managing Hypermedia Records as Objects
Hypermedia records or documents are complex objects that contain multimedia information
objects within them, A hypermedia document can be stored in a document data base, as a BLOB
in a relational database, or in an object-oriented data base. A Hyper media document may
contain multimedia objects embedded in it as special fields.
Object linking and embedding: OLE provides an object oriented framework for compound
documents. When a user double cliks or click on an icon for an embedded object, the
application that created the object starts, and allows the user to view andor the object .
Managing Distributed Objects:We see the nature of communication between servers and the
managing of distributed objects.
Interserver communications: Object replication , object distribution, object recompilation
and object management and network resources are some of the design requirements that play
a role in defining interserver The following lists the types of communications that one server
may make to another server:
1. Obtain a token from an object name server for creating a new multimedia object; the
object is not accessible by others users until complete and released.
2. Search the object class directory for the current locations of that object and the least
expensive route for accessing it.
3. Perform a shared read lock on the object to ensure that it is n archived or purged while
it is being retrieved.
4. Replicate a copy of the object; update the object name server directory.
5. Copy an object for non-persistent use.
6. Test and set an exclusive lock on an object for editing purposes'
7. create new versions.
8. Pause the retrieval of an object to support a user action or to pace the retrieval to the
speed supported by the network.
9. A Sound server architecture is necessary for providing these services in a fully
distributed environment.
Object Server Architecture
Figure describes an object server architecture that can support multimedia applications for a
large

The architecture describes the logical distribution of functions. The following lists the key
elements of this architecture:
Multimedia Applications -Common Object Management API.Object Request Broker. Object
Name Server -Object Directory Manager -object Server -Object Manager.Network Manager .
Object Data Store. Any multimedia application designed to operate on the common object
management API can function in this architecture
The common object management API is a programming interface definition that provides a
library of functions the applications can call.
The common Broker Architecture API provides a uniform interface to all applications and
a standardized method for managing all information objects in a corporate network.
A common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) h been defined by a Object
Management Group. An object request broker performs the following functions:
(i) Object recompilation.
(ii) Playback control.
(iii) Format conversions.
The object name server provides an object directory service. The object directory manager may
exist in a distributed form within an object server. The object directory manager updates the
object directory when changes take place.The object server is a logical subsystem in the
network responsIble for storing and retrieving objects on demand. The object manager consists
of a number of object classes that performs a number of specialized services. They are: Object
retrieval. (ii) Replication(Ui) Migration. (iv) Transaction and Lock Management. (v) User
Preferen'ce. (vi) Versioning. (vii) System Administration. (ix) Archival. (x) Purging. (xi) Class-
Specific functions.
Identification method: Objects can be distinguished from one another in many potential ways.
Identification of objects in a persistent state is different from non-persistent objects. At the
highest level, persistent objects are distinguished by the class of objects. Andleigh and
Gretzinger defined a rule for unique object identification as follows:
ROLE: An object must have an identifier that is unique in a time dimension as well as with
location such that it cannot be modified by any programmed action. An alternative approach is
to divide the network into domains and have a name server in each domain be responsible for
assigning new object IDs for all objects created in that domain. An object identification
algorithm can be made unique by combining several of the following components.
.:. Network domain name. --Address and server ID of the name server node.--A time stamp of
creating time.-- An object class identifier.
Object Directory services
A multimedia object directory manager is the name server for all multimedia objects in a LAN.
It has an entry for every multimedia object on all servers on the LAN, or in a domain if a LAN
or WAN is subdivided into domains. The object directory manager manages changes to the
object directory resulting from object manager actions.
Multimedia Object Retrieval
The multimedia object manager performs the functions of managing all requests from the
multimedia applications for retrieving existing multimedia objects 01' storing new or edited
multimedia objects created by the user. In systems actively designed using an object request
broker, this request is channeled through the object request broker. Data structure maintained
by the multimedia object manager:
Database Replication Techniques In the simplest fonn of data management, the databases are
set up as duplicates of the databases. Database duplication ensures that the multiple copies are
identical.
There is an approach to allow each copy of the database to be modified as needed and to
synchronize them by comparing them and copying the changes to all other database copies on
a very frequent basis, this process is called replication.
Types of Database Replication: There are eight types of modes available. They are: Round
Robin replication.2.Manual replication. (Hi) Scheduled replication. (iv) Immediate replication.
V)Replication-on-demand. Vi) Predictive replication. Vii) Replication references. Viii)No
replication. Object
Migration Schemes
Optimizing Object Storage A number of techniques are available for optimizing data storage
for multimedia objects. Let us consider the three design approaches
1. Optimizing Servers by Object Type:
The mechanism for optimizing storage is to dedicate a server to a particular type of
object. The object server may ne designed to provide specialized services for specific
object classes related to rendering
2. Automatic Load Balancing: It can be achieved by programming the replication
algorithm to monitor use counts for each copy of a replicated object.
3. Versioned Object Storage:
The storage problem will be more complex if multiple vcrsions need to be stored.
Hence, we should follow the technique which is based on saving changes rather than
storing whole new objects. New versions of the object can be complex objects,.