Multimedia Database in Perspective

This volume provides much-needed coverage of the technical background to the development of multimedia applications. Based on an advanced summer school run by the University of Twente, each chapter is written by an expert in a particular topic, including enabling technologies, operating systems, index structures for multimedia, and communication issues. There is also a comprehensive discussion of the factors which determine the success or failure of database applications in the real-world, based on new multimedia projects in Dutch industries and service companies. Multimedia Databases in Perspective is an advanced textbook aimed at final year undergraduate students, and M.Sc. and Ph.D. students studying databases, database management, information systems, and multimedia applications. It will also be of interest to researchers in the above areas, and D.B.M.S. developers working in the software industry.

I: Requirements for a Multimedia Database.- 1 Introduction.- 1.1 Introduction.- 1.2 Multimedia.- 1.3 Some Characteristics.- 1.3.1 Content-Based Retrieval.- 1.3.2 Quality of Service.- 1.3.3 Synchronisation.- 1.4 Architecture.- 1.5 Contents.- 1.5.1 Part I: Requirements for a Multimedia Database.- 1.5.2 Part II: Client Components.- 1.5.3 Part III: Server Components.- 1.5.4 Part IV: Environment.- 2 Current and Emerging Applications.- 2.1 A Multimedia Publication Environment.- 2.2 Multimedia and Database System Support for Systems Engineering.- 2.3 A Multimedia Calendar of Event Teleservice.- 2.4 The QBIC System.- 2.5 Multimedia Document Archives.- 2.6 The Informedia Project.- 2.7 Some Virtual World Applications.- 2.8 Other Emerging Applications.- 3 Multimedia and its Impact on Database System Architectures.- 3.1 Introduction.- 3.2 Characteristics.- 3.2.1 Types of Multimedia Data.- 3.2.2 Temporal Aspects.- 3.2.3 Media Representation.- 3.2.4 Data Volume.- 3.2.5 Data Modelling.- 3.2.6 Resources.- 3.2.7 User Interaction.- 3.2.8 Querying Multimedia Information.- 3.2.9 Typical Database Management Functionality.- 3.3 Building Blocks for Multimedia Database Systems.- 3.3.1 The Notion of Multimedia Database Management Systems.- 3.3.2 Multimedia Data Models.- 3.3.3 Exploiting Traditional Database System Technology.- 3.3.4 A Reference Architecture for Multimedia Database Systems.- 3.4 Conclusions.- II: Client Components.- 4 User Interaction in a Virtual World Environment.- 4.1 Introduction.- 4.2 Characteristics.- 4.2.1 Terminology.- 4.2.2 Basic Architecture.- 4.2.3 Model Representation.- 4.3 Virtual Environment Building Blocks.- 4.3.1 Effectors.- 4.3.2 Software.- 4.3.3 Interface Aspects.- 4.4 Virtual Worlds and Databases.- 4.4.1 General Characteristics of Virtual World Databases.- 4.4.2 Very Large Virtual Environments.- 4.5 Conclusions.- 5 Searching Distributed Hypermedia.- 5.1 Introduction.- 5.2 Background Information.- 5.2.1 Internet.- 5.2.2 Hypertext and Hypermedia.- 5.2.3 WWW.- 5.3 Searching and Browsing.- 5.4 Requirements for Search Support.- 5.4.1 Harvest.- 5.4.2 Semantics.- 5.4.3 Our Use of Harvest.- 5.5 Locating Publication Servers.- 5.5.1 Membership-Based Locating.- 5.5.2 Publication-Based Locating.- 5.5.3 Subscription-Based Locating.- 5.6 Searching.- 5.7 Browsing.- 5.8 Architectural Issues.- 5.8.1 Search Client.- 5.8.2 Publication Server.- 5.8.3 Disseminators.- 5.8.4 Index Facilities.- 5.8.5 Query Processing.- 5.8.6 Reducing Network Traffic.- 5.9 Conclusions.- III: Server Components.- 6 The SQL3 Server Interface.- 6.1 Introduction.- 6.2 SQL3: An Overview.- 6.2.1 Functions and Procedures.- 6.2.2 SQL3 Type System.- 6.2.3 Binary Large Objects (BLOBs).- 6.2.4 Other Facilities.- 6.3 Assessment of SQL3 Facilities.- 6.3.1 SQL3 as an Implementation Vehicle.- 6.3.2 SQL3-Based Type Definitions for MM Objects.- 6.3.3 Limitations of SQL3.- 6.4 Summary.- 7 The SGML/HyTime Server Interface.- 7.1 Introduction.- 7.2 SGML.- 7.3 HyTime.- 7.4 Case Study.- 7.4.1 The Case.- 7.4.2 Examples of HyTime Documents.- 7.5 Application in Practice.- 8 Content-Based Querying.- 8.1 Introduction.- 8.2 Multimedia Object Modelling and Similarity-Based Querying..- 8.2.1 Multimedia Description Model.- 8.2.2 Multimedia Interpretation Model.- 8.3 Content-Based Retrieval in Text Document Database Systems.- 8.3.1 Similarity Measures for Text Retrieval.- 8.3.2 Query Expansion Using Concept Relationships.- 8.4 Content-Based Querying in Image Database Systems.- 8.4.1 Image Similarity Based on Global Image Features.- 8.4.2 Image Similarity Based on Image Subobject Features.- 8.5 Searching in Video Database Systems.- 8.5.1 Automatic Shot Detection.- 8.5.2 Video Information Modeling and Querying.- 8.6 Conclusions.- 9 Query Processing.- 9.1 Introduction.- 9.2 Access and Storage.- 9.2.1 Multimedia Storage Techniques.- 9.2.2 Multimedia Access Methods.- 9.3 Dimensions in Multimedia Query Processing.- 9.3.1 Query Predicates.- 9.3.2 Active and Passive Components.- 9.3.3 Exact Match/Partial Match.- 9.3.4 Approximation Degree.- 9.3.5 Extensibility.- 9.4 An Example: The MULTOS Approach.- 9.4.1 Storage and Access Methods.- 9.4.2 Query Language.- 9.4.3 Query Processing Strategy.- 9.4.4 An Example of Query Processing.- 9.4.5 Images as Active Components.- 9.5 Open Issues.- 9.5.1 Cost Models and Estimation.- 9.5.2 Integration of Different Approximation Strategies.- 9.6 Conclusions.- 10 Indexing of Multimedia Data.- 10.1 Introduction.- 10.2 Survey.- 10.2.1 Query By Image Content.- 10.2.2 Multi-Dimensional Indexing - SAMs.- 10.3 Basic Idea.- 10.4 1-D Time Series.- 10.4.1 Distance Function.- 10.4.2 Feature Extraction and Lower-Bounding.- 10.4.3 Introduction to DFT.- 10.4.4 Energy-Concentrating Properties of DFT.- 10.4.5 Experiments.- 10.5 2-D Color Images.- 10.5.1 Image Features and Distance Functions.- 10.5.2 Lower-bounding.- 10.5.3 Experiments.- 10.6 Extension: Sub-Pattern Matching.- 10.6.1 Sketch of the Approach - ‘ST-index’.- 10.6.2 Experiments.- 10.7 Conclusions.- IV: Environment.- 11 Operating System Support.- 11.1 Introduction.- 11.2 General Design Characteristics.- 11.2.1 Quality of Service.- 11.2.2 Synchronisation.- 11.2.3 Scheduling and Interrupt Processing.- 11.2.4 Thread Management.- 11.2.5 Interprocess Communication.- 11.2.6 Distributed File Systems.- 11.3 Multimedia Operating System Projects.- 11.3.1 Pandora and Medusa.- 11.3.2 The DASH project.- 11.3.3 SUMO.- 11.3.4 WANDA.- 11.3.5 YARTOS.- 11.3.6 ARTS.- 11.3.7 Real-Time Mach.- 11.3.8 Real-Time Extensions to UNIX.- 11.4 Multimedia Storage Projects.- 11.4.1 The Etherphone Storage System.- 11.4.2 Swift.- 11.4.3 Zebra.- 11.4.4 RAID-II.- 11.4.5 UCSD Multi Media File Server.- 11.4.6 The Lancaster Continuous Media Storage Server.- 11.4.7 UCB Continuous Media File System.- 11.5 PEGASUS.- 11.5.1 Nemesis.- 11.5.2 Pegasus File Server.- 11.6 Discussion and Directions for Future Work.- 11.7 Conclusions and Summary.- 12 Communication Support.- 12.1 Introduction.- 12.2 Protocol Support for Continuous Streams.- 12.2.1 Flow Control.- 12.2.2 Error Correction.- 12.2.3 Forward Error Correction.- 12.3 Quality-of-Service Specification.- 12.3.1 Quality-of-Service at Layer 2.- 12.3.2 Quality-of-Service at the Network Layer.- 12.3.3 Quality-of-Service at the Transport Layer.- 12.3.4 Quality-of-Service at the Application Layer.- 12.4 Stream Synchronisation.- 12.4.1 Media Layer.- 12.4.2 Stream Layer.- 12.4.3 Object Layer.- 12.5 Multicast for Multimedia.- 12.5.1 Multimedia Systems Require Multicast Support.- 12.5.2 Multicast in LANs.- 12.5.3 Multicast in ATM.- 12.5.4 Multicast at the Network Layer.- 12.6 Conclusions.- 13 Critical Success Factors.- 13.1 Introduction..- 13.1.1 Objectives and Scope of this Chapter.- 13.1.2 Overview of this Chapter.- 13.2 Multimedia Applications.- 13.2.1 The End-User’s Perspective.- 13.2.2 Economic Sectors.- 13.3 Impact and Value of Multimedia Telematics Applications.- 13.3.1 Impact of Multimedia Telematics Applications.- 13.3.2 Value of Multimedia Applications.- 13.4 Critical Success Factors for Multimedia.- 13.4.1 Diversity and Integration of Media.- 13.4.2 Multimedia Technology.- 13.4.3 Introduction and Diffusion.- 13.4.4 Resulting Value.- 13.4.5 Resulting Organisational Changes.- 13.4.6 Acceptance of the Application.- 13.5 Implications for Database Systems.- 13.6 Summary and Conclusions.- List of Authors.