Premo: an emerging standard for multimedia presentation. II.Specification and applications

For pt.I see ibid., p.83-9, Fall, 1996. The article gives an overview of the Premo (Presentation Environment for Multimedia Objects) standard. The first part presented the motivation behind Premo's development and gave a general overview of the standard's technical content. The interested reader may also refer to the Premo document itself, as well as the various ISO documents and other publications. A World Wide Web site is presented which provides a good starting point to navigate through and access all available documents     

Database interoperation support in multimedia applications:architecture and methodology

One of the major concerns for the early adopters of the new media technologies is how to safeguard their investments in the face of rapid technological change. In this paper, we argue that technological change and the ensuing problems are a well-known issue in databases, and that the multimedia industry can benefit from lessons learned in database technology. Moreover, we argue that meta-translation, a specific approach to software interoperation that has been developed in the context of heterogeneous databases, may also be useful in multimedia applications, particularly in converting proprietary annotation and indexing schemes into emerging or existing standards, such as MPEG-7. This technology automates the construction of conversion tools significantly, thus reducing the cost of migration and interoperation. Beginning with a discussion of architectural aspects of multimedia systems and a summary of relevant interoperation standards, the paper proceeds to describe and then to assess meta-translation as an approach and technology in this context     

Toward a Common Event Model for Multimedia Applications

Although events are ubiquitous in multimedia, no common notion of events has emerged. Events appear in multimedia presentation formats, programming frameworks, and databases, as well as in next-generation multimedia applications such as eChronicles, life logs, or the Event Web. A common event model for multimedia could serve as a unifying foundation for all of these applications     

基于软交换的多媒体应用方案

文章概要分析了多媒体应用的现状和发展趋势,从体系结构、设备接入、业务能力和运营支持系统策略等主要方面,阐述了基于软交换的宽带城域网多媒体应用总体技术方案,并给出了一个典型的点到多点多媒体会议呼叫流程示例,最后简单讨论了软交换在应用过程中面临的主要技术问题。     

Segmentation of moving objects in image sequence: A review

Segmentation of objects in image sequences is very important in many aspects of multimedia applications. In second-generation image/video coding, images are segmented into objects to achieve efficient compression by coding the contour and texture separately. As the purpose is to achieve high compression performance, the objects segmented may not be semantically meaningful to human observers. The more recent applications, such as content-based image/video retrieval and image/video composition, require that the segmented objects be semantically meaningful. Indeed, the recent multimedia standard MPEG-4 specifies that a video is composed of meaningful video objects. Although many segmentation techniques have been proposed in the literature, fully automatic segmentation tools for general applications are currently not achievable. This paper provides a review of this important and challenging area of segmentation of moving objects. We describe common approaches including temporal segmentation, spatial segmentation, and the combination of temporal-spatial segmentation. As an example, a complete segmentation scheme, which is an informative part of MPEG-4, is summarized.     

The MPEG-4 Multimedia Coding Standard: Algorithms, Architectures and Applications

The upcoming MPEG-4 standard provides new possibilities for the compression and presentation of multimedia contents. The main characteristics of MPEG-4 are the object-based coding and representation of an audio-visual scene and the ability to code objects of natural or synthetic origin. These features will enhance existing applications with new functionalities and enable standardised solutions for new applications. This paper provides an overview of the three major parts Systems, Visual and Audio of the new MPEG-4 standard, highlights implementation aspects for some envisaged types of MPEG-4 terminals and describes possible future multimedia application scenarios using MPEG-4 functionalities.     

An open medical imaging workstation architecture forplatform-independent 3-D medical image processing and visualization

A need for an entirely new medical workstation design was identified to increase the deployment of 3D medical imaging and multimedia communication. Recent wide acceptance of the World Wide Web (WWW) as a general communication service within the global network has shown how big the impact of standards and open systems can be. Information is shared among heterogeneous systems and diverse applications on various hardware platforms only by agreeing on a common format for information distribution. For medical image communications, the Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine (DICOM) standard is possibly anticipating such a role. Logically, the next step is open software: platform-independent tools, which can as easily be transferred and used on multiple platforms. Application of the platform-independent programming language Java enables the creation of plug-in tools, which can easily extend the basic system. Performance problems inherent to all interpreter systems can be circumvented by using a hybrid approach. Computationally intensive functions like image processing functions can be integrated into a natively implemented optimized image processing kernel. Plug-in tools implemented in Java can utilize the kernel functions via a Java-wrapper library. This approach is comparable to the implementation of computationally intensive operations in hardware     

BAAQ: an infrastructure for application integration and knowledge discovery in bioinformatics.

The emerging grid computing technologies enable bioinformatics scientists to conduct their researches in a virtual laboratory, in which they share public databases, computational tools as well as their analysis workflows. However, the development of grid applications is still a nightmare for general bioinformatics scientists, due to the lack of grid programming environments, standards and high-level services. Here, we present a system, which we named Bioinformatics: Ask Any Questions (BAAQ), to automate this development procedure as much as possible. BAAQ allows scientists to store and manage remote biological data and programs, to build analysis workflows that integrate these resources seamlessly, and to discover knowledge from available resources. This paper addresses two issues in building grid applications in bioinformatics: how to smoothly compose an analysis workflow using heterogeneous resources and how to efficiently discover and re-use available resources in the grid community. Correspondingly an intelligent grid programming environment and an active solution recommendation service are proposed. Finally, we present a case study applying BAAQ to a bioinformatics problem.     

MPEG系列标准的比较及最新进展

MPEG是目前影响最大、应用最广的多媒体技术标准.文中详细讨论了此系列标准中各个标准(包括MPEG-1、MPEG-2、MPEG-4、MPEG-7、MPEG-21)的特点和应用,并对其多个方面进行了比较,最后介绍了此标准目前需要解决的问题、前景以及最新的进展情况.     

MPEG digital video-coding standards

The efficient digital representation of image and video signals has been the subject of considerable research over the past 20 years. Digital video-coding technology has developed into a mature field and products have been developed that are targeted for a wide range of emerging applications, such as video on demand, digital TV/HDTV broadcasting, and multimedia image/video database services. With the increased commercial interest in video communications, the need for international image- and video-compression standards arose. To meet this need, the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) was formed to develop coding standards. MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 video-coding standards have attracted much attention worldwide, with an increasing number of very large scale integration (VLSI) and software implementations of these standards becoming commercially available. MPEG-4, the most recent MPEG standard that is still under development, is targeted for future content-based multimedia applications. We provide an overview of the MPEG video-coding algorithms and standards and their role in video communications. We review the basic concepts and techniques that are relevant in the context of the MPEG video-compression standards and outline MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 video-coding algorithms. The specific properties of the standards related to their applications are presented, and the basic elements of the forthcoming MPEG-4 standard are also described. We also discuss the performance of the standards and their success in the market place     

Quality of service in telecommunications. I. Proposition of a QoSframework and its application to B-ISDN

The the quality of service (QoS) concept is becoming an ever more important issue in telecommunication and computer communication. The article focuses on the QoS notion and concept. The definition of QoS in the International Telecommunications Union-Telecommunications Sector (ITU-T) recommendations and the International Standards Organization (ISO) standards is analysed. Little is known about the asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) performance requirements of the broadband integrated services digital network (B-ISDN) services, especially for multimedia applications. This is because the ATM performance requirements of multimedia applications depend not only on the diverse QoS requirements from application and user, but also on the protocol stacks and scheduling in end systems. Therefore, in order to guarantee QoS to the user, it is necessary to introduce a set of QoS parameters whose properties indicate the nature and requirements of the layered protocol stack. We describe how a proposed QoS framework can be applied to B-ISDN as a specific network. The QoS aspects related to B-ISDN signaling (the control plane) and the QoS aspects related to layer and plane management (the management plane) are described. We also describe how the QoS framework resides in a protocol stack and works together with the B-ISDN network management and signaling     

MHEG——多媒体和超媒体编码标准

随着信息多样化的发展,信息的表现形式向组合化发展,而单一媒体不具备将信息的内容与其表现特征在时间和空间上同步统一的能力,为此多媒体和超媒体技术应运而生。ＭＨＥＧ标准定义了多媒体／超媒体信息对象编码表示的最终形式,以及以该信息对象为单元在系统内部 或系统间进行的交互,它在多媒体／超媒体应用中,特别是交互式分布多媒体环境中将失常非常重要的角色。文中介绍了多媒体和超媒体编码标准ＭＨＥＧ的发展历史、范围、     

信息设备资源共享协同服务标准的体系结构

信息设备资源共享协同服务标准（IGRS）是为了实现信息设备智能互联、资源共享、协同服务而制订的。IGRS采用了开放性的体系结构。遵从IGRS标准的设备能够与采用其他标准（如通用即插即用标准）的设备进行互操作。IGRS支持多种应用框架和特色应用。开发者可以通过IGRS媒体类应用框架结合多种媒体格式标准，如AVS、MPEG-2等，进行多媒体应用的开发。IGRS标准适用于在计算机、家用电器和通信等设备之间，在一定范围网络域内，通过有线或无线方式实现资源共享与协同服务。     

Multimedia in the ODP-RM standard

To coordinate the various standards, we need a framework or architecture that covers many aspects of distributed systems without specifying implementation details. The International Standardization Organization (ISO), realizing the growing importance of standardizing distributed systems, initiated the Open Distributed Processing (ODP) standardization activity in 1987. The ODP reference model (ODP-RM) provides a general framework addressing distributed systems operating in a heterogeneous environment. This article presents ODP-RM and discusses its relevance to multimedia. The standard seeks to enable seamless interfacing of distributed application components despite their heterogeneity. The ODP-RM provides concepts, rules, and languages for building distributed systems. The ODP-RM is based on object orientation, communications, and distributed systems technology. It provides an overall framework for the design of open distributed systems     

Towards global information networking

An overview is given of how fiber optics technology has emerged from the drawing board into the marketplace over the last, roughly, 25 years, and how the low-cost bandwidth that fiber provides enables bandwidth-intensive applications such as access to multimedia information, customized television programming, and multimedia real-time communications and messaging. A prognosis for future applications in the environment of broadband, personalized communication services is also given     

ViewStation applications: implications for network traffic

This paper describes applications built on the ViewStation, a distributed multimedia system based on Unix workstations and a gigabit per second local area network. A key tenet of the ViewStation project is the delivery of media data not just to the desktop but all the way to the application program. As processing power continues to improve, our approach enables applications that perform intensive processing of audio and video data. We hypothesize that as media data are shaped by this software-based processing, the resultant network traffic patterns will be dominated more by software behavior than by so-called real-time issues. We have written applications that directly process live video to provide more responsive human-computer interaction. We have also developed applications to explore the potential of media processing to support content-based retrieval of prerecorded television broadcasts. These applications perform intelligent processing on video, as well as straightforward presentation. They demonstrate the utility of network-based multimedia systems that deliver audio and video data all the way to the application. The network requirements of the applications are modeled as a combination of bursty transfers and periodic packet-trains     

The construction of a simulation-based system for the developmentof powerful and realistic models and practicals for healthcareprofessionals

The aim of this paper is to examine the importance of computer-based simulation by the demonstration and study of complex systems and the presentation of essential tools and applications that can help health professionals deliver good quality practicals, which is now impeded by cost and/or technical constrains. The tools that have been developed in the framework of the Courseware Authoring for Scientific Training (COAST) project are the “modeler environment”, which is used to describe the different tools and mathematical functions available for building models, and the “simulation author environment”, which is used for building simulation sequences and providing the required tools and functions. This effort provides scientists with new technological and cost-effective means, specifically based on multimedia simulation, for preparing educational material, so as to gradually replace laboratory practicals that are gradually becoming more expensive, and improves student's understanding of complex systems     

Multimedia interchange using SGML/HyTime. I. Structures

HyTime is a standard neutral markup language for representing hypertext, multimedia, hypermedia and time-based documents in terms of their logical structure. Documents represented in HyTime conform fully to the ISO Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML). In effect, HyTime extends SGML by adding certain syntactic conventions called SGML architectural forms, with which it represents certain semantic constructs. HyTime cannot be understood or evaluated without understanding, at least to some extent, the significance and usefulness of the SGML standard on which it is based. This article examines the structure of the two standards. HyTime places unprecedented demands on document processing systems-demands which they have yet to meet. For example, a full implementation of HyTime would allow one to create a hyperlink to whatever happens to be going on at a particular time and/or place in a finite coordinate space (FCS), even if the event, location and time are not yet known, because of binding-time issues. HyTime allows a document to specify where and/or when the results of traversing a hyperlink will be rendered. HyTime provides constructs for specifying how events scheduled in one FCS are to be “projected” onto another, e.g. from a 3D FCS to a 2D FCS, or from a virtual measurement domain to a real one