Puri A., Chen T. (eds.) Multimedia Systems, Standards, and Networks

Springer, 2000. — 646 p.This is not to say that efficient compression is no longer important—in fact, this book pays a great deal of attention to that topic—but as compression technology undergoes standardization, matures, and is deployed in multimedia applications, many other issues are becoming increasingly relevant. For instance, issues in system design for synchronized playback of several simultaneous audio-visual streams are important. Also increasingly important is the capability for enhanced interaction of user with the content, and streaming of the same coded content over a variety of networks. This book addresses all these facets mainly by using the context of two recent MPEG standards. MPEG has a rich history of developing pioneering standards for digital video and audio coding, and its standards are currently used in digital cable TV, satellite TV, video on PCs, high-definition television, video on CD-ROMs, DVDs, the Internet, and much more. This book addresses two new standards, MPEG-4 and MPEG-7, that hold the potential of impacting many future applications, including interactive Internet multimedia, wireless videophones, multimedia search/browsing engines, multimedia-enhanced e-commerce, and networked computer video games. But before we get too far, it is time to briefly introduce a few basic terms.
So what is multimedia? Well, the term multimedia to some conjures images of cinematic wizardry or audiovisual special effects, whereas to others it simply means video with audio. Neither of the two views is totally accurate. We use the term multimedia in this book to mean digital multimedia, which implies the use of several digitized media simultaneously in a synchronized or related manner. Examples of various types of media include speech, images, text/graphics, audio, video, and computer animation. Furthermore, there is no strict requirement that all of these different media ought to be simultaneously used, just that more than one media type may be used and combined with others as needed to create an interesting multimedia presentation.
What do we mean by a multimedia system? Consider a typical multimedia presentation. As described, it may consist of a number of different streams that need to be continuously decoded and synchronized for presentation. A multimedia system is the entity that actually performs this task, among others. It ensures proper decoding of individual media streams. It ties the component media contained in the multimedia stream. It guarantees proper synchronization of individual media for playback of a presentation. A multimedia system may also check for and enforce intellectual property rights with respect to multimedia content.
Why do we need multimedia standards? Standards are needed to guarantee interoperability. For instance, a decoding device such as a DVD player can decode multimedia content of a DVD disc because the content is coded and formatted according to rules understood by the DVD player. In addition, having internationally uniform standards implies that a DVD disc bought anywhere in the world may be played on any DVD player. Standards have an important role not only in consumer electronics but also in multimedia communications. For example, a videotelephony system can work properly only if the two endpoints that want to communicate are compatible and each follows protocols that the other can understand. There are also other reasons for standards; e.g., because of economies of scale, establishment of multimedia standards allows devices, content, and services to be produced inexpensively.
What does multimedia networking mean? A multimedia application such as playing a DVD disc on a DVD player is a stand-alone application. However, an application requiring downloading of, for example, MP3 music content from a Web site to play on a hardware or software player uses networking. Yet another form of multimedia networking may involve playing streaming video where multimedia is chunked and transmitted to the decoder continuously instead of the decoder having to wait to download all of it. Multimedia communication applications such as videotelephony also use networking. Furthermore, a multiplayer video game application with remote players also uses networking. In fact, whether it relates to consumer electronics, wireless devices, or the Internet, multimedia networking is becoming increasingly important.Communication Standards: Götterdämmerung?
ITU-T H.323 and H.324 Standards
H.263 (Including H.263_) and Other ITU-T Video Coding Standards
Overview of the MPEG Standards
Review of MPEG-4 General Audio Coding
Synthetic Audio and SNHC Audio in MPEG-4
MPEG-4 Visual Standard Overview
MPEG-4 Natural Video Coding—Part I
MPEG-4 Natural Video Coding—Part II
MPEG-4 Texture Coding
MPEG-4 Synthetic Video
MPEG-4 Systems: Overview
MPEG-4 Systems: Elementary Stream Management and Delivery
MPEG-4: Scene Representation and Interactivity
Java in MPEG-4 (MPEG-J)
MPEG-4 Players Implementation
Multimedia Transport in ATM Networks
Delivery and Control of MPEG-4 Content Over IP Networks
Multimedia Over Wireless
Multimedia Search and Retrieval
Image Retrieval in Digital Libraries
MPEG-7: Status and Directions