Multimedia delivery in the future internet

The term “Networked Media” implies that all kinds of media including text, image, 3D graphics, audio and video are produced, distributed, shared, managed and consumed on-line through various networks, like the Internet, Fiber, WiFi, WiMAX, GPRS, 3G and so on, in a convergent manner [1]. This white paper is the contribution of the Media Delivery Platform (MDP) cluster and aims to cover the Networked challenges of the Networked Media in the transition to the Future of the Internet. Internet has evolved and changed the way we work and live. End users of the Internet have been confronted with a bewildering range of media, services and applications and of technological innovations concerning media formats, wireless networks, terminal types and capabilities. And there is little evidence that the pace of this innovation is slowing. Today, over one billion of users access the Internet on regular basis, more than 100 million users have downloaded at least one (multi)media file and over 47 millions of them do so regularly, searching in more than 160 Exabytes1 of content. In the near future these numbers are expected to exponentially rise. It is expected that the Internet content will be increased by at least a factor of 6, rising to more than 990 Exabytes before 2012, fuelled mainly by the users themselves. Moreover, it is envisaged that in a near- to mid-term future, the Internet will provide the means to share and distribute (new) multimedia content and services with superior quality and striking flexibility, in a trusted and personalized way, improving citizens’ quality of life, working conditions, edutainment and safety. In this evolving environment, new transport protocols, new multimedia encoding schemes, cross-layer inthe network adaptation, machine-to-machine communication (including RFIDs), rich 3D content as well as community networks and the use of peer-to-peer (P2P) overlays are expected to generate new models of interaction and cooperation, and be able to support enhanced perceived quality-of-experience (PQoE) and innovative applications “on the move”, like virtual collaboration environments, personalised services/ media, virtual sport groups, on-line gaming, edutainment. In this context, the interaction with content combined with interactive/multimedia search capabilities across distributed repositories, opportunistic P2P networks and the dynamic adaptation to the characteristics of diverse mobile terminals are expected to contribute towards such a vision. Based on work that has taken place in a number of EC co-funded projects, in Framework Program 6 (FP6) and Framework Program 7 (FP7), a group of experts and technology visionaries have voluntarily contributed in this white paper aiming to describe the status, the state-of-the art, the challenges and the way ahead in the area of Content Aware media delivery platforms

Development of a MPEG-7 based multimedia content description and retrieval tool for internet protocol television (IPTV)

Search and retrieval of multimedia content from open platforms such as the Internet and IPTV platforms has long been found to be hugely inefficient. It has been noted that a major cause of such inefficient results is the improper labeling or incomplete description of multimedia content by its creators. The lack of adequate description of video content by the proper annotation of video content with the relevant metadata leads to poor search and retrieval yields. The creation of such metadata itself is a major problem as there are various metadata description standards which users could employ. On the other hand there are tools such as FFprobe that can retrieve important features of video that can be used in searching and retrieval. The combination of such tools and metadata description standards could be the solution to the metadata problem. The Multimedia Content Description Interface (MPEG-7) is an example of a metadata description standard. It has been adopted by TISPAN for the description of IPTV multimedia content. The MPEG-7 standard is rather complex, seeing as it has over 1200 global Descriptors and Description Schemes which a user would have to know in order to implement such technology. This complexity is a nuisance when we consider the existence of multitudes of amateur video producers. These multimedia content creators have no idea how to use the MPEG-7 standard to annotate their creations with metadata. Consequently, overloading of the IPTV platform with content that has not been annotated in a standardized manner occurs, making search and retrieval of the multimedia content (videos, in this instance) inefficient. Therefore, it was imperative to try and determine whether the use of the MPEG-7 standard could be made much easier by creating a tool that is MPEG-7 enabled which will allow for the annotation of video content by any user without concerning themselves about how to use the MPEG-7 standard. In attempting to develop a tool for metadata generation, it was incumbent for us to understand the issues associated with metadata generation for users wishing to create IPTV services. An extensive literature review on IPTV standardization was carried out to determine the issues associated with metadata generation for IPTV and their proposed solutions. An experimental research approach was taken in an attempt to figure out if our proposed solution to the lack of technical expertise by users about the MPEG-7 standard could be the final solution to the metadata generation problem. We developed a Multimedia Content Description and Management System (MCDMS) prototype which enabled us to describe video content by annotating it with 16 different metadata elements and storing the descriptions in XML MPEG-7 format. Incremental development and re-use oriented development were used during the development phase of this research. The MCDMS underwent functional testing; smoke testing of the individual system components and Big Bang integration testing for the combined components. Our results indicate that the more metadata is appended to a video as description the better it is to search for and retrieve. The MCDMS hides the complexity of MPEG-7 metadata creation from the users. With the effortless creation of MPEG-7 based metadata, it becomes easier to annotate videos. Consequently, search and retrieval of video content becomes more efficient. It is important to note that the description of multimedia content remains a complex feat. Even with the metadata elements laid out for users, there still exist other issues that affect metadata creation such as polysemy and the semantic gap. However, the provision of a tool that does the MPEG-7 standardizing behind the scenes for users when they upload a video makes the description of multimedia content in a standardized manner a much easier feat to achieve

Persönliche Wege der Interaktion mit multimedialen Inhalten

Today the world of multimedia is almost completely device- and content-centered. It focuses it’s energy nearly exclusively on technical issues such as computing power, network specifics or content and device characteristics and capabilities. In most multimedia systems, the presentation of multimedia content and the basic controls for playback are main issues. Because of this, a very passive user experience, comparable to that of traditional TV, is most often provided. In the face of recent developments and changes in the realm of multimedia and mass media, this ”traditional” focus seems outdated. The increasing use of multimedia content on mobile devices, along with the continuous growth in the amount and variety of content available, make necessary an urgent re-orientation of this domain. In order to highlight the depth of the increasingly difficult situation faced by users of such systems, it is only logical that these individuals be brought to the center of attention. In this thesis we consider these trends and developments by applying concepts and mechanisms to multimedia systems that were first introduced in the domain of usercentrism. Central to the concept of user-centrism is that devices should provide users with an easy way to access services and applications. Thus, the current challenge is to combine mobility, additional services and easy access in a single and user-centric approach. This thesis presents a framework for introducing and supporting several of the key concepts of user-centrism in multimedia systems. Additionally, a new definition of a user-centric multimedia framework has been developed and implemented. To satisfy the user’s need for mobility and flexibility, our framework makes possible seamless media and service consumption. The main aim of session mobility is to help people cope with the increasing number of different devices in use. Using a mobile agent system, multimedia sessions can be transferred between different devices in a context-sensitive way. The use of the international standard MPEG-21 guarantees extensibility and the integration of content adaptation mechanisms. Furthermore, a concept is presented that will allow for individualized and personalized selection and face the need for finding appropriate content. All of which can be done, using this approach, in an easy and intuitive way. Especially in the realm of television, the demand that such systems cater to the need of the audience is constantly growing. Our approach combines content-filtering methods, state-of-the-art classification techniques and mechanisms well known from the area of information retrieval and text mining. These are all utilized for the generation of recommendations in a promising new way. Additionally, concepts from the area of collaborative tagging systems are also used. An extensive experimental evaluation resulted in several interesting findings and proves the applicability of our approach. In contrast to the ”lean-back” experience of traditional media consumption, interactive media services offer a solution to make possible the active participation of the audience. Thus, we present a concept which enables the use of interactive media services on mobile devices in a personalized way. Finally, a use case for enriching TV with additional content and services demonstrates the feasibility of this concept.Die heutige Welt der Medien und der multimedialen Inhalte ist nahezu ausschließlich inhalts- und geräteorientiert. Im Fokus verschiedener Systeme und Entwicklungen stehen oft primär die Art und Weise der Inhaltspräsentation und technische Spezifika, die meist geräteabhängig sind. Die zunehmende Menge und Vielfalt an multimedialen Inhalten und der verstärkte Einsatz von mobilen Geräten machen ein Umdenken bei der Konzeption von Multimedia Systemen und Frameworks dringend notwendig. Statt an eher starren und passiven Konzepten, wie sie aus dem TV Umfeld bekannt sind, festzuhalten, sollte der Nutzer in den Fokus der multimedialen Konzepte rücken. Um dem Nutzer im Umgang mit dieser immer komplexeren und schwierigen Situation zu helfen, ist ein Umdenken im grundlegenden Paradigma des Medienkonsums notwendig. Durch eine Fokussierung auf den Nutzer kann der beschriebenen Situation entgegengewirkt werden. In der folgenden Arbeit wird auf Konzepte aus dem Bereich Nutzerzentrierung zurückgegriffen, um diese auf den Medienbereich zu übertragen und sie im Sinne einer stärker nutzerspezifischen und nutzerorientierten Ausrichtung einzusetzen. Im Fokus steht hierbei der TV-Bereich, wobei die meisten Konzepte auch auf die allgemeine Mediennutzung übertragbar sind. Im Folgenden wird ein Framework für die Unterstützung der wichtigsten Konzepte der Nutzerzentrierung im Multimedia Bereich vorgestellt. Um dem Trend zur mobilen Mediennutzung Sorge zu tragen, ermöglicht das vorgestellte Framework die Nutzung von multimedialen Diensten und Inhalten auf und über die Grenzen verschiedener Geräte und Netzwerke hinweg (Session mobility). Durch die Nutzung einer mobilen Agentenplattform in Kombination mit dem MPEG-21 Standard konnte ein neuer und flexibel erweiterbarer Ansatz zur Mobilität von Benutzungssitzungen realisiert werden. Im Zusammenhang mit der stetig wachsenden Menge an Inhalten und Diensten stellt diese Arbeit ein Konzept zur einfachen und individualisierten Selektion und dem Auffinden von interessanten Inhalten und Diensten in einer kontextspezifischen Weise vor. Hierbei werden Konzepte und Methoden des inhaltsbasierten Filterns, aktuelle Klassifikationsmechanismen und Methoden aus dem Bereich des ”Textminings” in neuer Art und Weise in einem Multimedia Empfehlungssystem eingesetzt. Zusätzlich sind Methoden des Web 2.0 in eine als Tag-basierte kollaborative Komponente integriert. In einer umfassenden Evaluation wurde sowohl die Umsetzbarkeit als auch der Mehrwert dieser Komponente demonstriert. Eine aktivere Beteiligung im Medienkonsum ermöglicht unsere iTV Komponente. Sie unterstützt das Anbieten und die Nutzung von interaktiven Diensten, begleitend zum Medienkonsum, auf mobilen Geräten. Basierend auf einem Szenario zur Anreicherung von TV Sendungen um interaktive Dienste konnte die Umsetzbarkeit dieses Konzepts demonstriert werden

MediaSync: Handbook on Multimedia Synchronization

This book provides an approachable overview of the most recent advances in the fascinating field of media synchronization (mediasync), gathering contributions from the most representative and influential experts. Understanding the challenges of this field in the current multi-sensory, multi-device, and multi-protocol world is not an easy task. The book revisits the foundations of mediasync, including theoretical frameworks and models, highlights ongoing research efforts, like hybrid broadband broadcast (HBB) delivery and users' perception modeling (i.e., Quality of Experience or QoE), and paves the way for the future (e.g., towards the deployment of multi-sensory and ultra-realistic experiences). Although many advances around mediasync have been devised and deployed, this area of research is getting renewed attention to overcome remaining challenges in the next-generation (heterogeneous and ubiquitous) media ecosystem. Given the significant advances in this research area, its current relevance and the multiple disciplines it involves, the availability of a reference book on mediasync becomes necessary. This book fills the gap in this context. In particular, it addresses key aspects and reviews the most relevant contributions within the mediasync research space, from different perspectives. Mediasync: Handbook on Multimedia Synchronization is the perfect companion for scholars and practitioners that want to acquire strong knowledge about this research area, and also approach the challenges behind ensuring the best mediated experiences, by providing the adequate synchronization between the media elements that constitute these experiences

Content Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) in Remote Clinical Diagnosis and Healthcare

Content-Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) locates, retrieves and displays images alike to one given as a query, using a set of features. It demands accessible data in medical archives and from medical equipment, to infer meaning after some processing. A problem similar in some sense to the target image can aid clinicians. CBIR complements text-based retrieval and improves evidence-based diagnosis, administration, teaching, and research in healthcare. It facilitates visual/automatic diagnosis and decision-making in real-time remote consultation/screening, store-and-forward tests, home care assistance and overall patient surveillance. Metrics help comparing visual data and improve diagnostic. Specially designed architectures can benefit from the application scenario. CBIR use calls for file storage standardization, querying procedures, efficient image transmission, realistic databases, global availability, access simplicity, and Internet-based structures. This chapter recommends important and complex aspects required to handle visual content in healthcare.Comment: 28 pages, 6 figures, Book Chapter from "Encyclopedia of E-Health and Telemedicine

Cooperating broadcast and cellular conditional access system for digital television

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.The lack of interoperability between Pay‐TV service providers and a horizontally integrated business transaction model have compromised the competition in the Pay‐TV market. In addition, the lack of interactivity with customers has resulted in high churn rate and improper security measures have contributed into considerable business loss. These issues are the main cause of high operational costs and subscription fees in the Pay‐TV systems. This paper presents a novel end‐to‐end system architecture for Pay‐TV systems cooperating mobile and broadcasting technologies. It provides a cost‐effective, scalable, dynamic and secure access control mechanism supporting converged services and new business opportunities in Pay‐TV systems. It enhances interactivity, security and potentially reduces customer attrition and operational cost. In this platform, service providers can effectively interact with their customers, personalise their services and adopt appropriate security measures. It breaks up the rigid relationship between a viewer and set‐top box as imposed by traditional conditional access systems, thus, a viewer can fully enjoy his entitlements via an arbitrary set‐top box. Having thoroughly considered state‐of‐the‐art technologies currently being used across the world, the thesis highlights novel use cases and presents the full design and implementation aspects of the system. The design section is enriched by providing possible security structures supported thereby. A business collaboration structure is proposed, followed by a reference model for implementing the system. Finally, the security architectures are analysed to propose the best architecture on the basis of security, complexity and set‐top box production cost criteria

Wireless triple play system

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Electrotécnica e ComputadoresTriple play is a service that combines three types of services: voice, data and multimedia over a single communication channel for a price that is less than the total price of the individual services. However there is no standard for provisioning the Triple play services, rather they are provisioned individually, since the requirements are quite different for each service. The digital revolution helped to create and deliver a high quality media solutions. One of the most demanding services is the Video on Demand (VoD). This implicates a dedicated streaming channel for each user in order to provide normal media player commands (as pause, fast forward). Most of the multimedia companies that develops personalized products does not always fulfil the users needs and are far from being cheap solutions. The goal of the project was to create a reliable and scalable triple play solution that works via Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), fully capable of dealing with the existing state of the art multimedia technologies only resorting to open-source tools. This project was design to be a transparent web environment using only web technologies to maximize the potential of the services. HyperText Markup Language (HTML),Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and JavaScript were the used technologies for the development of the applications. Both a administration and user interfaces were developed to fully manage all video contents and properly view it in a rich and appealing application, providing the proof of concept. The developed prototype was tested in a WLAN with up to four clients and the Quality of Service (QoS) and Quality of Experience (QoE) was measured for several combinations of active services. In the end it is possible to acknowledge that the developed prototype was capable of dealing with all the problems of WLAN technologies and successfully delivery all the proposed services with high QoE

AXMEDIS 2008

The AXMEDIS International Conference series aims to explore all subjects and topics related to cross-media and digital-media content production, processing, management, standards, representation, sharing, protection and rights management, to address the latest developments and future trends of the technologies and their applications, impacts and exploitation. The AXMEDIS events offer venues for exchanging concepts, requirements, prototypes, research ideas, and findings which could contribute to academic research and also benefit business and industrial communities. In the Internet as well as in the digital era, cross-media production and distribution represent key developments and innovations that are fostered by emergent technologies to ensure better value for money while optimising productivity and market coverage