Multimedia in management facing globalization processes and cognitivistics

The paper covers the use of multimedia and the Internet in management, focusing mainly on globalization and management process (planning, organization, motivation and control). The use of modern multimedia and the Internet in management must be thoroughly thought over because it has both chances and new possibilities as well as hazards for companies, employees and clients in the new age of knowledge, information technologies and globalization. The paper also presents the statistical data in selected countries about the saturation of multimedia in the World

A Case Study of Workflow and Version Control for Regeneration of Multimedia Systems

The technologies involved in the creation of multimedia content are still in evolution. One-off generation of systems is well-developed as a process and often follows the model of making a film. Many modern applications are more complicated than film productions processes in that they must be regenerated time and time again, as a repeated production process, often by passing the materials through computational processes, and as well, they must be supplied in forms suitable for a variety of delivery media, such as books, web page or CD-ROM run-time systems. To create efficiencies in the production process of revisable multi-media systems it is necessary to define processes for the management of content, control of content revision, and regeneration with workflow control of these processes. A model for managing the regeneration of Multimedia Run-time Systems (MRS) is presented here as consisting of a revision control strategy for managing primary resources. Regeneration processes are required that move data from one process to the next incorporating derived resources on the way, and ultimately producing run-time resources. As well, workflow control process to regulate and maintain the integrity of the regeneration process is needed. A case study of one approach to tackling these problems which uses reference materials for second language learning is presented. This MRS, known as the English to Basque Learning Environment (EBLE), consists of a reference library of three books and concomitant sound files for second language learning of Basque. The books are a grammar book and two dictionaries which had to be welded together seamlessly for a run-time system but each is preserved seperately and managed as independent documents for maintenance and revision. As well, the examples of Basque and English in the grammar book are recorded by native speakers and the sound files linked into the software environment with immediate access to the user. A model for managing Multimedia Run-time Systems (MRS) is presented as consisting of a revision control strategy for managing primary resources; regeneration processes that move data from one process to the next incorporating derivative resources on the way, and ultimately producing run-time resources; and a workflow control process to regulate and maintain the integrity of the regeneration processes.Hosted by the Scholarly Text and Imaging Service (SETIS), the University of Sydney Library, and the Research Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences (RIHSS), the University of Sydney

Design of a middleware for QoS-aware distribution transparent content delivery

Developers of distributed multimedia applications face a diversity of multimedia formats, streaming platforms and streaming protocols. Furthermore, support for end-to-end quality-of-service (QoS) is a crucial factor for the development of future distributed multimedia systems. This paper discusses the architecture, design and implementation of a QoS-aware middleware platform for content delivery. The platform supports the development of distributed multimedia applications and can deliver content with QoS guarantees. QoS support is offered by means of an agent infrastructure for QoS negotiation and enforcement. Properties of content are represented using a generic content representation model described using the OMG Meta Object Facility (MOF) model. A content delivery framework manages stream paths for content delivery despite differences in streaming protocols and content encoding. The integration of the QoS support, content representation and content delivery framework results in a QoS-aware middleware that enables representation transparent and location transparent delivery of content

Distributed storage manager system for synchronized and scalable AV services across networks

This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund - Copyright @ 2011 Hindawi Publishing CorporationThis paper provides an innovative solution, namely, the distributed storage manager that opens a new path for highly interactive and personalized services. The distributed storage manager provides an enhancement to the MHP storage management functionality acting as a value added middleware distributed across the network. The distributed storage manager system provides multiple protocol support for initializing and downloading both streamed and file-based content and provides optimum control mechanisms to organize the storing and retrieval of content that are remained accessible to other multiple heterogeneous devices

Design of a shared whiteboard component for multimedia conferencing

This paper reports on the development of a framework for multimedia applications in the domain of tele-education. The paper focuses on the protocol design of a specific component of the framework, namely a shared whiteboard application. The relationship of this component with other components of the framework is also discussed. A salient feature of the framework is that it uses an advanced ATM-based network service. The design of the shared whiteboard component is considered representative for the design as a whole, and is used to illustrate how a flexible protocol architecture utilizing innovative network functions and satisfying demanding user requirements can be developed

The Design of a System Architecture for Mobile Multimedia Computers

This chapter discusses the system architecture of a portable computer, called Mobile Digital Companion, which provides support for handling multimedia applications energy efficiently. Because battery life is limited and battery weight is an important factor for the size and the weight of the Mobile Digital Companion, energy management plays a crucial role in the architecture. As the Companion must remain usable in a variety of environments, it has to be flexible and adaptable to various operating conditions. The Mobile Digital Companion has an unconventional architecture that saves energy by using system decomposition at different levels of the architecture and exploits locality of reference with dedicated, optimised modules. The approach is based on dedicated functionality and the extensive use of energy reduction techniques at all levels of system design. The system has an architecture with a general-purpose processor accompanied by a set of heterogeneous autonomous programmable modules, each providing an energy efficient implementation of dedicated tasks. A reconfigurable internal communication network switch exploits locality of reference and eliminates wasteful data copies

Efficient memory management in video on demand servers

In this article we present, analyse and evaluate a new memory management technique for video-on-demand servers. Our proposal, Memory Reservation Per Storage Device (MRPSD), relies on the allocation of a fixed, small number of memory buffers per storage device. Selecting adequate scheduling algorithms, information storage strategies and admission control mechanisms, we demonstrate that MRPSD is suited for the deterministic service of variable bit rate streams to intolerant clients. MRPSD allows large memory savings compared to traditional memory management techniques, based on the allocation of a certain amount of memory per client served, without a significant performance penaltyPublicad