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IT 433
Multimedia Systems
Faculty of Information & Computer Science
IT Department
Helwan University

Dr. Nahla El_Haggar

Useful Resources

R. Steinmetz, K. Nahrstedt: Multimedia Fundamentals, Vol. 1:

Media Coding and Content Processing. Prentice Hall: 2002,
ISBN: 0-13-031399-8.

Ze-Nian Li: Fundamentals of Multimedia. Pearson Prentice

Hall,2004

Tay Vaughan : Multimedia: Making It Work

Saeed V. Vaseghi ; Multimedia Signal Processing

Theory and Applications in Speech, Music and
Communications. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2007
Dr. Nahla El_Haggar

Course Learning Outcomes

Identify various properties of audio, image, video and

animation data.
Describe some compression techniques of various
media types.
Write programs that process raw audio and image data.
Develop a multimedia presentation.
Describe basics and latest advances in multimedia
databases.
Dr. Nahla El_Haggar

Course Structure

Introduction
Media and Data Streams
Audio Technology
Graphics and Images
Video Technology
Computer-based Animation
Data Compression
Content Analysis
Dr. Nahla El_Haggar

Assessment Scheme

Grading
Labs- 10%
Group Presentation 20%
Mid Term - 20%
Final Exam 50%

May work in groups of 1 or 2 students

Dr. Nahla El_Haggar

Outlines

Introduction on Multimedia
Define multimedia
Multimedia System
Multimedia Features
Classification of Media
Attributes of Media

Dr. Nahla El_Haggar

The Term Multimedia

The word multimedia is composed of two parts:

Multi = Plural, more than 1.

Media = text, image, sound , video, ...

Many Media = Medium of communication .

The word medium (the singular of media)
means a transmission channel.

Dr. Nahla El_Haggar

The Term Multimedia

For example:
Sound is transmitted through the medium of air,
or electricity is transmitted through the medium
of wires.

poetry could be considered a medium for

transmitting our thoughts.

Or for that matter, a painting is a medium for

conveying what we observe.
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Dr. Nahla El_Haggar

What Exactly Is Multimedia?

General Definition
Multimedia is the field concerned with the computer
controlled integration of text, graphics, drawings, still and
moving images (Video), animation, audio, and any other media
where every type of information can be represented, stored,
transmitted and processed digitally.

Multimedia files
usually take up a lot of space on the disk, so we
usually use different techniques to reduce the file
size of (or compress) the data.
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Discrete Vs. Continuous Media

Continuous media Time dependent Media:
Video, animation and audio
is referred as dynamic media or time-based media.
Discrete Media Some media is time independent:
Normal data, text, Still images, graphics.

is referred to as static media or non-time-based

media or space-based media.
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Multimedia Application

Multimedia Application
is an application which uses a collection of multiple media
sources e.g. text, graphics, images, sound/audio, animation
and/or video.

How should you deliver the application?

World

Wide Web
CD-ROMs/DVD

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Examples of Multimedia Applications

World Wide Web

Hypermedia courseware
Mobile Phones
Audio/video conferencing
Digital audio and/or video editing
Multimedia Database systems
Groupware
Home shopping
Interactive Games
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Multimedia Systems
Multimedia System
is a system capable of processing
multimedia data and applications.
Multimedia System is characterised by:
the processing, storage, generation, manipulation
and rendition of Multimedia information.

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Why Is Multimedia?

The main reason for increasing popularity of

multimedia is :
Higher processing power
More memory capacity
Bigger storage capacity
Better compression technology
Transmission technology
Input and output device technology
Database technology
Software technology
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Multimedia Features
Multimedia components
Text
Images
Sound
Animation
Video
used in combination with the following features:
1. Interactivity
2. Hyperlinking

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Multimedia Features
Interactivity
User has control over the application
Experience is active rather than
passive like TV

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2.

Student selecting choices

during an on-line
computer-based exam
A user simulating a
driver test through a
computer game.

Hyperlinking
Index allows for jumping around
sections
Web pages have hyperlinks to
other web pages or other
locations on the same page.

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Interactive vs. Static

Media can be Interactive or Static.

Interactive media is dependent on previous
events or user interaction.

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Classification of Media
Interactive

Static

Digital

Analog

Digital

Analog

Text

Hyperlinks

Branching
stories

Blog Post

Book

Images

Online Photo
Albums

Digital Picture

Analog
Photograph

Video

YouTube

MPEGs

VCR Tapes

Audio

Rock Band

MP3s

Vinyls

Animation

Flash Games

GIFs

Film Cartoons

Flip Books

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Examples of Interactive Media

Text

Images

Rock Band

Video

Online photo albums.

Audio

Hyperlinked text

YouTube suggested videos.

Animation

Flash Games
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What is HyperText and HyperMedia?

Hypertext
is a text which contains links to other texts.
HyperText Navigation
Traversal through pages of hypertext is therefore usually
non-linear (as indicated below).

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HyperText
Application of hypertext concept to multimedia documents

Linking or embedding of multimedia objects

System components (e.g. Word-Wide Web)

markeup language

e.g. HyperText Markup Language (HTML)

directory service

e.g. Uniform Resource Locator (URL)

communication protocols

HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP),

File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
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Hypermedia
HyperMedia
is not constrained to be text-based. It can include
other media, e.g., graphics, images, and especially
the continuous media sound and video.

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Example Hypermedia Applications?

The World Wide Web (WWW) is the best example of a
hypermedia application.
Powerpoint
Adobe Acrobat
Many Others?

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Digital vs. Analog

The world we sense is full of analog signals
Analog: continuous signals must be converted or digitised
for computer processing.
-The plants and trees that we see around us are continuous,
but their digital pictures are forced to be discrete.
- the line segment (as defined in geometry books) is
continuous and the line made on the computer screen is
discrete.
Digital: discrete digital signals that computer can readily deal with.
(represented as binary data).
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Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC)

Special hardware devices : Analog-to-Digital converters

Take analog signals from analog sensor (e.g.

microphone) and digitally sample data
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Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC)

Playback a converse operation to Analog-to-Digital

Takes digital signal, possible after modification by computer

(e.g. volume change, equalisation)
Outputs an analog signal that may be played by analog
output device (e.g. loudspeaker, CRT display)
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Criteria for the classification of medium

Perception

Representation

Presentation

Criteria for the classification of medium

Storage

Transmission

Information Exchange

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Attributes of Media

Perception Media:
Q: How do we perceive the data?
What we see vs. what we hear
Representation Media:
Q: How do we encode the data?
Text: American Standard Code for Information Exchange (ASCII)
Each ASCII code uses seven bits for; 8 bits are used to store
each character with the extra bit being 0.
Audio: PCM Encoding (Pulse Code Modulation)
& Linear quantization of 16bits per sampling value
Image: JPEG Format
Video : TV Standard, MPEG
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Attributes of Media

Presentation Media:
Q: Which medium is used for output/input?

Output : paper, computer monitors, speakers.

Input : Keyboards, Cameras, Microphones
Presentation Dimensions:
2D, 3D, Time is another dimension.
Discrete Media vs. Continuous Media

Storage Media:
Q: Where is the media stored?
CD or DVD,
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Attributes of Media

Transmission Media:
Q: Which medium is used to transmit data?
Cables, radio towers, satellites, ether.

Information Exchange Media:

Q: Which data medium is used to exchange
information between different locations?
Paper, flash mem
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Multimedia Data: Input and

format

How to capture and store each Media format?

text and graphics (and some images) generated by
computer/device (e.g. drawing/painting programs) do not
require digitising. They are generated directly in some (usually
binary) format.
Printed text and handwritten text can be
- scanned via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) ,
- electronic pen sensing, keyboard, speech input and
- data stored on disk
Printed imagery/graphics can be at bed scanned directly to image
formats.
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Text and Static Data (cont.)

Formatted Text: Raw text or formatted text e.g HTML,

Rich Text Format (RTF),
Word or a program language source (Java, Python, MATLAB
etc.)
Size Not signicant w.r.t. other Multimedia data formats.
Compression: convenient for storing and transmission of larger
files . E.g. Zip, RAR, 7-zip.

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Graphics

Input: Graphics are usually generated by a graphics editor program

(e.g. Illustrator, Freehand) or automatically by a
program (e.g. Postscript).
Format: constructed by the composition of primitive objects such
as lines, polygons, circles, curves and arcs.
Animation: can be generated via a sequence of slightly changed
graphics.

2D animation: e.g. Flash

3D animation: e.g. Maya.

Change of shape/texture/position, lighting, camera

Graphics animation is compact

-suitable for network transmission (e.g. Flash).

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Images

Still pictures which (uncompressed) are represented as a bitmap

(a grid of pixels).
Input: scanned for photograph or pictures using a digital scanner
or from a digital camera.
Stored at 1 bit per pixel (Black and White), 8 Bits per
pixel (Grey Scale, Colour Map) or 24 Bits per pixel (True
Colour)
Size: a 512x512 Grey scale image takes up 1/4 MB,
a 512x512 24 bit image takes 3/4 MB with no compression.
This overhead soon increases with image size
Compression is commonly applied.
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Audio

Audio signals are continuous analog signals.

Input: microphones then digitised and stored

Usually compressed (E.g. MP3, AAC, Flac, Ogg Vorbis)

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