What is multimedia database

A multimedia database management system (MM-DBMS) is a framework that manages different types of data potentially represented in a wide diversity of formats on a wide array of media sources. MM-DBMS Properties: o Persistence of Data: DBMS should be able to manipulate data even after the changes of the surrounding programs. o Consistent View of Data: It is important to provide a consistent view of data during processing database requests at certain points. This property is achieved using time synchronization protocols. o Security of Data: Security of data and integrity protection in database in case of system failure is one of the most important requirements DBMS. o Query support: Allows easy querying of multimedia data

Characteristics of an MDBMS
1. Corresponding Storage Media: Multimedia data must be stored and managed according to the specific characteristics of the available storage media. 2. Descriptive Search Methods A search in a database, an entry, given in the form of text or a graphical image, is found using different queries and the corresponding search methods. 3. Device-independent Interface: The interface to a database application should be device-independent 4. Format-independent Interface: Database queries should be independent from the underlying media format, meaning that the interfaces should be format-independent.

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5. View-specific and Simultaneous Data Access: The same multimedia data can be accessed (even simultaneously) through different queries by several applications. 6. Management of Large Amounts of Data: The DBMS must be capable of handling and managing large amounts of data and satisfying queries for individual relations among data or attributes of relations. 7. Relational Consistency of Data Management: Relations among data of one or different media must stay consistent corresponding to their specification. 8. Long Transactions: The performance of a transaction in a MDBMS means that transfer of a large amount of data will take a long time and must be done in a reliable fashion.

Advantages of multimedia database

o Better security: Multimedia objects are secured in the databases and can be invoked any time when required. o Greater control (resizing, manipulating): Multimedia objects can be resized when required and certain changes can be made when required. o Easy deletion: Images can be deleted without deleting the corresponding data from the database. One can search for multimedia content in the same fashion as they search for traditional relational data. o Easy to extract statistics on usage: Oracle inter Media enables Oracle9i to manage multimedia content (image, audio, and video) in an integrated fashion with other enterprise information.

Data Structure for Multimedia databases

Data can be stored in databases either in unformatted (unstructured) form or in formatted (structured) form. o UNFORMATTED DATA: Unformatted or unstructured data are presented in a unit where the content cannot retrieve by accessing any structural detail. o FORMATTED DATA: Formatted or structured data are stored in variables, fields or attributes with corresponding values.

Examples of Multimedia Structures

Examples of raw, registered, and descriptive data for different media such as text, image, video and audio. o Text: 1. Characters represent raw data. 2. The registering data describe the coding (e.g., ASCII). Additionally, a length entry must follow or an end symbol must be defined. 3. The descriptive data may include information for layout and logical structuring of the text or keywords. o Images 1. Pixels (pixel matrix) represent raw data. A compressed image may also consist of a transformed pixel set. 2. The registering data include the height and width of the picture. Additionally, the details of coding are stored here.

Relational Database Model:

o The simplest possibility to implement a multimedia database is to use the relational database model because the attributes of different media in relational databases are defined in advance. o The attributes can specify not only text (as is done in current database systems), but also, for example, audio or video data types. The main advantage of this approach is its compatibility with current database applications. Table name Student Attributes (Admission_Number, Name, Picture, Exercise_Device_1, Exercise_Device_2) Data type Integer Text Image video video

Multimedia Objects Storage Model

o The multimedia have a common multimedia storage model. The multimedia component of these objects can be stored in the database, as a BLOB under transaction control.

o The multimedia component can also be stored outside the database, without transaction control. In this case, a pointer, under transaction control, is stored in the database, while the multimedia component is stored in an external BFILE (operating system flat file), at an HTTP server-based URL, on a specialized media server, or at a user-defined source on other servers.

Different architectures for multimedia databases

o I2RP architecture [Intelligent Information Retrieval and Presentation with Multimedia Databases]
This architecture is question-answer system. The result of query given by user is multimedia presentation containing the answer. The following figure illustrates this architecture:

SQL+D architecture
o SQL+D an extension to SQL, which allows users to dynamically specify how to display answers to queries posed to multimedia databases. o It provides tools to display multimedia data plus other traditional GUI elements such as boxed text, checkbox, list, and button.

The version of SQL+D, includes: o The full implementation of the Database Interface, allowing users to connect local and remote ODBC (or JDBC) compliant database, such as ORACLE or Microsoft Access.
o Simplified display specifications syntax and instantiation of display elements. SQL+D differs from other efforts in that it is specifically designed for querying multimedia databases.

Entity-Multimedia-Relationship model (EMRM)

o The EMRM model can be designed with traditional entities and their relationship set along with the additional set called multimedia set. o Multimedia sets are shown in this model as entities and can be connected to the normal entities using relationship. o For example, one can design the EMRM with description of the entities and relationships as given below: The entity Document is very important in the system. As a new media it contains multimedia objects. The cardinality between Document and Media Object is one to many, which means a Document has at least one media object and there is no blank Document. The media object can exist without Technique Report so the cardinality between Media Object and Document is 0 to many.

SUMMARY
Multimedia database systems are database systems where, besides text and other discrete data, audio and video information will also be stored, manipulated and retrieved. Unformatted or unstructured data are presented in a unit where the content cannot retrieve by accessing any structural detail. Formatted or structured data are stored in variables, fields or attributes with corresponding values. Simplest possibility to implement a multimedia database is to use the relational database model because the attributes of different media in relational databases are defined in advance.