GHANA TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE- KUMASI CAMPUS

Foundations Of
Multimedia
Lecture 03: Multimedia An
EMMANUEL ADINKRAH Introduction
EADINKRAH@GMAIL.COM
October 21, 2016

5X2A-11K6

Overview
Introduction
Benefits of Multimedia
Classification of Multimedia
System Implications of Multimedia
Streaming Media
Multimedia Applications

What is Multimedia in terms of Computing

Computing: Computer-based technologies and applications
-> What computers? Various forms of computers/devices!
In terms of computing, four fundamental multimedia attributes:
- Digitized: All media including audio/video are represented in digital format
- Distributed: The information conveyed is remote, either pre-produced and
stored or produced in real-time, distributed over networks.
- Interactive: It is possible to affect the information received, and send own
information, in a non-trivial way beyond start, stop, fast forward
- Integrated: The media are treated in a uniform way, presented in an
orchestrated way, but are possible to manipulate independently

Benefits of Multimedia
Some authors claim that humans get their information in the following
way:
more than 80 % by sight - of which 20 % is remembered
11 % by hearing - of which 30 % is remembered
3.5 % by smell
1.5 % by touch and taste.
... where 50 % of what is both seen and heard is remembered
... further 80 % of what is seen, heard and done, is remembered
That is, multiple, media, and interactive should be a good thing

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Classification of Multimedia
Text - ASCII/Unicode, HTML, Postscript, PDF

Audio Sound, music, speech, structured audio (e.g.

MIDI)
Still Image - Facsimile, photo, scanned image
Video (Moving Images) Movie, a sequence of pictures
Graphics Computer produced image
Animation A sequence of graphics images
Discrete Media (DM, Static): text, image, graphics
Continuous Media (CM, Dynamic): audio, video, animation
Captured vs Synthesized media
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Standalone
vs Networked media

System Implications of Multimedia

Multimedia imposes new requirements on all

parts of the system architecture:
Representation - digitization and coding
(compressing)

Storage - database, larger volumes and new

access patterns
Processing - OS, scheduling, indexing,
searching
Understanding - speech/object recognition,
content analysis
Production - more complex authoring and
user interface software
Presentation - user perception, user friendly in
HCI (Human Computer Interface)
Protection media encryption, copyright,
privacy
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Forces Driving the Multimedia

Revolution
Evolution of communication and data networks:
Increasing availability of bandwidth on demand in the office, home,
road.... Thanks to high-speed data modems, cable modems,
hybrid fiber-coax systems, xDSL, wireless.
Ubiquitous access to network. Via local-area networks (LAN),
wireline and wireless networks, Internet, world wide web,
anywhere, anytime.
Fast processor and large capacity storage devices, including
3-D hardware.
Moores law: computation and memory
capacity of chips doubles every 18 months or so.
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INTRODUCTION TO AUDIO
FUNDAMENTALS

Digitization of Sound
What is Sound?
Sound is a wave phenomenon like light, but is
macroscopic and involves molecules of air
being compressed and expanded under the
action of some physical device.
(a) For example, a speaker in an audio system
vibrates back and forth and produces a
longitudinal pressure wave that we perceive
as sound.
(b) Since sound is a pressure wave, it takes on
continuous values, as opposed to digitized
ones.

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INTRODUCTION TO AUDIO
FUNDAMENTALS

(c) Even though such pressure waves are

longitudinal, they still have ordinary wave
properties and behaviors, such as
reflection (bouncing), refraction (change of
angle when entering a medium with a
different density) and diffraction (bending
around an obstacle).
(d) If we wish to use a digital version of
sound waves we must form digitized
representations of audio information.

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INTRODUCTION TO AUDIO
FUNDAMENTALS

Digitization
Digitization means conversion to a
stream of numbers, and preferably these
numbers should be integers for efficiency.
Fig. 6.1 shows the 1-dimensional nature
of sound: amplitude values depend on a
1D variable, time. (And note that images
depend instead on a 2D set of variables, x
and y).

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INTRODUCTION TO AUDIO
FUNDAMENTALS
Fig. An analog signal: continuous measurement of pressure wave.
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INTRODUCTION TO AUDIO
FUNDAMENTALS
The graph has to be made digital in both time and amplitude. To digitize, the
signal must be sampled in each dimension: in time, and in amplitude.
(a) Sampling means measuring the quantity we are interested in, usually at
evenly-spaced intervals.
(b) The first kind of sampling, using measurements only at evenly spaced time
intervals, is simply called, sampling. The rate at which it is performed is called
the sampling frequency (see Fig. 6.2(a)).
(c) For audio, typical sampling rates are from 8 kHz (8,000 samples per second)
to 48 kHz. This range is determined by Nyquist theorem discussed later. (d)
Sampling in the amplitude or voltage dimension is called quantization.

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INTRODUCTION TO AUDIO
FUNDAMENTALS
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(a)

(b)

Sampling and Quantization.

(a): Sampling the analog signal in the time
dimension.
(b): Quantization is sampling the analog
signal in the amplitude dimension.
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NYQUIST THEOREM
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THANK YOU
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GHANA TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE, KUMASI CAMPUS