Database interoperation support in multimedia applications: architecture and methodology

One of the major concerns for the early adopters of the new media technologies is how to safeguard their investments in the face of rapid technological change. In this paper, we argue that technological change and the ensuing problems are a well-known issue in databases, and that the multimedia industry can benefit from lessons learned in database technology. Moreover, we argue that meta-translation, a specific approach to software interoperation that has been developed in the context of heterogeneous databases, may also be useful in multimedia applications, particularly in converting proprietary annotation and indexing schemes into emerging or existing standards, such as MPEG-7. This technology automates the construction of conversion tools significantly, thus reducing the cost of migration and interoperation. Beginning with a discussion of architectural aspects of multimedia systems and a summary of relevant interoperation standards, the paper proceeds to describe and then to assess meta-translation as an approach and technology in this context