Scalable multimedia hardware for distributed conferencing systems

This paper describes our work at the University of Sussex in the field of multimedia conferencing. Our research is directed towards a novel scalable architecture using a modular hardware and software approach. The Sussex multimedia architecture supports distributed multimedia servers and multiple video channels in a windows environment. A key element of the Sussex multimedia architecture is the MEDIA (Multimedia Environment and Display Integrated Architecture) ASIC. MEDIA provides 2-D graphics functions to support full motion video decompression, image transformation and high resolution display control. MEDIA is the result of current research carried out by the University of Sussex as part of SMILE (SPARC Macrocell and Interface Library Elements). The SMILE project is one of the co-ordinated set of projects, executed within ESPRIT III which are part of the Open Microprocessor systems Initiative (OMI)