Efficient storage techniques for digital continuous multimedia

The problem of collocational storage of media strands, which are sequences of continuously recorded audio samples or video frames, on disk to support the integration of storage and transmission of multimedia data with computing is examined. A model that relates disk and device characteristics to the playback rates of media strands and derives storage patterns so as to guarantee continuous retrieval of media strands is presented. To efficiently utilize the disk space, mechanisms for merging storage patterns of multiple media strands by filling the gaps between media blocks of one strand with media blocks of other strands are developed. Both an online algorithm suitable for merging a new media strand into a set of already stored strands and an offline merging algorithm that can be applied a priori to the storage of a set of media strands before any of them have been stored on disk are proposed. As a consequence of merging, storage patterns of media strands may become perturbed slightly. To compensate for this read-ahead and buffering are required so that continuity of retrieval remains satisfied are also presented