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Transformation Independence in Multimedia Database Systems
Ulrich Marder
University of Kaiserslautern
Dept. of Computer Science
P. O. Box 3049
D-67653 Kaiserslautern, Germany
marder@informatik.uni-kl.de
Abstract
In this report, we present our efforts on realizing transformation independence in open, extensible, and highly distributed multimedia database systems. Transformation independence is an abstraction concept which allows clients to request operations on media objects without knowledge of the actual media format. Systems supporting transformation independence are expected to determine dynamically an optimal realization of such a request, depending on actually available materializations, processing and communication resources and other criteria (e. g., a cost limit). Besides a detailed discussion of general media data abstractions, we focus on the abstract data and processing model called VirtualMedia, which provides a transformation independence framework for multimedia processing. In particular, we describe how transformation requests are represented and processed, exploiting semantic equivalence relations on filter graphs and redundant materialization, finally yielding instantiatable plans for materializing the requested media object(s) at the client. Further, we give an overview on related work, including a comparison of our approach with other realizations of media-ADTs (particularly the E-ADT approach). A brief outlook on future research objectives concludes this report.
in: Technical Report, SFB-Report 11/2000, SFB 501, University of Kaiserslautern, Nov. 2000
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