Multimedia Database Management - Requirements and Issues

t the heart of multimedia information systems lies the multimedia database management system. Traditionally, a database consists of a controlled collection of data related to a given entity, while a database management system, or DBMS, is a collection of interrelated data with the set of programs used to define, create, store, access, manage, and query the database. Similarly, we can view a multimedia database as a controlled collection of multimedia data items, such as text, images, graphic objects, sketches, video, and audio. A multimedia DBMS provides support for multimedia data types, plus facilities for the creation, storage, access, query, and control of the multimedia database. The different data types involved in multimedia databases might require special methods for optimal storage, access, indexing, and retrieval. The multimedia DBMS should accommodate these special requirements by providing high-level abstractions to manage the different data types, along with a suitable interface for their presentation. Before detailing the capabilities expected of a multimedia DBMS and the requirements such systems should meet, we must first consider the characteristic nature of multimedia information. Then we can discuss the issues facing multimedia DBMSs.