Unit 1

–
Multimedia Communication
Introduction:

Multimedia communication includes a range of applications

and networkinginfrastructures.

Definition1:
The term "
multimedia
" is used to indicate that the information/data beingtransferred over the network

may be composed of one or more of the following mediatypes:1.

Text:
Includes both
Unformatted Text
- comprising strings of charactersfrom a limited character set and
Formatted Text
-

comprises strings asused for the structuring, access, and presentation of electronic
documents.2.

Images:
Includes
Computer Generated Image
- comprising lines, curves,and circles, and
Digitized Images
of

documents and pictures.3.

Audio:
Includes both
low-fidelity speech
- as used in telephony and
high-fidelity speech
- stereophonic music as used with compact discs.4.

Video:
Includes short sequences of moving images (also known as videoclips) and complete movies/films.
Definition2:
Multimedia is any combination of text, art, sound, animation, and video. Itis delivered to
the user by electronic or digitally manipulated means. A multimedia project
development requires creative, technical, organizational, and business skills.

Definition3:
Multimedia is the presentation of a (usually interactive) computerapplication,
incorporating media elements such as text, graphics, video, animation andsound on
computer.

Multimedia applications may involve either of the following:

1.

Person-to-Person communications or2.

Person-to-System communications

Person-to-Person
communicates using suitable
Terminal Equipment (TE)

Person-to-System communications:
1.

Person interacts with the system using suitable

Digital device
likeworkstation or multimedia personal computer (PC).2.

These Digital device are located either in homes or offices.

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3.

Basically
system is a server
containing a collection of files or documents -each comprising digitized text, images,
audio,

and video information eithersingly or integrated together in some way alternatively It

may also contain -a library of digitized movies/videos.4.

User interacts with the server by means of a suitable selection deviceconnected to the
Set-top box (STB) associated with a television or modemused with the computers.

Networking infrastructure:
provided using a number of different types ofnetwork

Networks: Two types

1.

Designed initially to provide just a single type of service due toadvances in various technologies these
networks can now provide arangeofdifferentotherservices.a.

Ex 1: PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) orGSTN (General Switched Telephone

Network)
–
designed initially to provide the basic switched telephoneservice but due to the
Advances in digital signal
processinghardware and associated software PSTNs/GSTNs now provide a range of

more advanced services involving - text,images, and video. b.

Ex 2:

Data network:
designed initially to support basicdata applications - e-mail, file transfers, and others nowsupport a

much richer set of applications - which involveimages, audio, and video.2.

Designed from the outset to provide multimedia communicationservices.

Ex1:ATMnetworks.
Multimedia Information Representation:

Applications involving text and images - comprise

blocks
of digital data units.

Text data
- typical unit is block of characters with each character represented by,fixed number of
Binary digits (bits) or Codeword.
Digitized image data
- comprises a 2-D block of pixels (picture elements) witheach pixel represented by a fixed

number of bits.
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Applications involving text and images: comprise the short request for a file.

Ex.:
file contents being returned, the duration of the overall transaction is relativelyshort.

Applications involving
Audio and Video Signals
: Vary continuously with time asthe amplitude of

the speech, audio, or video signal varies.

Ex.:
Typical telephone conversation can last for several minutes and Movie(comprising audio and video)
can last for a number of hours.

Applications involves of single type of media:

Basic form of representation of the particular media type is often used.

Applications involving either text-and-images or audio-and-video:

Their Basicform is often used since the two

media types in these applications have the sameform of representation.

Applications involving of different media types:
We integrated together in someway as it's necessary to represent all 4

media types in a digital form.

For text and images:

This (digital) is their standard form of representation.

For audio and video:

since, their basic forms of representations are analog signals- these must be converted into a

corresponding digital form - before they can beintegrated with the two other media
types.

Digitization of an audio signal:

produces a digital signal with amplitude of thesignal varies continuously with time and is of
relatively high bit rate, is measured by bps (bits per second) and for speech signal a typical
bit rate of 64 kbps.

Applications involving audio can be of a long duration: this bit rate must besustained for an equally long
time period.

Digitization of video signal:

the same applies as that of audio signals but, exceptthat the much higher bit rates

and longer time durations are involved.

In general, the communication networks that are used to support applications

thatinvolve audio and video cannot

support the very high bit rates that are required forrepresenting these media types in a digital
form hence we go for compression.

Compression:
It's a technique first applied to the digitized signals in order toreduce the resulting bit rate to a
level which can support be supported by variousnetworks.

Compression to text and images:

To reduce the time delay between a requests being made for some information and

the information becoming available on thescreen of a computers or over others.

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Applications involving text and images: comprise the short request for a file.

Ex.:
file contents being returned, the duration of the overall transaction is relativelyshort.

Applications involving
Audio and Video Signals
: Vary continuously with time asthe amplitude of

the speech, audio, or video signal varies.

Ex.:
Typical telephone conversation can last for several minutes and Movie(comprising audio and video)
can last for a number of hours.

Applications involves of single type of media:

Basic form of representation of the particular media type is often used.

Applications involving either text-and-images or audio-and-video:

Their Basicform is often used since the two

media types in these applications have the sameform of representation.

Applications involving of different media types:

We integrated together in someway as it's necessary to represent all 4

media types in a digital form.

For text and images:
This (digital) is their standard form of representation.

For audio and video:

since, their basic forms of representations are analog signals- these must be converted into a

corresponding digital form - before they can beintegrated with the two other media
types.

Digitization of an audio signal:

produces a digital signal with amplitude of thesignal varies continuously with time and is of
relatively high bit rate, is measured by bps (bits per second) and for speech signal a typical
bit rate of 64 kbps.

Applications involving audio can be of a long duration: this bit rate must besustained for an equally long
time period.

Digitization of video signal:

the same applies as that of audio signals but, exceptthat the much higher bit rates

and longer time durations are involved.

In general, the communication networks that are used to support applications

thatinvolve audio and video cannot

support the very high bit rates that are required forrepresenting these media types in a digital
form hence we go for compression.

Compression:
It's a technique first applied to the digitized signals in order toreduce the resulting bit rate to a
level which can support be supported by variousnetworks.

Compression to text and images:

To reduce the time delay between a requests being made for some information and

the information becoming available on thescreen of a computers or over others.

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Multimedia Networks:
Five basic types of communication networks are used to provide
multimediacommunication services:1.

Telephone networks.2.

Data networks.3.

Broadcast television networks.4.

Integrated services digital networks.5.

Broadband multiservice networks.

1,2, and 3 networks

are

initially designed to provide just a single type of service as listedas below:

1.

Telephone networks: telephony2.

Data networks: data communications3.

Broadcast television networks: broadcast television

Technological developments enabled these networks to provide additional services.

4, and 5 networks: Designed from the outset to provide multiple services.

Telephone networks:

Public Switched Telephone network (PSTNs) has been in existence for many years
andhave gone through many changes over the time.

Designed to provide a

basic switched telephone service which, with the advent of theother network types has
become known as
POTS

(Plain Old Telephone Service).

'Switched':
term is used to indicate that the subscriber can make a call to any othertelephone that is
connected to

the total network.

Initially such networks spanned just a single country later, telephone networks of
differentcountries were

interconnected so, that they now provide an international switched service.

Main components of the network are shown in the

Fig below.
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Local Exchange/End Office:

telephones located in the home or in a small business areconnected directly to their

nearest LEs/Eos.

Private Branch Exchange (PBX):

i.Telephones located in the medium or large office/site are connected to a PBX orPrivate
switching Office.ii.

Provides a (free) switched service between any two telephones - that are connectedtoit.iii.

Connected to its nearest LE (public), which enables the telephone that areconnected to
the PBX also to make calls through a PSTN.
Cellular Phone Networks:
Been introduced which provide the similar service to themobile subscribes by means

of the handsets that are linked to the cellular phone networkinfrastructure by radio.

MSC (Mobile Switching Center):

it's the switch used in the cellular phone network Likethe PBXs also,

connected to a switching office in a PSTN which, enables both sets ofsubscribers to make
calls to one another.

IGE (International Gateway Exchange):

route and switch the international calls.

General scheme of modem is shown in the

Fig below.

Speech signal:
is an analog signal varies continuously with time according, to theamplitude and frequency
variations of the sound resulting from the speech.

Microphone:
used to convert this into an analog electrical signal. Telephone networksoperate in circuit
mode which means, for each call a separate circuit is set up through thenetwork of the necessary
capacity for the duration of the call.

Access circuits:
link the telephone handsets to a PSTN or PBX were designed to carry the2-way
analog signals associated with a call.
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