Thesis (Ph. D.)--State University of New York at Buffalo, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 167-186). Also available in print.

Thesis (M.S.)--Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, 1999. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, page: 2812. Accompanying CD-ROM entitled: Project : interactive : an interactive introduction to creating interactive media. Typescript. Abstract precedes thesis as 3 preliminary leaves. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 84-89).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 73-78).

Thesis (Ph. D.), Oregon Graduate Institute of Science & Technology, 1996.

Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Instructional Psychology and Technology, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 30-31).

Thesis (M. S.)--Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2006. / Rogers, Wendy, Committee Member ; Walker, Bruce, Committee Member ; Catrambone, Richard, Committee Chair.

Allocation and reservation of resources, such as CPU cycles and I/O bandwidth of multimedia servers and link bandwidth in the network, is essential to ensure Quality of Service (QoS) of multimedia services delivered over the Internet. We propose a Distributed Multimedia Server System (DMSS) configured out of a collection of networked multimedia servers where multimedia data are partitioned and replicated among the servers. We also introduce Utility Model-Distributed (UM-D), the distributed version of the Utility Model, for admission control and QoS adaptation of multimedia sessions to maximize revenue from multimedia services for the DMSS. Two control architectures, a centralized and a distributed, have been proposed to solve the admission control problem formalized by the UM-D. In the centralized broker architecture, the admission control in a DMSS can be mapped to the Multidimensional Multiple-choice Knapsack Problem (MMKP), a variant of the classical 0–1 Knapsack Problem. An exact solution of MMKP, an NP-hard problem, is not applicable for the on line admission control problem in the DMSS. We therefore developed three new heuristics, M-HEU, I-HEU and C-HEU for solving the MMKP for on-line real-time admission control and QoS adaptation. We present a qualitative analysis of the performance of these heuristics to solve admission control problems based on the worst-case complexity analysis and the experimental results from different sized data sets. The fully distributed admission control problem in a DMSS, on the other hand, maps to the Multidimensional Multiple-choice Multi Knapsack Problem (MMMKP), a new variant of the Knapsack Problem. We have developed D-HEU and A-HEU, two new distributed heuristics to solve the MMMKP. D-HEU requires a large number of messages and it is not suitable for a on line admission controller. A-HEU finds the solution with fewer messages but achieves less optimality than D-HEU. We have applied the admission control strategy described in the UM-D to the set of Media Server Farms providing streaming videos to users. The performance of different heuristics in the broker has been discussed using the simulation results. We have also shown application of UM-D to Distributed SLA (Service Level Agreement) Controllers in Enterprise Networks. Simulation results and qualitative comparison of different heuristics are also provided. / Graduate

The purpose of this project was the specification, design and implementation of a prototype 2-D MPEG-4 authoring tool. A literature study was conducted of the MPEG-4 standard and multimedia authoring tools to determine the specification and design of a prototype 2- D MPEG-4 authoring tool. The specification and design was used as a basis for the implementation of a prototype 2-D MPEG-4 authoring tool that complies with the Complete 2-D Scene Graph Profile. The need for research into MPEG-4 authoring tools arose from the reported lack of knowledge of the MPEG-4 standard and the limited implementations of MPEG-4 authoring tools available to content authors. In order for MPEG-4 to reach its full potential, it will require authoring tools and content players that satisfy the needs of its users. The theoretical component of this dissertation included a literature study of the MPEG-4 standard and an investigation of relevant multimedia authoring systems. MPEG-4 was introduced as a standard that allows for the creation and streaming of interactive multimedia content at variable bit rates over high and low bandwidth connections. The requirements for the prototype 2-D MPEG-4 authoring system were documented and a prototype system satisfying the requirements was designed, implemented and evaluated. The evaluation of the prototype system showed that the system successfully satisfied all its requirements and that it provides the user with an easy to use and intuitive authoring tool. MPEG-4 has the potential to satisfy the increasing demand for innovative multimedia content on low bandwidth networks, including the Internet and mobile networks, as well as the need expressed by users to interact with multimedia content. This dissertation makes an important contribution to the understanding of the MPEG-4 standard, its functionality and the design of a 2-D MPEG-4 Authoring tool. Keywords: MPEG-4; MPEG-4 authoring; Binary Format for Scenes.

No description available.

A message can be communicated to other people using a combination of pictures, sounds, and actions. Ensuring that the message is understood as intended often depends on the presentation of these forms of multimedia. In today’s digital world, traditional multimedia artefacts such as paintings, photographs, audiotapes and videocassettes, although still used, are gradually being replaced with a digital equivalent. It is normally easy to duplicate these digital multimedia files, and they are often available within public repositories. Although this has its advantages, security may be a concern, especially for sensitive multimedia data. Information security services such as identification and authentication, authorisation, and confidentiality can be implemented to secure the data at the file level, ensuring that only authorised entities gain access to the entire multimedia file. It may not always be the case however that a message must be conveyed in the same way for every entity (user or program) that makes a request for the multimedia data. Although access control measures can be ensured for the multimedia at the file level, very little work has been done to ensure access control for multimedia at the content level. A number of models will be presented in this dissertation that should ensure logical access control at the content level for the three main types of multimedia, namely images, audio, and video. In all of these models, the multimedia data is securely stored in a repository, while the associated security information is stored in a database. The objects that contain the authorisation information are created through an interface that securely communicates with the database. Requests are made through another secure interface, where only the authorised multimedia data will be assembled according to the requesting entity’s security classification. Certain important side issues concerning the secure multimedia models will also be discussed. This includes security issues surrounding the model components and suspicion i.e. reducing the probability that a requesting entity would come to the conclusion that changes were made to the original multimedia data. / Prof. M.S. Olivier