The role of database systems in the management of multimedia information

Our research into multimedia information management and storage focuses on enabling database systems to deal with multimedia content at a high level of abstraction. We examine the database system's role in managing multimedia data. Database systems need to do more than providing a document model or binary large objects to implement multimedia database systems. We examine what the database system's role is in managing multimedia data. We then show how the role of the database system merges with the role of media servers that is an extension of traditional file servers with isochronous multimedia data delivery capabilities. The database system provides richer data management opportunities than media servers because of its increased knowledge of the stored multimedia data. This allows the database system to optimize and better manage system resources and multimedia data delivery.