Multimedia systems support the physical and logical coexistence and interactive use of heterogeneous media classes such as print, audio and video in specific application environments. Hypermedia and virtual reality applications are based on multimedia systems. Hypermedia extends the media-oriented features of multimedia systems by the concept of hyperlinks, i.e. logical structures that provide means for organizing media objects in a flexible, logically coherent, network-oriented and non-sequential way. Virtual reality extends the interaction-oriented features of multimedia by the concept of cyberspace, i. e. modeling objects and their behavior in virtual environments, integrating position-tracked man-machine interaction devices and performing numerically intensive computations to guarantee real-time navigation.
By definition, the media class print includes static media types such as text, graphics, facsimile and natural image; the media class audio includes dynamic media types such as natural and synthetic sound, speech, and music; and finally, the media class video includes dynamic media types such as natural and synthetic image sequences.
Multimedia systems, hypermedia and virtual reality still need much research before they can become common tools for industry and society. These topics, all closely related to applied computer science, represent the main stream of research and development carried out at the MultiMedia Laboratory. This institution was created in 1986 to serve the digital media interests and needs at the University of Zurich, in particular those arising in the natural science communities and at the business faculty.
The general research and development objectives of the MultiMedia Laboratory are: 1) to understand and develop information processing and telecommunication issues that arise in multimedia systems; 2) to conceptualize and realize advanced hypermedia and virtual reality prototypes for man-machine interaction, business data and scientific visualization, document processing and real-world computing; and 3) to apply these prototypes in the field of business, science, education and entertainment.
The current research and development activities at the MultiMedia Laboratory comprise theoretical studies and application related prototyping efforts. Specific topics of interest include: multimedia systems integration; handling of large data volumes; new techniques for data compression; storage managment for static and dynamic media elements; realization of media object distribution over networks; multimedia application frameworks and man-machine interfaces; development of experimental applications; evaluation of legal aspects in multimedia production; and last but not least, the general implications of multimedia systems as an enabling technology.
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