MULTIMEDIA DEVELOPING

Facsimile:

• Facsimile transmissions were the first practical means of transmitting document images over a telephone line.The basic technology,now widely used,has evolved to allow higher scanning density for better-quality fax.

• Document images are used for storing business documents that must be retained for long periods of time or may need to be accessed by a larger number of people.Providing multimedia access to such documents removes the need for making several copies of the original for storage or distribution.

• Photographic images are used for a wide range of applications such as employee records for instant identification at a security desk,real estate systems with photographs of houses in the database containing the descriptions of houses,medical case histories,and so on.

• Known as GIS systems;maps created in a GIS system are being used widely for natural resource and wildlife management as well as urban planning.These systems store the graphical information of the map along with a database containing information relating high-lighted map elements with statistical or item information such as wildlife statistics or details of the floors and rooms and workers in an office building.

• Voice commands and voice synthesis used for hands-free operation of a computer program.Voice synthesis is used for presenting the results of an action to the user in a synthesized voice.Application such as a patient monitoring system in a surgical theater will be prime beneficiaries of these capabilities.voice commands allow the user to direct computer operation by spoken commands.

• Annotated voice mail already uses audio or voice messages as attachments to memos and documents such as maintenance manuals.

• Video messages are being used in a similar manner to annotated voice mail.

• Full-motion video started out as a very useful idea for on-line training and maintenance manuals.The capability to use full-motion stored video for electronic mail or live video for presentations and video-conferencing are important evolutionary steps.Three-dimensional video techniques are being adapted to create the concept of virtual reality.

• All of the techniques so far essentially present a flat view of information.Holographic images extend the concept of virtual reality by allowing the user to get "inside" a part,such as,an engine and view its operation from the inside.

• Fractals started as a technology in early 1980s but has received serious attention only recently.This technology is based on synthesizing and storing algorithms that describe the information.