Multimedia support for databases

Next generation database systems will need to provide support for both textual data and other types of multimedia data (e.g., images, video, audio). These two types of data differ in their characteristics, and hence require different techniques for their organization and management. For example, continuous media data (e.g., video, audio) requires a guaranteed transfer rate. In thii paper, we provide an overview of 1) how database systems can be architectured to support multimedia data, and 2) what are the main challenges in devising new algorithms to manage multimedia data. In order to provide rate guarantees for continuous media data, an admission controZscheme must be employed that determines, for each client, whether there are sufficient resources available to service that client. To maximize the number of clients that can be admitted concurrently, the various system resources must be allocated and scheduled carefully. In terms of disks, we use algorithms for retrieving/storing data from/to disks that reduce seek latency time and eliminate rotational delay, thereby providing high throughput. In terms of main-memory, we use buffer management schemes that exploit the sequential access patterns for continuous media data, thereby resulting in efficient replacement of buffer pages from the cache. In addition to discussing resource scheduling, we also present schemes for the storage layout of data on disks and schemes that provide fault-tolerance by ensuring uninterrupted service in the presence of disk failures.