A vision of the future multimedia technology

Publisher Summary This chapter concentrates first on a summary of key past developments. A subjective view of future requirements is then offered, discussing multimedia technology and standards. A typical example based on visual information compression, problems related to security issues, and a possible educational framework are also discussed. Other promising and useful applications of multimedia systems such as telemedicine are not included because of limitations on space. The rather anarchic situation of multimedia systems and functions are outlined, stressing the need for talent search engines and pollution conscientiousness. Problems related to standards and the urgent need for a single-but-open, standard are emphasized. A nonexhaustive list of requirements is discussed as a possible framework for such a standard and the corresponding systems that would operate within it. The key idea of appending tools to information has been developed and exemplified in the dynamic coding of image sequences. Media conversion and unconstrained scalability issues are discussed. Finally, issues related to security and education are developed. These require new design approaches at both the system and content level so that multimedia research and development can progress in an innovative way, not simply copying old contents or functions from existing systems.