Multimedia Compression: Images, Audio, and Transmission
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Presentation Transcript
Multimedia Class 9 LBSC 690 Information Technology
Agenda • Questions • Compression • Images • Audio • Transmission • Representation & Recognition
Project • Today: Project descriptions • In 2 weeks: Specification • Guidelines on the web site • One week after that: Test Plan • Tracability matrix from specification to tests • Specification is not cast in concrete • But the test plan must match it exactly • And any changes must be reflected in both
Presentations • Typical setup • One presenter up front • Slide flipper at any computer • Ray will display whatever monitor you want • Five minutes each - ruthlessly timed! • Plus one minute for questions • Not graded • Seek to share ideas and learn!
Basic Image Coding • Raster of picture elements (pixels) • Each pixel has a “color” • Binary - black/white (1 bit) • Grayscale (8 bits) • Color (each pixel has three dots) • Red, green, blue • Screen • A 1024x768 image requires 2.4 MB • So a picture is worth 400,000 words!
Some Questions • Use this to answer: • How many images can a 2 GB hard drive store? • Nobody would use images! • How long does it take to send one by modem? • Imagine how slowly web pages would load • But real images don’t have these problems • How do we get around these problems?
Compression • General goal: reduce redundancy • Send the same information using fewer bits • more telephone calls in one cable • more faxes per minute • more images stored per disk • better quality video images • Two basic strategies: • Lossless, Lossy • The two strategies can be combined
Lossy Compression • Example - Palette selection • No picture uses all 16 mission colors • Select a palette of 256 colors • Can represent with 1byte instead of 3 • Then look up each color in the palette • JPEG (.jpg) • Standard lossy compression for images • Eliminates detail that’s not seen by humans • Uses frequency representation
Lossless Compression • Run Length Encoding (RLE) • Pixels are organized into lines • Most pixels are the same as the one before • That can be coded in 1 bit (1/24 the space) • Smaller files take less time to transmit • GIF (.gif) • Standard lossless compression format
Moving Images • One image frame is much like the next • An additional source of redundancy • MPEG-1 (.mpg) can handle small screens • Compression requires extensive computation • Special purpose hardware needed to run in real-time • Pentium processors can decode it • MPEG-2 is needed for full-screen video • Not yet widely used by computers • Try video from learn.umd.edu site
Audio • In most cases, people care more about high quality audio than high quality images • Sample at twice the highest frequency • One or two bytes per sample • Voice (0-4 kHz) requires 8 kB/s • Music (0-22kHz) requires 44 kB/s • Compression strategies • Lossy is pretty good for voice • Only some of the frequencies are actually used • Lossless is better for music
Transmission • MIME • Attach a standard format to message • Formats include .gif, .jpg, .mpg, and .au • Messages include email and web pages • The whole file is sent first (downloaded), then played
Streaming Audio and Video • Streaming protocols • Replay starts almost immediately • RealVideo has emerged as the standard • Streaming video challenges • Sent in small packets • Sometimes arrive out of order • Compensate by storing some in a buffer • Introduces a delay • Modems carry audio better than video • Video data requires high “bandwidth” • Real Video compensates with lower frame rates
Representation and Recognition • Semantic representations versus pixels • Good representations can lead to good recognition • Speech Recognition • Phonemes, linguistics • Image Recognition • Objects • Movies • Thematic structure
Summary • Compression is needed to make multimedia manageable. • More “semantic” representations are now possible because of more computer power at the received (client). • Next week usability and user interfaces