Integration of Motion Video into Multimedia Computers

Computers were originally invented as programable calculation engines. Today, they are evolving more and more into universal, flexible communication platforms. Multimedia computers that integrate text, graphics, audio and images will he one the important developments of this decade. Motion video is a particularly powerful modality of multimedia communications; unfortunately, it also poses the greatest technical difficulties. Before motion video can be integrated into computers, several related problems have yet to be solved. These include issues in the areas of video signal representation and system architecture, and they are coupled by the real-time constraint of motion video. In this contribution, I discuss some of the key problems and possible solutions for the integration of motion video and computers.