The digital information revolution has brought about profound changes in our society and our life. New devices and powerful software have made it possible for consumers worldwide to create, manipulate, share, and enjoy the multimedia information. Internet and wireless networks offer ubiquitous channels to deliver and to exchange multimedia information for such pur poses as remote collaboration, distant learning, and entertainment. With all these advances in multimedia coding and communication technologies over the past decade, the major hurdle for allowing much broader access of multimedia...

The digital information revolution has brought about profound changes in our society and our life. New devices and powerful software have made it possible for consumers worldwide to create, manipulate, share, and enjoy the multimedia information. Internet and wireless networks offer ubiquitous channels to deliver and to exchange multimedia information for such pur poses as remote collaboration, distant learning, and entertainment. With all these advances in multimedia coding and communication technologies over the past decade, the major hurdle for allowing much broader access of multimedia...