A software-oriented approach to the design of media processing environments

Abstract

The ViewStation architecture embodies a software-oriented approach to the support of interactive media-based applications. Starting from the premise that the raw media data, e.g., the video pixels themselves, must eventually be made accessible to the application, we have derived a set of architectural guidelines for the design of media processing environments. The resultant ViewStation architecture, as described in this paper, consists of the VuSystem, a complete media programming environment, and the VuNet, a substrate for the acquisition communication and rendering of video and closed caption text. We describe a set of computer-participative applications that demonstrate the present day viability of applications that participate in, i.e., actively process, live media-based information. Early performance results illustrate the affordability and benefits of our software-oriented approach.