Objective
M-Pipe takes a critical look at traditional methods for digital media, explores the difficulty of today's changing technologies and markets, and provides guidance on best methods for enabling cross-platform access to media over a variety of platform and link qualities. Considerable research performed over the years has resulted in many international standards. But, often the work often assumed fixed content characteristics (e.g. FM radio, TV). Thus, the entire media chain agreed on functionality making it possible to optimize sub-systems separately.
However, this is not situation. There number of devices increases (HDTV, Web-TV, multimedia to mobile phones, etc.)as does the number of media services and formats (quicktime, MPEG4,MP3, RealAudio, WMA, etc.). Also, the communications links vary greatly (wavelan, ADSL, 3G, etc). Players in the media economy ask" How do I interact with all the possible options?". This impedes economic growth, waiting until a market leader emerges kills the embryonic market. International standards are critical in this option-rich environment. But, they must not only address present day options, but must scale with technical developments.
This is not achieved by piling mode-options to cover all possibilities, but must be built upon solid engineering principles incorporating scalability, adaptability, and robustness. Understanding the interoperation of scalable media compression, robust scalable network protocols, and error protection in media is key. Each of these is represented on M-Pipe, but the project focus is onco-design issues and overall system functioning.
The project name M-pipe reflects the belief that the delivery of media should appear to producers, transporters and users of media as simple as the delivery of water through pipe systems. As present, it is not so simple. Complex issues need to be addressed to provide the desired simplicity.
Fields of science
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
STREP - Specific Targeted Research ProjectCoordinator
164 80 STOCKHOLM
Sweden