Ubiquitous Multimedia Computing

Computing is ubiquitous and if you think otherwise, that in itself might be the best evidence that it is so. Computers are omnipresent in modern life and the multimedia computing environment of today is becoming more and more seamless.

Bringing together contributions from dozens of leading experts, Ubiquitous Multimedia Computing educates readers on Ubi-Media Computing on three levels: infrastructures, where fundamental technologies are being developed; middleware, where the integration of technologies and software systems continues to be defined; and applications, where its concepts are evolving into real-world products and processes. In presenting a wealth of new directions and new technology that is changing the way we communicate, learn, play, and live day by day, this book –

• Examines various architectures for delivering multimedia content including streaming devices , wireless networks, and various hybrids
• Looks at rapidly developing sensor technology including wearable computers
• Demonstrates the use of advanced HCI devices that allow the simplest body gestures to govern increasingly complex tasks
• Introduces newsputers that take the use of embedded image information in a host of practical directions
• Looks at how ubiquitous computing can eliminate traffic congestion and improve the efficiency and quality of medical care
• Looks at how computing is personalizing learning environments and revolutionizing our approach to the three R’s.

While these pages serve as a timely reference for researchers working in all areas of product development and human computer interaction, they also provide engineers, doctors, and many other professionals, as well as educators and graduate students with a view that reveals the otherwise invisible seams of this age of ubi-media computing.

Qing Li, Timothy K. Shih