Emerging applications from the entertainment industry (such as
multi-media content creation/editing/composition/distribution), educational
technology (such as advanced classrooms, and distance learning), and
enterprise-wide information exchange (such as video conferencing/
on-demand presentation composition) all have certain common features:
efficient management of large multi-media objects,
interactive response to the creation and retrieval of media objects,
continuous availability for the services offered via these objects, and
geographical distribution of such objects.
This course will focus on the system design issues in supporting large
multi-media collaborative environments.
Relevant recent research literature that address the computational demands
of such applications from the perspective of system architecture,
memory hierarchies, I/O systems, and server robustness will be covered.
The expectation from the students registering for the course will be
class participation, a substantial implementation project that covers
some aspects of the above-mentioned system design space, and a term
paper at the end of the quarter. There may be an occasional quiz or homework
if I feel the level of class participation is flagging!
Pre-requisites:
Knowledge of computer architecture, and system issues in the design
of parallel and distributed systems. Relevant courses include
CS 4431 and CS 4760 or equivalents.