Future Media Internet Research Challenges and the Road Ahead

Abstract

The Media Internet supports professional and novice content prosumers and is at the crossroads of digital multimedia content and Internet technologies. It encompasses two main aspects: Media being delivered through Internet networking technologies (including hybrid technologies) and Media being generated, consumed, shared and experienced on the web. The Media Internet is evolving to support novel user experiences such as immersive environments including sensorial experiences beyond video and audio (engaging all the human senses) that are adaptable to the user, the networks and the services. This White Paper reflects the consolidated opinion of 25 experts from the EU, USA and Korea on aspects related to the Future Media Internet (FMI), under the guidance of the Networked Media Systems Unit of the Information Society and Media Directorate General of the European Commission. More specifically, this paper describes the research challenges provisioned by the experts for the upcoming years, concerning the FMI, along with the potential impact these challenges might have. The White Paper focuses more on the Media side of FMI without neglecting, however, the importance of the novel network-related characteristics that Future Internet will embed. At a glance, the experts believe that the FMI should involve high quality research concerning: * Scalable multimedia compression, transmission, concealment; * Network coding and streaming; * Content & context fusion for improved multimedia access; * 3D content generation leveraging emerging acquisition channels. * Immersive multimedia experiences; * Multimedia, multimodal & deformable objects search; * Content with memory and behaviour. The aforementioned research challenges are believed to be the main pillars towards exploring new possibilities for boosting individual and social creativity and productivity in a Future Media Internet environment. The ultimate result of such a research is expected to enhance our communication experiences, the way we work and as a consequence, the way we live. View