INTRODUCTION

With the availability of video cameras, 3D scanners and high resolution display devices and virtual reality (VR) tools, the concept of a digital library has expanded from traditional text-based systems to more general text, voice, digital image and video-based systems. For example, one can now acquire and view rare objects housed in a remote museum or take a virtual tour of a medieval castle or the Taj Mahal by combining synthetic and real digital contents with VR tools. By incorporating computer vision techniques, one can also enhance the "telepresence" feeling of the viewer, making him/her appear to be among the people visiting the museum.

Figure 6.1 illustrates the modules of a digital image and video library (DIVL). In such a system, digital content could be extracted from rare books, statues, and aesthetic architectures such as the Taj Mahal or the pyramids. Key components involved in the creation, operation and usage of a DIVL are acquisition, cataloging, storage, retrieval, manipulation, user interfaces and system integration. Both in the United States and Japan, excellent examples of ongoing work in each of these areas can be found. For a description of related efforts in the United States, the reader is referred to summaries of just-completed efforts at the University of California, Berkeley, Stanford, the University of Michigan, the University of Illinois, the University of California, Santa Barbara and Carnegie Mellon University, under the sponsorship of the Digital Library (DL) Initiative, supported by DARPA, NSF and NASA. These and other related efforts are summarized in several DL conferences and journal issues (DLII n.d., ACM 1997a, ACM 1997b, AAAI 1997, IEEE 1998).

This chapter summarizes the panel's observations of ongoing research and technology efforts in Japan in various areas relevant to DIVL. Specifically, it presents an evaluation of what the panel observed in acquisition, cataloging, retrieval, and virtual reality presentations. Related efforts on electronic commerce and networked DL are also presented. Most of these efforts are being carried out by industrial organizations that view multimedia as a key technology for the 21st century. Digital library oriented issues are being investigated by universities and libraries planning to operate in the digital mode. This chapter covers ongoing efforts in DIVL. Digital library related issues, text-based indexing, and search are covered in Chapter 5.

Fig. 6.1. Digital image video library.