DEPARTMENT OF

ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

Accredited by NBA, New Delhi

MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION
BEC613A
VI SEMESTER
MODULE 2 NOTES
Prepared by,
Mrs. MEGHANA M N
Assistant Professor
Dept. of ECE
MIT Thandavapura

A Unit of Maharaja Education Trust®

MAHARAJA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

THANDAVAPURA

NH 766, Nanjangud Taluk, Mysuru- 571 302

(Affiliated to VTU, Belagavi and approved by AICTE, New Delhi)
 DEPARTMENT OF
ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING
Accredited by NBA, New Delhi

MODULE 2 CONTENTS

INFORMATION REPRESENTATION
• Introduction
• Digitization principles
• Text
• Images
• Audio and Video (Chapter 2 of Text1)
Text Book 1: Multimedia Communications –Fred Halsall, Pearson Education,2001,ISBN-978813170994
MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION (BEC613A) MODULE 2

MODULE 2
MULTIMEDIA INFORMATION REPRESENTATION

1. INTRODUCTION

• All types of multimedia information are process and store within the computer in a digital form.
• Textual information: contains strings of characters entered through keyboard.
• Code word: each character represented by a unique combination of fixed number of bits.
• Analog Signal: signal whose amplitude varies continuously with time. In order to store and
process analog signal type of media in a computer we should convert any time varying analog
signals into a digital form is necessary.
• Signal encoder: Conversion of analog signal into digital signal is carried out using an electrical
circuit known as Signal Encoder, it includes following steps:
Ø Sampler: It samples the amplitude of analog signals at repetitive time intervals.
Ø Quantization: converting amplitude of each sample into a corresponding digital value.
• Signal decoder: Conversion of stored digital sample relating to a particular media type into their
corresponding time-varying analog form is performed by a electrical circuit is known as a signal
decoder.

2. DIGITIZATION PRINCIPLES: ANALOG SIGNALS

2.1 ANALOG SIGNAL

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MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION (BEC613A) MODULE 2

Figure 1: Signal properties (a) time-varying analog signal; (b) sinusoidal frequency components; (c)
signal bandwidth example; (d) effect of a limited bandwidth transmission channel
• In figure 1(a), the amplitude of signals varies continuously with time. A mathematical technique
known as Fourier analysis can be used to show that any time varying analog signal is made up of
infinite number of single frequency sinusoidal signals whose amplitude and phase vary
continuously with time.
• The highest and lowest frequency components of the signal are shown in the figure 1(a) and (b).
• The range of frequencies of the sinusoidal components that make up a signal is called the signal
bandwidth which is shown in the figure 1(c).
• In terms of speech, human produce sounds which are converted into electrical signals by a
microphone that are made up of a range of sinusoidal signals varying frequency between 50Hz and
10kHz.
• In case of a music signal, the range of signals is wider and varies between 15Hz and 20kHz which
is sensitive to ear.
• When an analog signal is being transmitted through a network, the bandwidth of the transmission
channel, the range of frequencies of the channel should be equal or greater than the bandwidth of
the signal.

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MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION (BEC613A) MODULE 2

• If the bandwidth of the channel is less than this, then some of the low and high frequency
components will be lost which degrades the quality of the received signal. This type of
transmission channel is called bandlimiting channel and its effect is shown in figure 1(d).

2.2 ENCODER DESIGN (ANALOG TO DIGITAL CONVERTER DESIGN)

• The conversion of a time varying analog signal (audio signal) into a digital form is carried out
using an electronic circuit is known as signal encoder.
• The principles of an encoder are shown in figure 2 (a) which consists of 2 main circuits:
Ø Bandlimiting filter
Ø ADC (Analog to Digital Converter) which has 2 components:
v Sample-and-hold circuit
v Quantizer
• A typical waveform for a signal encoder is shown in figure 2

Figure 2: Signal encoder design: (a) circuit components, (b) waveform

• Bandlimiting filter: remove selected higher-frequency components from the source signal (A).
• Sample-And-Hold: got output of bandlimiting filter, (B) signal used to sample amplitude of the

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MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION (BEC613A) MODULE 2

filtered signal at regular time intervals (C) and to hold the sample amplitude constant between
samples (D) signal Quantizer circuit got signal (D) which converts each sample amplitude into a
binary value known as a codeword like (E) signal.
• To represent the amplitude of a time-varying analog signal precisely require 2 things:
1. Sampling Rate:
Ø Nyquist Sampling Theorem: states that a time- varying analog signal it's amplitude
must be sampled at a minimum rate that is equal to or greater than twice the highest
sinusoidal frequency component that is present in the signal and is known as Nyquist
rate, represented as either Hz or samples per second (sps).
Ø Sampling a signal at a rate which is lower than the Nyquist rate results in additional
frequency components being generated that are not present in the original signal which
cause the original signal to become distorted and such signals are called alias signals.
Ø Band limiting filter/Antialiasing filter: source signal is passed into the band limiting
filter to pass only those frequency components up to that determined by Nyquist rate any
higher-frequency components in the signal which are higher than this are removed
before the signal is sampled.

2. Quantization intervals:
Ø If Vmax, is the maximum positive and negative signal amplitude, n is the number of
binary bits used and q is the magnitude of each quantization interval is given by:

Ø Signal - anywhere within a Quantization intervals will be represented by the same binary
codeword.
Ø The difference between the actual signal amplitude and the corresponding amplitude is
Ø called quantization error.
Ø The error values will vary randomly from samples to sample and hence quantization
error is also known as quantization noise.
Ø The ratio of peak amplitude of a signal to its minimum amplitude is known as Dynamic
range of the signal D.
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2 PROBLEMS (REFER CLASS NOTES)

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MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION (BEC613A) MODULE 2

2.3 DECODER DESIGN (DIGITAL TO ANALOG CONVERTER DESIGN)

• Analog signal is processed and transmitted in a digital form. Prior to their output they must be
converted back again into their analog form. The electronic circuit that performs this conversion is
known as signal decoder.
• The circuit components of decoder and signal waveform is shown in the figure 3.

Figure 3: Signal decoder design: (a) circuit components, (b) signal waveform

• Digital To Analog Converter (DAC) is a circuit which converts each digital codeword (A) into an
equivalent analog sample (B), amplitude of each level being determined by, corresponding
codeword.
• Fourier analysis: used to show that output of DAC comprises sinusoidal frequency components
make up the original (filtered) analog signal + an infinite number of additional higher-frequency
components.
• For original signal to reproduce DAC output is passed through a LPF (Low Pass Filter) which only
passes those frequency components that made up the original filtered signal (C).
• In order to produce the original signal, the output of the DAC is passed through a LPF which only
passes low frequency components of original filtered signal. Therefore, LPF is also known as
recovery or reconstruction filter.
• Since most of the multimedia applications involve audio and video, the communication channel is
two way simultaneous in order the terminal equipment must support both input and output
simultaneously. The audio/video signal encoders and decoders in each terminal equipment are
combined into single unit called audio/video encoder decoder or audio/video codec.

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MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION (BEC613A) MODULE 2

3. TEXT

• Definition: Text is a human-readable sequence of characters and the words they form that can be
encoded into computer- readable formats such as ASCII.
• There are 3 Types of text:
1) Unformatted Text: alternative name plaintext and it enables pages to be created comprises of
strings of fixed-sized characters from a limited character set.
2) Formatted Text: alternative name rich text and it enables pages and complete documents to
be created which, comprise of strings of characters of different styles, size and shape with
tables, graphics, and images inserted at appropriate points.
3) Hypertext: It enables an integrated set of documents (each comprising formatted text) to be
created which have defined linkages between them.

3.1 UNFORMATTED TEXT

• Two examples of character sets widely used to create pages consisting of unformatted text strings
are:
1) ASCII character set
2) Mosaic character set
• Table 1(a) shows set of characters, available in the ASCII (American Standard Code for
Information Interchange) character set is one of the most widely used character sets.
• Table shows binary codewords represented by a unique 7-bit binary codeword means there are 128
alternate characters and codeword used to identify each character and is obtained by combining the
corresponding column (bits 7-5) and row (bits 4-1) bits together.
• Bit 7 is MSB and Bit 0 is LSB thus codeword for uppercase M is 1001101.
• Printable Characters: It is a collection of normal alphabetic, numeric and punctuation characters
but ASCII total characters also include a number of control characters including:
1) Format control characters: BS (backspace), LF (Linefeed), CR (Carriage Return), SP (Space),
DEL (Delete), ESC (Escape), and FF (Formfeed).
2) Information separators: FS (File Separator), RS (Record Separator).
3) Transmission control characters: SOH (Start-Of-Heading), STX (Start-Of- Text), ETX (End-Of-
Text), ACK (Acknowledge), NAK (Negative Acknowledge), SYN(Synchronous Idle).

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MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION (BEC613A) MODULE 2

• Table 1(b) shows set of characters, available in the mosaic character set for table 1(a).

• Characters in columns 010/011 and 110/111 are replaced by set of mosaic characters.
• Mosaic characters used with uppercase characters to create relatively simple graphical images.
• An example application which uses mosaic character set are Videotext and Teletex which are
mosaic general broadcast information services available, through a standard television set.

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MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION (BEC613A) MODULE 2

3.2 FORMATTED TEXT

• Formatted text is produced by most word processing packages like MS word used extensively in
the publishing sector for the preparation of papers, books, magazines, journals, and so on.
• Word processing packages enables documents to be created that consist of characters of different
styles and of variable size and shape, each of which can be plain, bold, or italicized.
• Variety of document formatting options are supported to enable an author to structure a document
into chapters, sections and paragraphs, each with different headings and with tables, graphics, and
pictures inserted at appropriate points.
• normally, a reserved format-control character followed by pair of other alphabetic or numeric
characters.
• Figure 4 shows - printed version of the formatted text with different font and style.

Figure 4: Formatted printed version of the string

• To print a document consisting of formatted text:
printer must be first set up, microprocessor within the printer must be programmed to detect and
interpret, convert the following text, table, graphic, or picture into a line-by-line form ready for
printing.
• Commands such as print preview often provided which cause the page to be displayed on the
computer screen in a similar way, to tell how it will appear when it is printed.
• This is the origin of the term WYSIWYG an acronym of What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get.

3.3 HYPERTEXT
• This enables an integrated set of documents referred to as pages to be created which have defined
linkage points referred to as hyperlinks between them. Documents consisting of only text are
created using hypertext.
• Each document has a unique address known as Uniform Resource Locator (URL). The first page of
the document is known as home page.
• The linked set of pages that are stored in a particular server are accessed and viewed using a client
program known as a browser.
• Hypertext is used to create an electronic version of such documents with the index, description of
the department, courses offered, library and other facilities all written in hypertext as pages with

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various hyperlink between them.

• Ex.: universities describe their structure and the courses and support services they offer in
prospectus, a booklet organized in a hierarchical way.
• In order for the reader to find out information about a particular course, facilities offered by the
university, typically, reader would start at the index and use this to access details about the various
departments, the courses each offers, and so on by switching between the different sections of the
booklet.

Figure 5: Example of electronic document written in hypertext

• URL comprises a number of logical parts including:
1) Unique name of the host computer where, page is stored.
2) Name of file containing the page which, collectively enables browser program to locate and
read each requested page.
• A standard format is used for writing documents are known as Hypertext Markup Language
(HTML). Mark-up term is used by copy editor for printing of documents was carried out manually.
• Example of Languages of mark-up category:
1) Postscript ((printed) page description language)
2) SGML (Standard Generalized Mark-up Language on which HTML is based)
3) Tex
4) Latex
• Hypermedia: other media types, such as sound and video clips can also be included hypermedia
and hypertext terms often used interchangeably when referring to pages created in HTML.

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MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION (BEC613A) MODULE 2

4. IMAGES
• Images include computer generated images referred to as computer graphics or simply graphics
and digitized images of both documents and pictures.
• These images are displayed in the form of a two-dimensional matrix of individual picture elements
known as Pixels or Pels.
• There are 3 types of images:
1. Graphics
2. Digitized documents
3. Digitized pictures

4.1 GRAPHICS
• Software packages provide easy to use tools to create graphics that are composed of all kinds of
visual objects including lines, arcs, squares, rectangles, circles, ovals, diamonds, stars and so on, as
well as any form of hand drawn (freeform) objects.
• These are produced by drawing the desired shape on the screen by means of a combination of a
cursor symbol on the screen.
• Textual information can also be included in a graphics, together with prescribed tables and graphs
and digitized pictures and photographs.
• A computer’s display screen can be considered as being made up of a two-dimensional matrix of
individual picture elements each of which can have a range of colors associated with it.
• Ex.: VGA (Video Graphics Array) common type of display.
• Figure 6(a) Shows a matrix of 640 horizontal pixels by 480 vertical pixels. 8 bits/pixel which
allows each pixel to have one of 256 different colors.
• All objects including the free-form objects made up of a series of lines connected to each other as
shown in figure 6(b).
• Attributes: each object has a number of attributes associated with it they include:
Ø Its shape - a line, a circle, a square, and so on.
Ø Its size - in terms of pixel positions of its border coordinates.
Ø Color of border.
Ø Its shadow, and so on
• Editing of an object involves simply, changing selected attributes associated with the object.
• Object shape can be either open or closed.
Ø Open object: start of the first line and end of the last line that make up the object's border

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are not connected i.e. they do not start and end on the same pixel.
Ø Closed object: start of the first line and end of the last line that make up the object's border
are connected i.e. they start and end on the same pixel.
• For closed objects color-fill can be done as in Figure 6(c). coloring the solid block with the same
color is known as rendering.

Figure 6: Graphic principles (a)Example of screen format (b)Simple object example (c)Change of object, solid
object
• 2 forms of representation of computer graphic:
1. High-level version:
v Actual pixel-image of the graphic
v They require less memory to store the image and less bandwidth for its transmission.
v Ex: png, jpeg

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 2. Low-level version:
v They require large memory to store the image and more bandwidth for its transmission.
v Ex: gif, tiff
• SRGP (Simple Raster Graphics Package) convert the high-level language into a pixel-image form.

4.2 DIGITIZED DOCUMENTS [FAX PRINCIPLE]

• An example of a digitized document is that produced by the scanner associated with a facsimile or
fax machine as shown in figure 7.

Figure 7: Schematic of Fax machine

• The scanner associated with a fax machine operates by scanning each complete page from left to
right to produce a sequence of scan lines that start at the top of the page and end at the bottom.
• The vertical resolution of the scanning procedure is either 3.85 or 7.7 lines per millimeter which is
equivalent to approximately 100 or 200 lines per inch.
• As each line is scanned, the output of the scanner is digitized to a resolution of approximately 8
picture elements known as pels.
• Fax machines use just a single binary digit to represent each pel: 0 for white pel, 1 for black pel
• Figure 8 shows digital representation of the scanned page.

Figure 8: Digitization format of Fax machine

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 4.3 DIGITIZED PICTURES
• For color images to understand digitization format used, it is necessary to understand the principles
of how color is produced and how the picture tubes used in computer monitors.

4.3.1 COLOR PRINCIPLES

• A whole spectrum of colors is known as a color gamut which can be produced by using different
proportion of the three primary colors red (r), green (G), and blue (B). This principle is as shown in
figure 9.

Figure 9: Color principles: (a) additive color mixing (b) subtractive color mixing

• The mixing technique used in figure (a) is known as additive color mixing. Since black is
produced when all the three primary colors are zero, which is particularly useful for producing a
color image on a black surface as in the display applications.
• It is also possible to perform the complementary subtractive color mixing operation to produce a
similar range of colors which is shown in the figure (b).
• In subtractive color mixing, a white is produced when the three chosen primary colors cyan (C),
magneta (M) and yellow (Y) are all zero.
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MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION (BEC613A) MODULE 2

• Hence this choice of colors is useful for producing a color image on a white surface as in the case
of printed applications.
• The same principle is used in the picture tubes associated with the color television sets with the
three primary colors R, G and B. Also, in most computer monitors uses the same picture tubes as
are used in television sets.

4.3.2 RASTER-SCAN PRINCIPLES [tv working principles]

• The picture tubes used in most television sets operate using raster scan. This involves a finely
focused electron beam (raster) being scanned over the complete screen as shown in the figure 10.

Figure 10: Raster scan schematic

• Progressive scan: Here each complete scan comprises a number of discrete horizontal lines first of
which starts at the top left corner of the screen and, the last of which ends at the bottom right
corner at this point, the beam is deflected back again to the top left corner. Scanning operation
repeats in the same way this type of the scanning is called as progressive scanning. Figure 11
shows the raster scan principles.

Figure 11: Raster scan principle / progressive scan

• Frame is a complete set of horizontal scan lines and is made up of N individual scan lines. N is
either 525 (USA standard) or 625 (Europe standard).

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• Inside the display screen of the picture tube is coated with a light sensitive phosphor which emits
light when energized by the electron beam.
• Brightness: It is the amount of light emitted which is determined by the power in the electron beam
at that instant.
• In case of black and white picture tubes just a single electron beam is used with a white sensitive
phosphor. Color tubes use three separates closely located beam and a 2-D matrix of pixels.
• Each pixel consists of set of three-color sensitive phosphors associated with each pixel is called
phosphor triad which is shown in figure 12.

Figure 12: Pixel format for each scan line

• Television picture tubes were designed to display moving images. The persistence of the
light/color produced by the phosphor is designed to decay very quickly and hence it is necessary to
continuously refresh the screen.
• Spot is a practical shape of each pixel which merges with its neighbors when viewed from a
sufficient distance a continuous color image is seen.
• Frame refresh rate must be high enough in order to avoid decaying of television picture.
• Ficker is caused by a low refresh rate caused by the previous image fading from the eye retina
before the image is displayed. To avoid flicker the refresh rate must be atleast 50 times/sec is
required.
• Raster scan display architecture: Figure 13 shows the architecture of various steps involved used
to create a high-level version of the image interactively using either keyboard or mouse.
• Video RAM is a separate block of memory used to store the pixel image. Area of computer
memory make up the image the pixel image must be accessed continuously as each line is scanned.
• Graphics program write the pixel images into video RAM whenever selected pixels or total
image changes.
• Display Controller (frame/display/refresh buffer) is a part of program gives a sequence of display
commands and converts them into displayed objects by writing appropriate pixel values into the
video RAM.

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MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION (BEC613A) MODULE 2

• Video controller is a hardware subsystem that read the pixel values stored in the video RAM in
time with the scanning process converts each set of pixel values into equivalent set of R, G and B
analog signals for output to display.

Figure 13: Raster scan display architecture

4.3.3 PIXEL DEPTH

• The number of bits per pixel is known as pixel depth which determines the range of different
colors that can be produced.
• Consider 12 bits of information yields 4096 different colors. Eye cannot distinguish such a range of
colors so, in some instances a selected subset of this range of colors been used.
• The amount of memory required to store an image can be reduced by maintaining color took up
table or CLUT (Color Look-Up Table) which contains the corresponding color values.
• Advantage: amount of memory required to store an image can be reduced significantly.

4.3.4 ASPECT RATIO

• Aspect ratio is the ratio of the screen width to the screen height.
• It is used to determine number of pixels/scanned line and number of lines/frame of a display
screen.
• The aspect ratio of current television tubes is 4/3 with older tubes where the PC monitors are 16/9
with the wide screen television tubes.
• There are 2 color standards for color television:

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1. US standard: US: NTSC (National Television Standards Committee) uses 525 scan lines per
frame.
2. Europe standard: Europe three color standards namely: PAL (UK), CCIR (Germany) and
SECAM (France) uses 625 lines per frame.

Figure 14: screen resolution for 525 and 625 lines (a) visible lines per frame and (b) spatial resolution
• Figure 14 Shows the screen resolution for 525 and 625 lines visible lines per frame and spatial
resolution.
• To produces a square picture avoiding distortion on the screen with 4/3 aspect ratio it is necessary
for displaying a square of (N X N) pixels to have:
1. 640 pixels (480 * 4/3) per line, with an NTSC monitor
2. 768 pixels (576 * 4/3) per line, with a European monitor
• Memory requirements to store a single digital image can be high, vary between 307.2 Kbytes for
an image displayed on a VGA screen through to approximately 2.36Mbytes for a SVGA (Super
VGA) screen.

Standard Resolution Number of colors Memory/frame (bytes)

VGA 640 x 480 x 8 256 307.2kB
640 x 480 x 8 64k 614.4kB
XGA
1024 x 768 x 8 256 786.432kB
800 x 600 x 16 64k 960kB
SVGA 1024 x 768 x 8 256 786.432kB
1024 x 768 x 24 16M 2359.296kB

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MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION (BEC613A) MODULE 2

1 PROBLEM (REFER CLASS NOTES)

4.3.5 DIGITAL CAMERAS AND SCANNERS

• A typical arrangement that is used to capture and store a digital image produced by a scanner or a
digital camera (either a still image camera or a video camera) is shown in the below figure 15.

Figure 15: Color image capture schematic

• In the figure it is assumed that, the captured image is transferred to the computer directly as it is
produced.
• In the case of digital camera, a set of digitized images can be stored within the camera itself and
then downloaded into the computer later.
• Image sensor is a device that captures the image within the camera. This is a silicon chip in digital
cameras consisting of a 2-D grid of light sensitive cells called photosites.
• When the camera shutter is activated, each photosites stores the level of intensity of the light that
falled on it.
• A widely used image sensor is a charge coupled device (CCD). This consists of an array of
photosites on its surface and operates by converting the level of intensity that falls on each
photosites into an equivalent electrical charge.
• The level of charge and light intensity stored at each photosites position is then read out and
converted into a digital value using an ADC.

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MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION (BEC613A) MODULE 2

• The three methods to obtain color associated with each photosites and pixel position is as shown in
the figure 16 and the methods are as follows:

Figure 16: Color image RGB signal generation alternatives

• Method 1: Surface of each photosite coated with either R, G, or B filter so, that its charge is
determined only by the level of R, G, and B lights that falls on it. Coatings are arranged on 3 X 3
grid structure as in Figure above then, color associated with each photosite/pixel determined by the
output of photosite R, G, and B together with each of its 8 immediate neighbors. The levels of two
other colors in each pixel are estimated by interpolation procedure involving all 9 values.
Application: Consumer-friendly cameras.
• Method 2: It involves use of 3 separate exposures of a single image sensor 1st through a Red filter,
2nd through a Green filter, and 3rd through a Blue filter. Color associated with each pixel position
is then, determined by the charge obtained with each of 3 filters - R, G, and B.
Application: High-resolution still-image cameras in locations such as photographic studios where,
cameras can be attached to a tripod.
• Method 3: uses 3 separate image sensors one with all photosites coated with a red filter, 2nd with
a green filter, 3rd with a blue filter. A single exposure is used with the incoming light split into 3
beams each of which exposes a separate image sensor.
Application: Professional-quality-high-resolution still and moving image camera.

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MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION (BEC613A) MODULE 2

5. AUDIO
• There are two types of audio signals:
1. Speech audio signal: Used in interpersonal applications including telephony and video
telephony.
2. Music audio signal: Used in applications such as CD on demand and broadcast television.
• Audio can be produced by means of a microphone or electronically using some form of
synthesizer.
• In case of synthesizer, the audio is created in a digital form and stored within the computer
memory.
• Audio can be produced in 3 ways:
1. Microphone: generates a time-varying analog signal audio signal encoder take analog signals,
convert them into digital form.
2. Synthesizer: Create audio in the digital form can be readily stored in the computer memory
output.
3. Loudspeaker: generates digital form signal to a time-varying analog audio signal.
• Bandwidth of the audible signal ranges from 20Hz to 20KHz and BW of speech and music is:
1. BW of a typical speech signal is from 50Hz to 10kHz thus sampling rate of 20ksps (2 X 10
kHz) is used for speech.
2. BW of a typical music signal is from 15Hz to 20kHz thus sampling rate of 40ksps (2 X 20
kHz) is used for speech.

1 PROBLEM (REFER CLASS NOTES)

5.1 PCM SPEECH

• Interpersonal applications involving speech uses PSTN for communication purpose.
• Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) is a digitization procedure defined and the international standard
relating to this is ITU recommendation G.711 which is shown in the figure 17.
• Figure (a) shows the block diagram of PCM speech circuit. It consists of compressor (encoder) and
an expander (decoder).
• The effect of quantization noise level is same for both low amplitude (quiet) signals and high
amplitude (loud) signals.
• The ear is more sensitive to noise on quiet signals than loud signals. Hence to reduce the effect of
quantization noise in a PCM system, the quantization intervals are made non linear.

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MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION (BEC613A) MODULE 2

Figure 17: PCM principles (a) Signal encoding and decoding schematic (b) Compressor characteristics
(c) Expander characteristics
• This can be achieved by compressor circuit and the reverse operation is performed by expander
circuit. The overall operation is known as companding.
• The input and output relationship of both circuits is shown in figure (b) and (c). Figure (b) shows
compression characteristic and figure (c) shows the expansion characteristic.
• Prior to the input signal being sampled and converted into a digital form by the ADC, it is passed
through the compressor circuit by passing the amplitude of the input signal.
• The level of compression and quantization intervals increases as the amplitude of the input signal
increases.
• 2 different compression-expansion characteristics are in use:
Ø µ-law: used in North America and Japan.
Ø A-law: used in Europe and some other countries.

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MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION (BEC613A) MODULE 2

5.2 CD QUALITY AUDIO

• CD players and CD-ROMs are digital storage devices for stereophonic music and general
multimedia information streams. The standard associated with these devices known as CD-digital
audio (CD-DA).
• The sampling rate used is 44.1ksps which means signal is sampled at 23 microsecond intervals.
• Since the bandwidth of a recording channel on a CD is large, a high number of bits per sample can
be used.
• Bit rate per channel = sampling rate x bits per sample = 44.1 x 103 x 16 = 705.6kbps
• Total bit rate = 2 x 705.6 = 1.411 Mbps

1 PROBLEM (REFER CLASS NOTES)

5.3 SYNTHESIZED AUDIO

• Synthesized audio can be defined as sound generated by electronic signals of different frequencies.
• Sound can be synthesized by the use of sound synthesizers. The synthesizers use different
algorithms to generate sound to different waveform synthesis.
• In addition, it is much easier to edit synthesized audio and mix several passages together.

Figure 18: Audio/Sound synthesizer schematic

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MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION (BEC613A) MODULE 2

• The three main components:

1. Computer
2. Keyboard and
3. Set of sound generators.
• The computer takes input commands from the key board and outputs these to the sound generators
which in turn produce the corresponding sound waveform via DACs to operate speakers.
• Pressing a key on the keyboard of a synthesizer has a similar effect to pressing a key on the
keyboard of a computer.
• The control panel contains range of different switches and sliders which allow the user to indicate
the computer program additional information such as volume of the generated output and selected
sound effects to be associated with each key.
• The secondary storage interface allows the sequence of messages to be saved on the secondary
storage such as floppy disk.
• The sequencer program associated with the synthesizer ensures that the resulting integrated
sequence of messages are synchronized and the output of the sound generators to create merged
passage.
• Sound generators use either:
1. FM synthesis techniques
2. Wavelet synthesis by using samples of sound produced by a real instrument.

6. VIDEO
• Video features in a range of multimedia applications such as:
1. Entertainment: Broadcast television and VCR/DVD recordings.
2. Interpersonal: Video telephony and Videoconferencing
3. Interactive: Short video clips

6.1 BROADCAST TELEVISION

• A color picture/image is produced from varying mixtures of three primary colors Red, Green and
Blue.
• The screen of the picture tube is coated with a set of three different phosphors, each of which is
activated by a separate electron beam.
• The three electron beams are scanned from left to right with a resolution of either 525 lines
(NTSC) or 625 lines (PAL).

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MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION (BEC613A) MODULE 2

• The total screen contents are then refreshed at a rate of either 60 or 50 frames per second.
• The computer monitors used with most personal computers use the same picture tubes as those in
broadcast television receivers and hence operate in similar way.
• The three digitized color signals that make up a stored picture/image are read from the computer
memory in time synchronous with the scanning operation of the display tube.
• After each complete scan of the display, the procedure repeats producing a flicker free color image
on the screen.
• Practically Broadcast television operates slightly different than the above logic in terms of:
Ø Scanning sequence
Ø Choice of color signal

6.1.1 SCANNING SEQUENCE

• It is necessary to use a minimum refresh rate of 50 times per second to avoid flicker, but to produce
a smooth motion, a refresh rate of 25 times per second is sufficient.
• In order to minimize the amount of transmission bandwidth that is required to broadcast the
television signal, the characteristic of the eye is exploited by transmitting the image/picture
associated with each frame in two halves.
• Each is known as a field, the first comprising only the odd scan lines and the second the even scan
lines.
• The two fields are then integrated together in the television receiver using a technique known as
Interlaced Scanning, the principles of which are shown in Figure 19.
Ø In a 525-line system each field comprises 262.5 lines out of which 240 are visible.
Ø In a 625-line system each field comprises 312.5 lines out of which 288 are visible.
• Each field is refreshed alternately at 60/50 fields per second and hence the resulting frame refresh
rate is only 30/25 frames per second.
• In this way, a refresh rate equivalent to 60/50 frames per second is achieved but with only half the
transmission bandwidth.

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MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION (BEC613A) MODULE 2

Figure 19: Interlaced scanning principles

6.1.2 COLOR SIGNALS

• To support backward compatibility, the received signals associated with a color television The
received signals associated with a color TV broadcast had to be such that they could be used by
an existing monochrome TV set to produce same picture with high quality monochrome.
• A color TV had to be able to produce black and white pictures from monochrome broadcasts.
• The three main properties of color source that the eye make use of are:
1. Brightness: It represents the amount of energy that stimulates the eye and varies on a gray
scale from black (lowest) through to white. It is independent of the color of the source.
2. Hue: It represents the actual color of the source; each color has a frequency/wavelength and
the eye determines the color from that.
3. Saturation: It represents the strength or vividness of the color.
• Term Luminance is used to refer to the brightness of a source.
• Term Chrominance is used to refer to the hue and saturation, because they are concerned with
its color.
• A range of colors can be produced by mixing three primary colors R, G and B.

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MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION (BEC613A) MODULE 2

• If the magnitude of the three signals is in the proportion:

0.299R+ 0.587G+ 0.114B
then white color is produced on the display screen. The luminance of a source is only a
function of the amount of white light it contains.
• For any color source its luminance can be determined by summing together the three primary
components that make up the color in this proportion i.e.,
Ys = 0.299 Rs + 0.587 Gs + 0.144 Bs
Where, Ys = amplitude of the luminance signal
Rs, Gs, and Bs = magnitudes of the three color component signals
• Two other signals, the Blue Chrominance (Cb), and the Red Chrominance (Cr) are then used
to represent the hue and saturation of the source.
Cb = Bs – Ys and Cr = Rs - Ys
• As Y signal has been subtracted in both cases, above contain no brightness information.

6.1.3 CHROMINANCE COMPONENTS

• In order to fit the Y, Cb and Cr signals in the same bandwidth, the 3 signals must be combined
together for transmission. The resulting signal is then known as the composite video signal.
• If the two-color difference signals are transmitted at their original magnitudes, the amplitude of
the luminance signal can become greater than that of the equivalent monochrome signal. This
leads to a degradation in the quality of the monochrome picture and hence is unacceptable.
• To overcome this effect, the magnitude of the two color difference sign are both scaled down.
• The two color difference signals are referred to by different symbols in each system:
v PAL system: Cb, and Cr are referred to as U and V respectively, scaling factors used for
the three signals are:
Y = 0.299R + 0.587 G + 0.114 B
U = 0.493 (B - Y)
V = 0.877 (R – Y)
v NTSC system: two color difference signals are combined to form two different signals
referred to as I and Q, scaling factor used are:
Y = 0.299R + 0.587 G + 0.114 B
I = 0.74 (R – Y) – 0.27 (B – Y)
Q = 0.48 (R – Y) + 0.41 (B – Y)

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MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION (BEC613A) MODULE 2

1 PROBLEM (REFER CLASS NOTES)

6.2 DIGITAL VIDEO

• Digitization of video signals has been carried out in television studios for many years in order
to perform conversion from one video format into another.
• In order to standardize this process and to make the exchange of television programmes
internationally easier, the international body for television standards, the International
Telecommunications Union-Radiocommunication Branch (ITU-R) formerly known as the
Consultative Committee for International Radiocommunications (CCIR) define a standard for
the digitization of video pictures known as Recommendation CCIR-601.

6.2.1 4:2:2 FORMAT

• This is the original digitization format used in Recommendation CCIR-601 for use in television
studios.
• The three component (analog) video signals from a source in the studio can have bandwidths of up
to 6MHz for the luminance signal and less than half of this for the two chrominance signals.
• To digitize these signals, it is necessary to use bandlimiting filters of 6MHz for the luminance
signal and 3MHz for the two chrominance signals with a minimum sampling rate of 12MHz
(12Msps) and 6MHz respectively.
• In the standard, a line sampling rate of 13.5 MHz for luminance and 6.75 MHz for the two
chrominance signals was selected, both of which are independent of the particular scanning
standard-NTSC, PAL and so on.
• The number of samples per line are as follows:

• The number of bits per sample is 8bits for all three signals which correspond to 256 quantization
intervals.
• The vertical resolution for all three signals are as follows:
1. 525-line system (NTSC): 480 lines (number of visible lines)
2. 625-line system (PAL) : 576 lines (number of visible lines).

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MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION (BEC613A) MODULE 2

• Frame refresh rate selected:

1. With 525-line system: 60Hz
2. With 625-line system: 50Hz

Figure 20: Sample positions with 4:2:2 digitization format

6.2.2 4:2:0 FORMAT

• This format is used in digital video broadcast applications. It is used to give good picture quality.
• Uses the same set of chrominance samples for two consecutive lines.
• Interlaced scanning is used since it is intended for broadcast applications.
• Due to the absence of chrominance samples in alternative lines is origin of the term 4:2:0.
• Thus, it has same luminance resolution as the 4:2:2 format but half the chrominance resolution.
• The resolution of luminance and chrominance signals for 525-line system and 625-line system are:
525-line system: Y = 720 x 480
Cb = Cr = 360 x 240
625-line system: Y = 720 x 576
Cb = Cr = 360 x 288

• In the standard, a line sampling rate of 13.5MHz for luminance and 3.375MHz for the two
chrominance signals.

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MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION (BEC613A) MODULE 2

• The bit rate in both systems with this format is:

13.5 x 106 x 8 + 2(3.375 x 106 x 8) = 162Mbps
• The position of the three sample instants per frame are as shown in Figure 21.

Figure 21: Sample positions with 4:2:0 digitization format

2 PROBLEMS (REFER CLASS NOTES)

6.2.3 HIGH-DEFINITION TELEVISION (HDTV) FORMATS

• The resolution of older 4/3 aspect ratio tubes can be up to 1440x1152 pixels and the resolution of
newer 16/9 widescreen tubes can be up to 1920x1152 pixels.
• In both cases, the number of visible lines per frames is 1080 which produces a square pixel lattice
structure with both tube types.
• Both use either the 4:2:2 digitization format for studio applications or the 4:2:0 format for broadcast
applications.
• The corresponding frame refresh rate is either 50/60Hz with the 4:2:2 format or 25/30Hz with the
4:2:0 format.

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MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION (BEC613A) MODULE 2

6.2.4 SOURCE INTERMEDIATE FORMAT (SIF)

• This format is used to give a picture quality comparable with that obtained with video cassette
recorders (VCRs). The digitization format is 4:1:1.
• It uses half the spatial resolution in both horizontal and vertical directions as that used in the 4:2:0
format. This technique is known as subsampling and it uses half the refresh rate known as temporal
resolution.
• The frame refresh rate is 30 Hz for a 525-line system and 25 Hz for a 625-line system.
• Since SIF is intended for storage applications, progressive (non-interlaced) scanning is used.
• The resolution is given by:
525-line system: Y = 360 x 240
Cb = Cr = 180 x 120
625-line system: Y = 360 x 288
Cb = Cr = 180 x 144
• In the standard, a line sampling rate of 6.75MHz for luminance and 1.6875MHz for the two
chrominance signals.
• The worst-case bit rate in both systems with this format is
6.75 x 106 x 8 + 2(1.6875 x 106 x 8) = 81Mbps
• The positions of the three sampling instants per frame are as shown in Figure 22.

Figure 22: Sample positions for SIF and CIF

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MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION (BEC613A) MODULE 2

6.2.5 COMMON INTERMEDIATE FORMAT (CIF)

• The Common Intermediate Format (CIF) has been defined for use in videoconferencing
applications.
• This is derived from the SIF and uses combination of the spatial resolution used for the SIF in the
625-line system and temporal resolution used in the 525-line system.
• The resolution is: Y = 360 x 288
Cb = Cr = 180 x 144
• This has a temporal resolution of 30Hz using progressive scanning.
• The positions of the sampling instants per frame are same as for SIF and hence digitization format
is 4:1:1.
• In the standard, a line sampling rate of 6.75MHz for luminance and 1.6875MHz for the two
chrominance signals.
• The worst-case bit rate in both systems with this format is
6.75 x 106 x 8 + 2(1.6875 x 106 x 8) = 81Mbps
• To convert to the CIF, a 525-line system needs a line rate conversion and 625-line system a frame
rate conversion.
• The positions of the three sampling instants per frame are as shown in Figure 23.

Figure 23: Sample positions for SIF and CIF

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MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION (BEC613A) MODULE 2

6.2.6 QUARTER CIF (QCIF)

• The QCIF has been defined for use in video telephony applications.
• It is derived from the CIF and uses half spatial resolution of CIF in both horizontal and vertical
directions and the temporal resolution is divided by either 2 or 4.
• The spatial resolution of: Y = 180 x 144
Cb = Cr = 90 x 72
• With a temporal resolution of either 15 or 7.5MHz.
• In the standard, a line sampling rate of 3.375MHz for luminance and 0.84375MHz for the two
chrominance signals.
• The worst-case bit rate in both systems with this format is:
3.375 x 106 x 8 + 2(0.84375 x 106 x 8) = 40.5Mbps
• It has the same 4:1:1 digitization format as CIF.
• The positions of the three sampling instants per frame are as shown in Figure 24.

Figure 24: Sample positions for QCIF

6.3 PC VIDEO
• Number of multimedia applications that involve live video, use a window on the screen of a PC
monitor for display purposes.
Ex.: desk video telephony, videoconferencing, and also video-in-a-window.
• For multimedia applications that involve mixing live video with other information on a PC screen,

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MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION (BEC613A) MODULE 2

the line sampling rate is modified to obtain horizontal resolution like 640 (480 x pixels per line
with a 525-line PC monitor and 768 (576 x 4/3) pixels per with a 625-line PC monitor.
• To achieve the necessary resolution with a 525-line monitor, the line sampling rate is reduced from
13.5MHz to 12.2727MHz while for a 625-line monitor, the line sampling rate must be increased
from 13.5 MHz to 14.75MHz.
• It is to be remembered that all PC monitors use progressive scanning rather than interlaced
scanning.

*****

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MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION (BEC613A) MODULE 2

MODULE 2
DIGITIZATION PRINCIPLES
1. Explain the Signal Encoder design and Quantization operation of digitization principles in detail.
(10M) or Describe the function of signal encoder with the associated waveform. (8M)***
2. Explain the Signal decoder design.***
TEXT
3. Discuss different type of text data representation. (10M Dec 2024) (6M Jan 2020) *****
4. Define 3 types of text. Discuss the hypertext that enable integrated set of documents. (8M Dec
2012) (8M Dec 2010) *****
5. How is formatted text different from unformatted text. Discuss the origin of the term WYSIWYG.
(6M)
IMAGE
6. Explain an example of a digitized document is that produced by the scanner associated with a fax
machine.
What do you understand by the terms or explain the terms and give application of both color mixing:
I. Color gamut
II. Additive color mixing
III. Subtractive color mixing (8M)
7. Explain the following:
I. Aspect ratio***
II. Quantization interval. *** (4M Dec 2023)
8. With the help of architecture, Explain the Raster scan principles or Raster scan principles with TV
or monitor (7M July 2013) (8M Dec 2012) *****
9. with the help of a diagram, explain how a digital image produced by scanner or digital camera is
captured and stored within the memory of the component. (10M Aug 2022) ***
10. explain the following: Quantization intervals, Hypertext, Raster scan, Aspect ratio, 4:2:2 format
(10M July 2011)
AUDIO
11. Explain the principle operation of a PCM Speech Codec, with a block diagram also explain the
Compressor and Expander. (4M) (6M June 2012) (6M June 2010) (10M July 2013) (10M Aug
2022) *****
Or
With a neat block diagram, explain PCM signal encoding and decoding method. (10M dec 2023)
Or
With a neat diagram, explain the signal encoding and decoding using PCM principles. (10M)
12. With schematic Explain Audio Synthesizer. (4M) (6M July 2011) ***

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MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION (BEC613A) MODULE 2

VIDEO
13. With the help of a diagram, explain the principle of interlaced of scanning as used in most TV
broadcast applications. (10M Aug 2022) ***
14. Explain the 4:2:2 and 4:2:0 digitization formats. (10M) (8M Dec 2010) ******
15. With the aid of diagram, summarize following digitization formats. i)4:2:2 ii)SIF (4M) ***
16. With a neat diagram describe the following digitization formats: 4:2:2 and QCIF (10M Dec 2023)
Or
With a neat diagram describe the following digitization formats: 4:2:2 and QCIF. For each format state
temporal resolution, spatial resolution, bit rate and give example for each format (10M June 2012)
(10M June 2010) *****
PROBLEMS
17. Problem on aspect ratio ******
Derive the time to transmit the following digitized image at both 64kbps and 1.5Mbps
i) 640*480*8 VGA compatible image.
ii) 1024*768*24 SVGA compatible image. (6M Dec 2023) (4M June 2012) (4M June 2010) (6M Jan
2020)
18. Problem on Audio *****
Assuming the bandwidth of a speech signal is from 50 Hz through to 10 kHz and that of a music signal
is from 15 Hz through to 20kHz, derive the bit rate that is generated by the digitization procedure in
each case assuming the Nyquist sampling rate is used with 12 bits per sample for the music signal.
Derive the memory required to store a 10 minute passage of stereophonic music. (3M July 2013)
(4M July 2011) (4M Dec 2010) (4M Jan 2020)
19. Problem on CD-Quality audio *****
Assuming the CD-DA standard is being used, derive:
(i) the storage capacity of a CD-ROM to store a 60 minute multimedia title.
(ii) the time to transmit a 30 second portion of the title using a transmission channel of bit rate:
1. 64kbps
2. 1.5Mbps (4M Dec 2012) (10M Aug 2022)
20. Problem on 4:2:2 format *****
Derive the bit rate and the memory requirements to store each frame that result from the digitization of
both a 525-line and a 625 line system assuming a 4:2:2 format. Also find the total memory required
to store a 1.5 hour movie/video. (10M)

Compiled by: Mrs. Meghana M N, Asst. Prof., Dept. of ECE, MITT