DataBlade Module Development Overview Informix DataBlade Modules

The Informix Video Foundation DataBlade module enables you to store, manage, and manipulate video data and metadata in the same system in which you store more traditional data. Such a system is called a media management system.

Video data represents an image that changes continuously in time. Unlike traditional data that is retrieved and displayed as a discrete value, video data is incrementally accessed and is displayed as a real-time stream of frames. Video data can be located on one or more storage servers, such as Web video streamers, VTRs (video tape recorders), or video servers. If an Informix Video Foundation interface has been created for the storage server, that storage server can come under database control.

Video metadata is data about the video data. This is the information that is actually stored in database tables, along with information on how to retrieve requested video segments from the various storage servers. The Video Foundation DataBlade module defines two categories of metadata:

• Physical attributes. Descriptions of the media on which the video data is stored, such as length, format, and capture rate.
• Abstract descriptions. Multimedia descriptions of the video data content, such as text annotations, or audio or video clips that represent a larger video program.

The Video Foundation DataBlade module is referred to as a foundation DataBlade module because it provides a base on which new or specialized video technologies can be quickly added or changed. Because the foundation is open, secure, and scalable, it provides a clear path toward reusing and repurposing valuable video assets among video formats and distribution channels.

A media management system is a collection of processes, computers, and other machines that enable you to store and manipulate video (and, often, other media) data along with more traditional data, such as text. The Informix Video Foundation DataBlade module provides interfaces among the following basic elements of such a media management system:

• A video client application, such as an editing or logging application, running on a stand-alone computer.
• Your Informix database server and the Video Foundation DataBlade module, running on a second computer; the database contains the video metadata. (Other Informix and third-party DataBlade modules-such as Informix Image, Text, and Web DataBlade modules, and third-party storage server and video scene-change detection DataBlade modules-can also be running on this computer.)
• Video data located on one or more storage servers, such as Web video streamers, VTRs, or video servers. Generally, each storage server is hosted on a separate computer.

The Video Foundation DataBlade module consists of the following components:

• Temporal component. This component consists of the data types and functions that provide a format-independent interface between your Informix database server and video data. This interface enables the server to reference specific points in time (media points and timecodes) and intervals (media chunks) within video data, regardless of the data format (AVI, MPEG, and so on).
• Storage component. This component consists of the data types and functions that provide a device- and format-independent interface between your Informix database server, video data, and the storage servers on which that data is located.
• Video database schema. This schema is a set of database tables that connect the data of the temporal and storage components; it is a repository for video metadata.
• Client API. This API provides the opaque types of the Video Foundation DataBlade module as value objects for application developers using the Informix C++ client interface. It also provides a subset of the DataBlade module server functions as client-side functions for application developers using any of the following client APIs:
• Informix ESQL/C API
• Informix DataBlade API
• Informix Object Interface for C++

For more information, see the Informix Video Foundation DataBlade Module User's Guide.