Multimedia stands as one of the most challenging and exciting aspects of the information era. Although there are books available that deal with various facets of multimedia, the field has urgently needed a comprehensive look at recent developments in the systems, processing, and applications of image and video data in a multimedia environment. Multimedia Image and Video Processing fills that need. Beginning with existing standards and their impact on multimedia image and video processing, experts from around the world address a broad spectrum of topics in a tutorial style. Their authoritative contributions cover the pros and cons of current and new architectures, conventional and intelligent image processing techniques, new developments in the compression and coding of video and images, and content-based image and video retrieval. The book's final chapters examine recent results in multimedia applications, including transcoding for multipoint video conferencing, distance education, video-on-demand and telemedicine. The extremely rapid growth of this field means that books even just a few years old may offer information that is already obsolete. Multimedia Image and Video Processing offers not only recent research and developments, but does so in a way that provides a solid introduction to each topic and builds a basis for future study, research, and development.