The incorporation of multimedia database systems will improve the quantity and quality of information manipulated by computer users in all fields, computer aided design, and information retrieval. The area of intelligent multimedia content analysis and retrieval techniques is an emerging discipline. Techniques for representing and extracting semantic information from media such as speech, images, and video are required.

When a multimedia application lacks a database, the data structure is buried in the script, where all of its value is lost. This omission also makes the script more complicated and less flexible. Using a multimedia database makes the data structure logic available to other multimedia applications and simplifies the script so that many scripts can share the same multimedia metadata. In addition, when a multimedia or abstract data database is organized and annotated for one application, other applications can use those annotations without going through the same time-consuming process. This capability adds great value to the data through reuse and controlled redundancy.

When multimedia application content is controlled by the multimedia database, multimedia content can be added, deleted, or modified without modifying the application script. For example, interactive kiosks that display, describe, and demonstrate products can be updated automatically without reprogramming the application script. Furthermore, a multimedia application such as a multimedia textbook can actually control the operation of book topics that have the same look and feel. This control lets the script perform as a template: An entire series of math textbooks (algebra, calculus, trigonometry, and geometry), including text and video, can use the same multimedia application because all data is physically separate.

Search and retrieval operations are critical in interactive multimedia applications; they must be equally efficient and powerful. Search and retrieval of multimedia and abstract data is challenging, but multimedia databases make it feasible through internal storage format flexibility and efficient operation. The DBMS should have significant knowledge about the data and its structure to enable powerful semantic optimizations and intelligent searches. Search and retrieval operations also give the application access to media components so that they can be dynamically and seamlessly processed when necessary.