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As information from computers, communication systems, broadcasts, and even home-entertainment machines all becomes digital, a multimedia world will evolve.Many convenient and beneficial forms of services will then no doubt appear on the scene. These will include video-on-demand systems based on bi-directional cable television (CATV), stay-at-home medical diagnosis, home banking, home shopping, and home education.
They will also include electronic museum and library services for cultural self-improvement, and video conferencing and video-telephone systems for better communication.
The components used to construct the multimedia equipment that will support this wide range of devices, as well as the large-scale image-data processing technology, the high throughput information-transmission systems, the mass storage and mass memory systems, and other technologies that will be needed, are electronic devices.
This article presents an overview of multimedia electronic-device technologies, including the present state of the technology, prospects for the future, and the trends that connect the two.