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Real-world video-based applications require database technology that is capable of storing digital video in the form of video databases and providing content-based video search and retrieval. Methods for handling traditional data storage, query, search, retrieval, and presentation cannot be extended to provide this functionality. The VDBMS research initiative is motivated by the requirements of video-based applications to search and retrieve portions of video data based on content and by the need for testbed facilities to facilitate research in the area of video database management. In this paper we describe the VDBMS video database research platform, a system that supports comprehensive and efficient database management for digital video. Our fundamental concept is to provide a full range of functionality for video as a well-defined database data type, with its own description, parameters, and applicable methods. Research problems that are addressed by VDBMS to support the handling of video data include MPEG7 standard multimedia content representation, algorithms for image-based shot detection, image processing techniques for extracting low-level visual features, a high-dimensional indexing technique to access the high-dimensional feature vectors extracted by image preprocessing, multimedia query processing and optimization, new query operators, real-time stream management, a search-based buffer management policy, and an access control model for selective, content-based access to streaming video. VDBMS also provides an environment for testing the correctness and scope of new video processing techniques, measuring the performance of algorithms in a standardized way, and comparing the performance of different implementations of an algorithm or component. We are currently developing video component wrappers with well-defined interfaces to facilitate the modification or replacement of video processing components. The ultimate goal of the VDBMS project is a flexible, extensible framework that can be used by the research community for developing, testing, and benchmarking video database technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]