Multimedia communications systems are a combination of human interfaces and end users interacting with multimedia data bases and highly disparate but interconnected communications networks. This paper discusses several architectural alternatives and system requirements that will assist in the design and development of MMCS in actual environments. The approaches taken in this paper are based upon the development of such systems in both medical and printing and publishing environments. This paper develops several key concepts as how best to define and structure data in a multimedia environment, how best to integrate the communications elements, and how best to permit the maximum flexibility to the end user to utilize the system's capabilities in the context of a fully conversational environment.
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