What is the term for a database management system designed to manage full-text, image, audio, and video—beyond strictly structured numeric/text fields?

Difficulty: Easy

Correct Answer: Multimedia

Explanation:


Introduction / Context:
Modern applications often store and query rich content—documents, images, audio, and video—rather than only simple rows of numbers and short strings. Database systems that support these formats are referred to as multimedia database management systems.



Given Data / Assumptions:

  • Storage and retrieval targets include full text, images, and streams (audio/video).
  • Queries may involve metadata, content-based retrieval (e.g., by tags), and large object storage.
  • The question seeks the common umbrella term for such systems.


Concept / Approach:
A ‘‘multimedia’’ DBMS supports BLOB/CLOB types, indexing on media metadata, and sometimes content-aware search (thumbnails, waveforms, transcripts). While ‘‘hypertext’’ refers to linked documents, and ‘‘graphics media’’ is too narrow, ‘‘multimedia’’ captures the full range of rich data types.



Step-by-Step Solution:

Recognize the multimodal data types (text, image, audio, video).Identify the industry term for DBMS handling these: multimedia.Choose ‘‘Multimedia’’ from the options.


Verification / Alternative check:
Vendor documentation typically labels support for BLOBs, media streaming, and media indexing under multimedia capabilities.



Why Other Options Are Wrong:

  • Hypertext: focuses on linking documents via anchors/URLs.
  • Graphics media: implies images/graphics only.
  • Full media: not a standard term.
  • None of the above: incorrect because ‘‘Multimedia’’ is correct.


Common Pitfalls:
Confusing document-linking technologies (hypertext) with comprehensive media storage and retrieval.



Final Answer:
Multimedia

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