n organized and well-structured manner. Although the book is not precisely a textbook, it can certainly be used as a text- book for graduate courses and research-oriented courses that deal with 3GPPLTE. Any comments from readers will be highly appreciated. Many people have contributed to this handbook in their unique ways. The first and foremost group that deserves immense gratitude is the highly talented and skilled researchers who have contributed the 12 chapters. All of them have been extremely cooperative and professional. It has also been a pleasure to work with Rich © 2009 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC Preface O'Hanley, Jessica Vakili, and Judith Simon of CRC Press, and we are extremely gratified for their support and professionalism. Our families have extended their unconditional love and strong support throughout this project, and they deserve very special thanks. Borko Furht Boca Raton, Florida Syed Ahson Seattle, Washington C 2009 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC The Editors Borko Furht is chairman and professor of computer science and engineering at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) in Boca Raton, Florida. He is the founder and director of the Multimedia Laboratory at FAU, funded by the National Science Foundation. Before joining FAU, he was a vice president of research and a senior director of development at Modcomp, a computer company in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and a professor at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. He received his PhD degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Belgrade, Yugoslavia. His research interests include multimedia systems and applications, video processing, wireless multimedia, multimedia security, video databases, and Internet engineering. He is currently principal investigator or coprincipal investigator and leader of several large multiyear projects, including "One Pass to Production," funded by Motorola, and "Center for Coastline Security Technologies," funded by the U.S. government as a federal earmark project. Dr. Furht has rece