MPEG-21

Abstract: MPEG-21 Digital Item Adaptation (DIA) has recently been finalized as part of the MPEG-21 Multimedia Framework. DIA specifies metadata for assisting the adaptation of Digital Items according to constraints on the storage, transmission and consumption, thereby enabling various types of quality of service management. This paper provides an overview of DIA, describes its use in multimedia applications, and reports on some of the ongoing activities in MPEG on extending DIA for use in rights governed environments.

Abstract: The access devices of today are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Thanks to multimedia, communication is much widespread and therefore more powerful. However, we face a serious problem of heterogeneity in our terminals, in our networks, and in the people who ultimately consume and interact with the information presented to them. In this article, we focus on Part 7 of the MPEG-21 standard (ISO/IEC 21000-7), which we refer to as Digital Item Adaptation (DIA). At the time of this writing, the DIA specification is at the penultimate stage of Final Committee Draft (2003); final approval is scheduled for December 2003. The general DIA concept is that Digital Item is subject to both a resource adaptation and a descriptor adaptation engine, which together produce the adapted Digital Item. Note that the standard specifies only the tools that assist with the adaptation process, not the adaptation engines themselves. Digital Item Adaptation (DIA) specifies the following natural environment description tools: location and time and audiovisual environment. The DIA offers a rich set of tools to assist with the adaptation of Digital Items. It offers standardized tools for the description of usage environments, tools to create high-level descriptions of the bitstream syntax to achieve format-independent adaptation, tools that assist in making tradeoffs between feasible adaptation operations and constraints, tools that enable low-complexity adaptation of metadata, and tools for session mobility. Moving forward, the MPEG-21 committee is considering amendments to the specification-for instance, tools that provide further assistance with modality conversion and tools that relate more specifically to the adaptation of audio and graphics media. Furthermore, also being actively considered is how to express the rights that a User has to perform adaptation and how this expression fits into a system that governs those rights.

Abstract: The lack of interoperable (and thus standardized) solutions is stalling the deployment of advanced multimedia packaging and distribution applications although most of the individual technologies are indeed already present. This motivated MPEG (ISO/IEC JTCl SC29 WGI I) in June 2000 to start working on the definition of enabling normative technology for the multimedia applications of the 21st century: MPEG-21 "Multimedia Framework." MPEG-21's approach is to define a framework to support transactions that are interoperable and highly automated, specifically taking into account digital rights management (DRM) requirements and targeting multimedia access and delivery using heterogeneous networks and terminals. This article first outlines the context and background of the MPEG-21 initiative. Then, an overview of MPEG-21 technology is given. Subsequently, it is discussed how MPEG-21 can provide solutions for universal multimedia access (UMA). UMA is also one of the use cases that has led to the creation of a new part in MPEG-21 dealing with digital item adaptation. Finally, this article concludes with an overview of MPEG-21 related activities and an outlook on future developments.

Abstract: 15 Introduction Multimedia Content: Context Multimedia Systems and Databases (Multi)Media Data and Multimedia Metadata Purpose and Organization of the Book MPEG-7: The Multimedia Content Description Standard Introduction MPEG-7 and Multimedia Database Systems Principles for Creating MPEG-7 Documents MPEG-7 Description Definition Language Step-by-Step Approach for Creating an MPEG-7 Document Extending the Description Schema of MPEG-7 Encoding and Decoding of MPEG-7 Documents for Delivery-Binary Format for MPEG-7 Audio Part of MPEG-7 MPEG-7 Supporting Tools and Reference Software MPEG-21: The Multimedia Framework Standard MPEG-21 Concepts and Structure Digital Item Declaration Intellectual Property Management and Protection, Rights Expression Language, and Rights and Data Dictionary Digital Item Adaptation Interoperable MPEG: From MPEG-1 to MPEG-21 Ongoing MPEG-21 Research Projects Multimedia Database Management Systems Multimedia Indexing Multimedia Index Structures Multimedia Data Models: Implementation and Communication Content-Based Retrieval Multimedia Query Languages, Optimization, and Processing Multimedia Database Management System Products Summary Distributed Multimedia Database Systems Architectural Considerations Video Servers and Streaming Multimedia Communication Client-Design Issues Content Adaptation Summary Concluding Remarks Summary of the Book Semantics in Multimedia Databases Mobility Multimedia Middleware Appendix A Abbreviations and Acronyms Index