Modeling, authoring and formatting hypermedia documents in the HyperProp system

This paper discusses multimedia and hypermedia modeling, authoring and formatting tools, presenting the proposals of the HyperProp system and comparing them to related work. It also highlights several research challenges that still need to be addressed. Moreover, it stresses the importance of document logical structuring and considers the use of compositions in order to represent context relations, synchronization relations, derivation relations and task relations in hypermedia systems. It discusses temporal and spatial synchronization among multimedia objects and briefly presents the HyperProp graphical authoring and formatting tools. Integration between the proposed system and the WWW is also addressed.     

XTemplate 3.0: spatio-temporal semantics and structure reuse for hypermedia compositions

The use of declarative languages in digital TV systems, as well as IPTV systems, facilitates the creation of interactive applications. However, when an application becomes more complex, with many user interactions, for example, the hypermedia document that describes that application becomes bigger, having many lines of XML code. Thus, specification reuse is crucial for an efficient application development process. This paper proposes the XTemplate 3.0 language, which allows the creation of NCL hypermedia composite templates. Templates define generic structures of nodes and links to be added to a document composition, providing spatio-temporal synchronization semantics to it. The use of hypermedia composite templates aims at facilitating the authoring work, allowing the reuse of hypermedia document common specifications. Using composite templates, hypermedia documents become simpler and easier to be created. The 3.0 version of XTemplate adds new facilities to the XTemplate language, such as the possibility of specifying presentation information, the attribution of values to variables and connector parameters during template processing time and the template ability to extend other templates. As an application of XTemplate, this work extends the NCL 3.0 declarative language with XTemplate, adding semantics to NCL contexts and providing document structure reuse. In addition, this paper also presents two authoring tools: the template processor and the wizard to create NCL documents using templates. The wizard tool allows the author to choose a template included in a template base and create an NCL document using that template. The template processor transforms an NCL document using templates into a standard NCL 3.0 document according to digital TV and IPTV standards.     

A framework for automatic semantic video annotation

Hypermedia composite templates define generic structures of nodes and links to be added to a document composition, providing spatio-temporal synchronization semantics. This paper presents EDITEC, a graphical editor for hypermedia composite templates. EDITEC templates are based on the XTemplate 3.0 language. The editor was designed for offering a user-friendly visual approach. It presents a new method that provides several options for representing iteration structures graphically, in order to specify a certain behavior to be applied to a set of generic document components. The editor provides a multi-view environment, giving the user a complete control of the composite template during the authoring process. Composite templates can be used in NCL documents for embedding spatio-temporal semantics into NCL contexts. NCL is the standard declarative language used for the production of interactive applications in the Brazilian digital TV system and ITU H.761 IPTV services. Hypermedia composite templates could also be used in other hypermedia authoring languages offering new types of compositions with predefined semantics.     

Semantic adaptation of multimedia documents

Multimedia documents have to be played on multiple device types. Hence, usage and platform diversity requires document adaptation according to execution contexts, not generally predictable at design time. In an earlier work, a semantic framework for multimedia document adaptation was proposed. In this framework, a multimedia document is interpreted as a set of potential executions corresponding to the author specification. To each target device corresponds a set of possible executions complying with the device constraints. In this context, adapting requires to select an execution that satisfies the target device constraints and which is as close as possible from the initial composition. This theoretical adaptation framework does not specifically consider the main multimedia document dimensions, i.e., temporal, spatial and hypermedia. In this paper, we propose a concrete application of this framework on standard multimedia documents. For that purpose, we first define an abstract structure that captures the spatio-temporal and hypermedia dimensions of multimedia documents, and we develop an adaptation algorithm which transforms in a minimal way such a structure according to device constraints. Then, we show how this can be used for adapting concrete multimedia documents in SMIL through converting the documents in the abstract structure, using the adaptation algorithm, and converting it back in SMIL. This can be used for other document formats without modifying the adaptation algorithm.     

A Scalable Toolkit for Designing Multimedia Authoring Environments

This paper introduces Kaomi, a scalable toolkit for designing authoring environments of multimedia documents. The underlying concept is to provide the designer of multimedia applications with a fast method to get an authoring system based on a set of synchronized views (the presentation view for displaying the document, the scenario view for showing the temporal organization of the document, ...) so that each view is the support of editing actions. Kaomi is flexible enough to support a variety of multimedia documents declarative formats. It is indeed a scalable toolkit since it provides facilities for extending and/or for modifying the resulting authoring environment. In addition, cross-platform portability is provided which allows operation in the heterogenous Internet environment. The use of Kaomi is mainly described through the design of two authoring environments: one for authoring a sub-set of the Smil standard of the W3C and the other one for Madeus, a constraint based multimedia language.     

Management of Multi-structured Hypermedia Documents: A Data Model,Query Language,and Indexing Scheme

Structured documents have gained popularity with the advent of documentstructure markupstandards such as SGML, ODA, HyTime, and HTML.Document management systems can provide powerful facilities by maintaining thestructure information of documents.Since the hypermediadocument is also a kind of structured document, wecan apply the results of many studies, whichhave been performed in storing, retrieving, and managing structured documents,to the hypermedia document management.However, more factors should be considered in handling hypermedia documentsbecause they contain multimedia data and also have multiple complex structuressuch as hyperlink networks and spatial/temporal layout structures as well aslogical structures.In this paper, we propose an object-oriented model for multi-structuredhypermediadocuments and multimedia data, and a query language for retrievinghypermedia document elements based on the content and multiple complexstructures.By using unique element identifiers and an indexing scheme whichexploits multiple structures,we can process queries efficiently with minimal storage overheadfor maintaining structure information.     

From Database to Web Multimedia Documents

This paper deals with the integration of multimedia and database technologies in order to describe web multimedia documents. We present a middleware to seamlessly handle database accesses as well as compositional, spatial and temporal constraints related to data presentation. Our approach is based on the concept of Templates. A template is a logical presentation unit that merge database queries with layout specifications. We choose an XML and SMIL approach to implement template. Template definition and invocation are mapped into a XML DTD. Each template is then translated into a SMIL document. In this paper, we give an example to show the advantages of our approach.     

Automatic authoring and construction of hypermedia for information retrieval

This paper describes the complete process and a tool for the automatic construction of a multimedia hypertext starting from a large collection of multimedia documents. Through the use of an authoring methodology, the document collection is automatically authored, and the result is a multimedia hypertext, also called a hypermedia, written in hypertext mark-up language (HTML), almost a standard among hypermedia mark-up languages. The resulting hypermedia can be browsed and queried with Mosaic, an interface developed in the framework of the World Wide Web Project. In particular, the set of methods and techniques used for the automatic construction of hypermedia is described in this paper, and their relevance in the context of multimedia information retrieval is highlighted.     

ZYX-a multimedia document model for reuse and adaptationof multimedia content

Advanced multimedia applications require adequate support for the modeling of multimedia content by multimedia document models. More and more this support calls for not only the adequate modeling of the temporal and spatial course of a multimedia presentation and its interactions, but also for the partial reuse of multimedia documents and adaptation to a given user context. However, our thorough investigation of existing standards for multimedia document models such as HTML, MHEG, SMIL, and HyTime leads to us the conclusion that these standard models do not provide sufficient modeling support for reuse and adaptation. Therefore, we propose a new approach for the modeling of adaptable and reusable multimedia content, the Z_YX model. The model offers primitives that provide-beyond the more or less common primitives for temporal, spatial, and interaction modeling-a variform support for reuse of structure and layout of document fragments and for the adaptation of the content and its presentation to the user context. We present the model in detail and illustrate the application and effectiveness of these concepts by samples taken from our Cardio-OP application in the domain of cardiac surgery. With the Z_YX model, we developed a comprehensive means for advanced multimedia content creation: support for template-driven authoring of multimedia content and support for flexible, dynamic composition of multimedia documents customized to the user's local context and needs. The approach significantly impacts and supports the authoring process in terms of methodology and economic aspects     

Elastic time computation in QoS-driven hypermedia presentations

The development of hypermedia/multimedia systems requires the implementation of an element, usually known as formatter, which is in charge of receiving the specification of a document and controlling its presentation. Adjustments over the duration of media objects is one of the most important adaptation techniques that hypermedia formatters should implement in order to maintain document spatio-temporal relationships. Elastic time computation accomplishes this goal by stretching or shrinking the ideal duration of media objects. This paper presents new elastic time algorithms for adjusting hypermedia document presentations. The algorithms explore the flexibility offered by some hypermedia models in the definition of media-object durations, choosing objects to be stretched or shrunk in order to obtain the best possible quality of presentation. Our proposals are based on the “out-of-kilter” method for minimum-cost flow problems on temporal graphs. An aggregation procedure enhances the basic algorithm offering more flexibility in modeling real-life situations in comparison with other previous work based on linear programming.     

Authoring SMIL documents by direct manipulations during presentation

This paper presents SmilEditor – an authoring environment to write multimedia documents encoded in SMIL. The main feature of SmilEditor is to strongly integrate the presentation view, in which the document is executed, with the editing process. In this view objects can be selected to perform a wide set of editing actions ranging from attributes setting to direct spatial or temporal editions. This way of editing a multimedia document is close to the wellknown WYSIWYG paradigm used by usual wordprocessors. Moreover, in order to help the author to specify the temporal organisation of documents, SmilEditor provides an execution report displayed through a timeline view. This view also contains information which helps the author to understand why such execution occurred. These multiple and synchronised views aim at covering the various needs for authoring multimedia documents.     

Analysis and verification of SMIL documents

In this paper, we consider the problem of automatic verification of SMIL documents and present a tool which can assist the user in the complex task of authoring a multimedia presentation. The tool is based on a formal semantics defining the temporal aspects of SMIL elements by means of a set of inference rules. The rules, in the spirit of Hoare’s semantics, describe how the execution of a piece of code changes the state of the computation of a player. If any temporal conflict is found, the system returns a message to the user pointing out the element which contains the conflict and its motivation. This helps the user to develop robust and clear code.     

基于OCPN的SMIL文档创作平台设计与实现

基于SMIL的多媒体文档创作平台是目前的应用研究重点。SMIL Authoring Tool(SAT)创作平台在参考了SMIL2．O定义基础上，以OCPN为多媒体同步时序定义的基本模型，分析了国内外现有的系统优缺点之后，利用面向对象的方法实现。SAT相对于已有的系统而言，它使用树形组织结构和OCPN对节点之间的时序和节点内部的详细同步信息进行设置，二者互相补充，可使用户进行简单的同步时序设置。     

Multimedia Document Models: Sealed Fate or Setting Out for New Shores?

Existing multimedia document models like HTML, MHEG, SMIL, and HyTime lack appropriate modeling primitives to fit the needs of next generation multimedia applications which bring up requirements like reusability of multimedia content in different presentations and contexts, and adaptation to user preferences. In this paper, we motivate and present new requirements stemming from advanced multimedia applications and the resulting consequences for multimedia document models. Along these requirements, we discuss the document model standards HTML, HyTime, MHEG, SMIL, and Z_YX, a new model that has been developed with special focus on reusability and adaptation. The analysis and comparison of the models show the limitations of existing models, point the way to the need for new flexible multimedia document models, and throw light on the many implications on authoring systems, multimedia content management, and presentation.     

基于C#的SMIL多媒体融合编辑系统

为满足多媒体融合内容撰写的需要,基于C#开发了同步多媒体集成语言SMIL（Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language）多媒体融合编辑系统SMIL Producer,解决了SMIL文档解析、时间轴编辑等关键问题。系统采用可视化的编辑界面,通过时间轴操作控制多种媒体素材的集成播放方式,为数字内容的SMIL融合提供了便捷的工具。     

HM-Card: A new hypermedia authoring system

HM-Card is a novel hypermedia authoring and presentation system for the development and use of a diverse range of hypermedia applications on PCs/MS-Windows. It is the first tool to implement the HM data model, a recent approach to provide a sound theoretical basis for the sophisticated structuring and navigating of hypermedia databases. However, in this paper we only cover the HM data model as the underlying theoretical foundation for the actual authoring system HM-Card. HM-Card offers an extensive set of functional and structural authoring elements, such as animations, question/answer dialogs, transparent import of external documents, and execution of other MS-Windows applications. The user-interface of HM-Card is intended to support rapid prototyping and authoring of complex hypermedia applications. Finished HM-Card applications can be run as stand-alone systems, used in MS-Windows' OLE (Object Linking and Embedding concept) clients, as well as be integrated as modules into large-scale distributed hypermedia systems.     

一个基于XML的教案制作工具的设计

学习资源共享对于电子教案制作有着重要意义。文章给出了一个基于XML的以学习资源共享为核心的教案制作工具的设计。介绍了组成教案的几种学习资源组件,描述了这些学习资源组件之间的关系,以及XML在实现这些学习资源组件上的作用。给出了教案设计制作方式。另外还给出了工具的系统框架。     

Context-aware adaptation of multimedia documents for consistent presentations

We propose in this paper a context-aware adaptation technique for SMIL encoded multimedia documents. Our approach is mainly dedicated to run in compile-time but we discuss also how it can be used in runtime. Our algorithm aims at improving the execution of a multimedia presentation. This is achieved by scheduling object pre-fetchings in the presentation while monitoring bandwidth and memory space availabilities. For this effect, a request pattern computed from the temporal graph of the SMIL specification is exploited in order to apply an optimal policy to select which objects should be pre-fetched, real time delivered or discarded, even. The algorithm can be used as a tool to evaluate and to monitor the QoS of a presentation. At compile time, it makes it possible to assess whether the QoS of a presentation can be guaranteed after enforcing specific context-oriented adaptations. At authoring stage, this algorithm can be used, for instance, to produce different alternative sub-codes, such that each one is adapted to run in a specific context. In runtime, the algorithm can provide a mechanism to monitor the elastic time computation in case of a mismatch occurrence. In order to advocate our proposal, some experimentation results performed on a simulation platform are reported.     

基于XSL转换超媒体课件文档的研究与实现

基于XSL的转换技术提供了强大的机制和功能,可以实现多种文件变换。它具有部分高级编程语言的特征,因而利用XSL可以方便灵活地转换异构的超媒体XML文档。文中介绍了一个利用XML技术的超媒体课件系统,该系统使用XML保存课件内容,利用XSL来重新组织课件和指示课件对外表示的模式或风格,根据超媒体课件在不同场合不同情况下根据要求展现不同的外在风格和形式。通过应用XML及其XSL的超媒体文档格式转换,描述了基于XSL对超媒体课件文档的转换应用,并实现了基于XML的超媒体课件系统。