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.     

Cooperative hypermedia an enabling paradigm for cooperative work

This paper describes the integration of computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW), multimedia, and hyperstructures into a single framework calledCooperative Hyper Media (CHM). The concept of CHM supports groups of users acting on a single hypermedia document. Cooperative HyperMedia is a layered concept that integrates several notions related to the production of hypermedia documents, namely, document contents, access, and organization. To test the applicability of the concepts of this approach to CSCW we have realized a generic CHM editing architecture (Co MEdiA), telecommunication mechanism for multimedia objects (Tele Media), and service for cooperative work over long distances for time-dependent media (MISTER COOL).     

Toward intelligent styling for digital museum exhibitions: modularization framework for aesthetic hypermedia presentations

In current Web-based hypermedia environments, constructing and maintaining a large-scale interactive aesthetic hypermedia exhibition is a difficult task. In particular, the shaping of presentation styles requires tedious multimedia composing and is indeed extremely laborious. As our first step toward developing an intelligent styling system for digital museum exhibitions, this paper proposes a fine-grained modularization framework that decomposes the styling of a typical hypermedia presentation into fine-grained style modules (FGSM). A hypermedia document based on a monomodal media handler and a digital museum exhibition management framework have been designed to realize the concept of FGSM. We have implemented a Web-based authoring system that allows content providers to efficiently construct mediacentric, interactive, aesthetic hypermedia Web sites. In the future, relevant optimization and constraint-solving techniques will be exploited to achieve the goal of intelligent styling for digital museum exhibitions .     

Describing the MIPS multimedia presentation system with the IMMPS reference model

The MIPS system retrieves information from a set of distributed heterogeneous information sources as a result of a single query, and generates an integrated hypermedia presentation of the answer. The retrieval and presentation processes in the MIPS architecture are described firstly using the structure of the original authors, and then in the terminology and structure of the IMMPS reference model. The reference model was developed to address the intelligent generation of multimedia presentations, but it can also be used to describe systems where the presentation structure is generated automatically but where the content is retrieved rather than generated. The mapping from the generation to retrieval processes within the IMMPS reference model is considered.     

A standard reference model for intelligent multimedia presentation systems

This article summarizes the main results of a joint endeavor towards a standard reference model (SRM) for intelligent multimedia presentation systems (IMMPSs). After a brief motivation, we give basic definitions for media terms and presentation systems. The core of this contribution is a generic reference architecture that reflects an implementation-independent view of the processes required for the generation of multimedia presentations. The reference architecture is described in terms of layers, components, and knowledge servers. Our SRM focuses on the functions assigned to the layers and components, rather than on the methods or communication protocols that may be employed to realize this functionality. Finally, we point to some possible extensions of the reference model.     

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.     

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.     

超媒体文档库协作写作系统的数据结构设计

本文主要讨论了一个面向大容量超媒体中文文档库的分布协作写作系统的数据和结构模型设计，着重介绍了分布式文档库、文档目录树、节点和超链链表、多媒体对象、文档检索索引等数据结构和整个超媒体系统的结构模型.     

Relating the primitive hierarchy of the PREMO standard to the standard reference model for intelligent multimedia presentation systems

The need for a suitable classification of media types arises for several reasons when building or comparing multimedia systems. Within an Intelligent Multimedia Presentation Systems (IMMPS), it is necessary to formulate and encode design knowledge for decision making on the appropriate medium in which to present information and for the generation of the presentation. It is also required in order to specify interfaces to and between system components which will be employed to run a generated presentation before the user's eyes. This task is reflected in the Standard Reference Model (SRM, see this volume) for IMMPS by the Presentation Display Layer. However, the SRM does not instantiate this layer in detail, but instead refers to the Presentation Environment for Multimedia Objects (PREMO) ISO/IEC standard which provides a reference model for a presentation runtime environment for multimedia. PREMO already contains a set of basic structures, the so-called PREMO Primitive Hierarchy, to describe different media types. Thus the question arises, as to how far the PREMO Primitive Hierarchy could serve as a media classification for the SRM in general. In particular, this would support consistency between the design and presentation layers of the SRM if PREMO were used to instantiate the presentation layer. In the current paper, we first point to a number of typical problems with generating classifications of media types. We then provide a brief introduction to PREMO and its Primitive Hierarchy. Finally, the benefits and costs of using the PREMO Primitive Hierarchy for the SRM are discussed.     

HADT: Hypermedia application development tool for tourist applications

This paper describes an authoring tool prototype design for the development of hypermedia applications. The system is based on a generic object oriented data model suitable for hypermedia, that has been designed and implemented in our department. The model is extensible for integrated multimedia manipulation and provides an enhanced linking system. The design aims at a general purpose hypermedia application development tool which may well be used for the development of tourist applications. It is of special interest in the Greek tourist market since tourism contributes considerably to the national income of Greece. Current technology provides the hardware for manipulation of multimedia information and increases the quantity and quality of information flow between the user and the machine. Thus in a travel agency environment it would be desirable to have an interactive multimedia demonstration helping the user find places of interest in any context (physical beauty, archaeological interest, tourist infrastructure, possible itineraries etc.). Such a tool would be very effective compared with the static presentation of brochures. HADT has the potential to fulfil these needs when it is developed, and in this paper we explore such possibilities. Furthermore, research directions for future work are discussed.     

The standard reference model in the AIMI and TEXPLAN systems

In this article, we describe the presentation components of two systems created at The MITRE Corporation: An Intelligent Multimedia Interface (AIMI) and the Textual Explanation PLANner (TEXPLAN) system. We then describe and analyze these two systems using the Standard Reference Model (SRM) for Intelligent Multimedia Presentation Systems (IMMPS) [M. Bordegoni, G. Faconti, S. Feiner, M. Maybury, T. Rist, S. Ruggieri, P. Trahanias, M. Wilson, A standard reference model for intelligent multimedia presentation systems, Computer Standards and Interfaces, 18 (6,7) 477–496].     

视觉信息管理的数据模型研究

从多媒体信息系统建造目标出发,综述了时基媒体,超媒体文献,视频信息,多媒体复合对象的基本数据模型的研究成果。分析了在实现基于内容检索和特征识别中所采用的视觉数据逻辑表达方法,并就当前图形图象数据库的研究重点和方向发表了见解。     

超媒体模型中时态行为研究

实现超体系统的关键之一是提供对多媒体同步的支持，文中在Ｄｅｘｔｅｒ参考模型的基础，进行了合理的扩充以描述和存储多媒体数据库的时态参数，并 了相应的展示算法。     

基于结构特性的超媒体模型

将超媒体的结构特性与形式语言学理论相结合,提供了一种有效地分析超媒体动态结构的特性的方法,该方法将超毁体组件集合映射为语言中的抽象符号集合,组件集合之上的链映射为语言中建立单词的方法,超媒体的结构化机械制映射为语言中的抽象符号集号,组件集合之上的链映射为语言中建立单词的方法,超媒体的结构化机制映射为语言中描述单词集合构造机制的语法,超媒体模拟为转换机,“链引导”动作模拟为“匹配对”序列,“链引导”的计算结果产生与上下文无关文法相对应的虚拟文档,从而为进一步研究超媒体的浏鉴语义及其它动态特性提供了理论基础。     

Improving SMIL with NCM Facilities

SMIL is an XML-based language for specifying documents with temporal and spatial synchronization relationships, recommended by the W3C. However, SMIL has some limitations as a hypermedia authoring language. In order to overcome these limitations, this work presents the integration of SMIL documents with HyperProp, a hypermedia system based on an object-oriented model called NCM (Nested Context Model). As benefits, the integration makes both NCM facilities and HyperProp authoring and formatting tools available for SMIL documents. Furthermore, this work presents how the SMIL language can be extended to incorporate NCM facilities through the inclusion of new XML elements and attributes found in NCL, the NCM declarative language. Among the facilities, we can highlight the possibility of reusing document components and their presentation characteristics, offering flexibility in temporal specifications, adapting a document presentation according to user navigation and specifying n-ary relationships expressing causality or constraint among components.     

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.     

基于Petri网的智能超媒体模型

智能超媒体是多媒体技术与专家系统的理想结合，Petri是描述系统行为的形式化工具。该文利用有色Petri网、扩展OCPN模型，采用立体层次结构，提出了一种基于Petri网的智能超媒体模型。该模型能较好地描述专家系统中规则的推理、多媒体中各种媒体的链接与同步以及与用户的交互和表现问题。     

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