Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language Research Articles

Automatic Multimedia Creation Enriched with Dynamic Conceptual Data

There is a growing gap between the multimedia production and the context centric multimedia services. The main problem is the under-exploitation of the content creation design. The idea is to support dynamic content generation adapted to the user or display profile. Our work is an implementation of a web platform for automatic generation of multimedia presentations based on SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language) standard. The system is able to produce rich media with dynamic multimedia content retrieved automatically from different content databases matching the semantic context. For this purpose, we extend the standard interpretation of SMIL tags in order to accomplish a semantic translation of multimedia objects in database queries. This permits services to take benefit of production process to create customized content enhanced with real time information fed from databases. The described system has been successfully deployed to create advanced context centric weather forecasts

동기식 멀티미디어 교육콘텐츠 저작도구 설계

기존의 교육시스템에서는 멀티미디어 콘텐츠의 동기화표현이 불가능하거나 별도의 클라이언트 어플리케이션이 필요하였다. SMIL(Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language)은 멀티미디어 객체들의 시간적, 공간적 배열이 가능한 XML기반의 언어로서 웹브라우저 상에서 효과적인 멀티미디어 표현을 가능하게 한다. 기존의 웹기반 교육콘텐츠에 SMIL을 적용하게 되면 별도의 클라이언트 어플리케이션이 없이 웹브라우저만으로도 고품질의 멀티미디어 서비스가 가능하게 된다 본 논문에서는 SMIL를 적용한 멀티미디어 교육 콘텐츠 개발 방법을 제안하고, XSLT를 이용하여 SMIL 문서에서 XHTML 문서로 변환시킴으로써 별도의 플러그인이나 어플리케이션을 이용하지 않고 일반 사용자들이 쉽게 사용할 수 있는 저작툴을 설계하였다. In existing educational systems, it is impossible to synchronize multimedia contents and it is required additional client applications. SMIL(Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language) is based on XML which allows to arrange multimedia objects temporally and spatially, and it can represent multimedia effectively on Web browsers. It is possible to serve the high-quality multimedia on Web browsers by applying SMIL to the previous Web-based educational contents without any client applications. In this paper, we propose the method of developing multimedia educational contents applied by SMIL, and design an authoring tool with a function of transforming SMIL documents to XHTML documents. The tool allows common users to use easily without any plug-ins or applications.

携帯電話を用いた救急救命のための情報提供システム

We propose the use of a system that provides information about emergency rescue procedures for mobile phone users.To enable the users to easily understand the procedures,avatars demonstrate how they are used.Since the avatars are efficiently constructed on a subset of scalable vector graphics(SVG),they can be quickly transmitted to the mobile phone and with low computational loads.In addition to the avatars,complementary voice and text data that explainthe procedures are also transmitted via a synchronized multimedia integration language(SMIL, pronounced “smile”) format.Moreover,to verify the performance and the effectiveness of the proposed system,we implemented a dedicated SMIL player suitable for use with mobile phones.

Streaming audio with synchronized transcripts utilizing SMIL

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe developmental work with SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language) to synchronize transcript captions with streaming audio.Design/methodology/approachThis paper provides an evaluation of the hardware/software required to digitally record oral histories and the methods developed at WSU to customize the presentation of streaming audio and text.FindingsThough providing users with streaming media content is not excessively expensive, the multifaceted work‐flow of organizing an oral history project, utilizing digital recording equipment, preparing transcripts, and synchronizing those transcripts with their corresponding audio files, is a complex, labor‐intensive undertaking.Practical implicationsThis is an extremely common‐sense discussion of the time and work involved in planning digital projects that involve streaming media with captions.Originality/valueAs many libraries enhance digital collections with streaming media, this article provides one approach not otherwise found in library literature.

On a Design of SCORM-Compliant SMIL-Enabled Multimedia Streaming E-Learning System

E-learning plays a key enabling role in knowledge management for individuals, schools, and enterprises. Nevertheless, the lack of standards in content and learning management systems (LMSs) makes the reusability and interoperability of learning resources infeasible. The emergence of the SCORM specification has shed light on the standardization of e-learning. Unfortunately, the existing SCORM-compliant asset model is simplified; only a few asset types are allowed. On the other hand, W3C’s declarative-style SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language) is becoming prevalent in designing Web-based instructions with the consideration of temporality and spatiality of presentations. In addition, advances in real-time multimedia technologies can vitalize further these instructions. In this study, we propose an SMIL-enabled asset model with the enhancement of multimedia streaming. To render SCORM-compliant SMIL-enabled streaming contents, a Java applet-based SMIL RTP/RTSP LMS system is designed. We develop the proposed system in the Java EJB environment to tackle the issue of platform interoperability. The resulting system demonstrates an encouraging direction towards a more vivid and interactive SCORM-compliant e-learning.

Merging multimedia presentations and semistructured temporal data: a graph-based model and its application to clinical information

In this paper, we focus on the issue of providing physicians with the capability of representing in a seamless way both temporal aspects of multimedia semistructured data and their temporal presentation requirements. Semistructured data are data having some structure, that may be irregular or incomplete and does not necessarily conform to a fixed schema. Semistructured data often contain the description of histories of the considered real world. The eXtensible Markup Language (XML) is becoming a cross compatible and standardized means for representing semistructured clinical data. In the field of medical informatics, there are many ongoing activities concerning XML. In the field of multimedia database systems, the topic related to the integration of several media objects (with their temporal aspects) have been considered both for data modeling and querying issues and for modeling multimedia presentations. We first propose the Multimedia Temporal Graphical Model (MTGM), by representing a clinical database for cardiology patients undergoing cardiac angiographies and then describe it in a formal way. We deal with the problem of expressing MTGM data by XML and of managing MTGM clinical data through an XML-based system. We provide both a technique for translating (a part of) an MTGM database into an XML document and some techniques allowing us to obtain presentations defined by means of the Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) from MTGM presentations. MTGM allows one to represent and store clinical information in a semistructured, temporal, and multimedia database. The physician can define multimedia presentations based on the stored data. Multimedia presentations are then stored in the same MTGM database together with temporal clinical information and are thus represented according to the same data model. A prototype based on an XML native database system has been designed and implemented. In this work we have considered the theoretical and methodological issues concerning the definition of a general data model for describing temporal and multimedia features of semistructured clinical information. Other research and application oriented features, which have not been considered in MTGM, could be investigated for completing MTGM with regard to its applicability to clinical domains: MTGM does not allow one to express times at different levels of granularities, i.e. with different time units, or with indeterminacy; besides the considered valid time, it could be interesting to manage also other temporal dimensions such as the transaction and availability times. Besides being useful for managing multimedia data stored according to widely accepted standards as MPEG and DICOM, nowadays semistructured data, and XML in particular, are becoming the most important way for expressing and exchanging medical knowledge and data: MTGM can be considered as a data model allowing the seamless representation of both (multimedia and temporal) clinical data and knowledge.

Timed Petri net representation of SMIL

A multimedia server needs to satisfy the temporal relations between multimedia objects when servicing clients. We propose an enhanced timed Petri net (TPN) model to capture the information of multimedia objects along with their timing and synchronization specified in the synchronized multimedia integration language (SMIL) of XML.

Producing Reusable Web-Based Multimedia Presentations

This paper describes the process and particular support tools for authoring reusable web-based multimedia presentations. These tools enable authors to record and encode streams of audio and video, and to integrate into them additional multimedia material, such as PowerPoint slides. The paper also describes the W3C synchronized multimedia integration language (SMIL) standard that enables the interlinking of audio/video with additional material. Finally, the paper introduces an easy-to-use authoring tool, developed and used by the author’s faculty to produce multimedia information packages, and their corresponding user interface.

An authorization model for multimedia digital libraries

In this paper we present a generalized authorization model for multimedia digital libraries. Our aim is to support the enforcement of access control requirements of the original data sources without the need to create a new, unified model for the digital library. We integrate the three most widely used access control models (i.e., mandatory, discretionary, and role-based) within a single framework, allowing seamless accesses to data protected by these security models. In particular, we address the access control needs of continuous media data while supporting quality of service (QoS) requirements and preserving operational semantics. The technical core of the paper focuses on the development of metadata and the corresponding metastructure to represent authorization policies and QoS requirements and shows their applicabilty to continuous media. We define our security objects based on the Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL), which controls multimedia presentations. Following the synchronization constructs 〈par〉 and 〈seq〉 of SMIL, we define a normal form for multimedia streams, called SMIL normal form. SMIL normal form provides a syntax-independent representation of semantically equivalent multimedia data. SMIL normal form compositions are extended (decorated) with RDF statements, representing security and QoS metadata. Interpretation of these statements and, therefore, the authorization and QoS requirements of the decorated multimedia object are defined by the metastructure, represented as a DAML+OIL ontology. We propose the concept of generalized subject that encompasses all access permissions of a given user regardless of the multiple permissions in different access control models. Finally, we develop methods to generate secure views for each generalized subject and retrieve them using a secure multimedia server.

ATF: an Adaptive Three-layer Framework for inter-stream synchronization of SMIL multimedia presentations

In this paper, we propose an Adaptive Three-layer Framework (ATF) to guarantee the inter-stream synchronization, which is called as the APplication Quality of Service (APQoS) in this paper, of World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) presentation. This ATF framework, which is composed of the Framework Control Layer (FCL), the Quality Guarantee Layer (QGL) and the Media Control Layer (MCL), functions as the middleware between underlying best-effort network protocol stacks and the SMIL client/server applications. The FCL at the SMIL client periodically monitors underlying network bandwidth and delay for the QGL to verify whether the total bandwidth requirements of all concurrent objects to meet the APQoS of the SMIL presentation can be satisfied with the available bandwidth, which is the sum of the monitored bandwidths of all concurrent objects. The QGL executes the novel Intra-SMIL Bandwidth Reallocation (ISBR) scheme to dynamically adjust bandwidth allocations among concurrent SMIL objects, according to their Media Importance (MI) values calculated by the MCL. If the available bandwidth is not enough, the ISBR scheme gracefully degrades the layer-encoded objects that have the smallest MI values and only allocate the necessary bandwidth for their base layer (BL) streams instead. Oppositely, it aggressively upgrades the degraded layer-encoded objects that have the largest MI values and allocate the necessary bandwidth for both the BL and enhancement layer (EL) streams. These bandwidths are then feedback to the remote media servers to modify the transmission rates accordingly. With the quantitative analysis for the SMIL presentation quality, this ATF framework achieves the APQoS with the best SMIL playback quality.

An Approach for Recording Multimedia Collaborative Sessions: Design and Implementation

In this article we present the design and implementation of a videoconferencing session recorder multimedia system. Our system is a videoconferencing tool that has the capability of recording live multimedia collaborative/conferencing sessions. The main distinction between our architecture and other ones is that unlike other recording systems, which require the original application for the playback, our system generates Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) compliant documents which can be played back in any SMIL-compliant player.

Design and implementation of the SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language) player

The Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) is recommended by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) because it offers an integrating format representing how various media objects are positioned spatially and combined temporally using a collection of XML elements and attributes for multimedia delivery over the Web. This paper presents the design and implementation of a JAVA-based SMIL player, which processes different types of media objects using multiple threads. Its cache engine detects the media type and allocates the proper cache memory for the corresponding media object.

Video Streaming and SMIL: Technologies for Teaching

The purpose of this technical note is to call the attention of the IS community to two technologies: synchronized multimedia integration language (SMIL) and video streaming that deliver video and audio effectively through the Internet. This note • describes the technololgies • shows how these technologies improve education • presents the results of a multinational survey of small groups of students from in Hong Kong, in Seoul, and at the author's institution in the U.S to assess the value of these technologies as an instructional tool. The survey results confirm the usefulness of the technologies.

SMIL 2.0. 2. Examples and comparisons

For pt. 1 see ibid., vol. 8 , no. 4, p. 82-88 (2001). The article is the second part of a two-part series on SMIL 2.0, the newest version of the World Wide Web Consortium's Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language. Part 1 looked in detail at various aspects of the SMIL specification and the underlying SMIL timing model. This part looks at simple and complex examples of SMIL 2.0's use and compares SMIL with other multimedia formats. We focus on SMIL's textual structure in its various implementation profiles.

A real-time interactive virtual classroom multimedia distance learning system

In this paper, we present the design and development of a real-time interactive virtual classroom multimedia distance learning system at the University of Washington. There has been rapid progress in digital media compression research, and the delivery of media data on the public Internet is becoming widespread. A real-time interactive virtual classroom allows a remote participant to not only receive a live class feed, but also to interact in a live class by asking questions with audio, video in real-time using an Internet connection. Many instructors use electronically prepared slides during their class. The traditional video coding algorithms are not able to compress this slide data very well at low bit-rates. We propose a Web-based real-time presentation system for the electronic slides. Instructors also write text on a white board or a piece of paper during the class. At low bit-rates, conventional video encoding algorithms cannot encode this handwritten text video with enough fidelity, resulting in an illegible decoded video. We propose an extension of the well known bilevel image encoding algorithms to handle the handwritten text video. Our method results in decoded video frames which can be read very clearly when encoded at low bit-rates. We have developed a set of tools which allows recording the live classroom session and automatic creation of a synchronized multimedia integration language (SMIL) presentation, which can be used for a later viewing.

SMIL 2.0: XML for Web multimedia

On 7 August 2001, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) released version 2.0 of Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language, or SMIL. Three years ago, SMIL 1.0 introduced a basic foundation for Web multimedia and it quickly gained widespread use. With a specification document about 15 times as large as version 1.0, SMIL 2.0 builds on this foundation and marks an enormous step forward in multimedia functionality. Although Web multimedia has long been obtainable with proprietary formats or Java programs, it's been largely inaccessible to most Web authors and isolated from the Web's technical framework. SMIL's HTML-like syntax aims to do for multimedia what HTML did for hypertext: bring it into every living room, with an easy-to-author descriptive format that works with readily available cross-platform players. SMIL lets authors create simple multimedia simply and add, more complex behavior incrementally. But SMIL isn't just HTML-like, it's XML, which makes it part of the W3C's family of XML-related standards including scalable vector graphics (SVG), cascading style sheets (CSS), XPointer, XSLT, namespaces, and XHTML. SMIL's features fall into five categories: media content, layout, timing, linking, and adaptivity. The latter brings altogether new features to the Web, letting authors adapt content to different market groups, user abilities, system configurations, and runtime system delays. The article covers each feature category and its basic constructs using a simple SMIL presentation built with the SMIL 2.0 Language Profile, which is the flagship SMIL-defined language for multimedia browsers.

SMIL 2.0 part 1: overview, concepts, and structure

The World Wide Web Consortium's Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language format for encoding multimedia presentations for delivery over the Web is a little-known but widely used standard. First released in mid-1998, SMIL has been installed on approximately 200,000,000 desktops worldwide, primarily because of its adoption in RealPlayer G2, Quicktime 4.1, and Internet Explorer 5.5. In August 2001, the W3C released a significant update with SMIL 2.0. In a two-part report on SMIL 2.0, the author will discuss the basics of SMIL 2.0 and compare its features with other formats. This article will focus on SMIL's basic concepts and structure. Part two, in the January-March 2002 issue, will look at detailed examples of SMIL 2.0, covering both simple and complex examples. It'll also contrast the facilities in SMIL 2.0 and MPEG-4.

Hypermedia

This essay presents a brief discussion of combining temporal aspects of multimedia presentations with hypertext links. Three ways of combining linking with temporally synchronized components of a presentation are described. We describe work that has been done to incorporate both temporal and linking information within the W3C language SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language). We conclude with a discussion of future directions, namely providing support for linking within and among non-linear presentations and the ability to add temporal information to existing XML document languages.

GRiNS: A GRaphical INterface for creating and playing SMIL documents

The W3C working group on synchronized multimedia has developed a language for Web-based Multimedia presentations called SMIL: the Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language. This paper presents GRiNS, an authoring and presentation environment that can be used to create SMIL-compliant documents and to play SMIL documents created with GRiNS or by hand.

An introduction to the Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language

The Web, now a multimedia environment, can handle audio, images, text and video. However, creating TV-like multimedia presentations proves difficult. It either requires complex, timer-based programming in a scripting language (such as Javascript) or an authoring tool for multimedia presentations. To allow a broader audience to author multimedia presentations for the Web, the World Wide Web Consortium developed the Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language. SMIL, an easy-to-learn HTML-like language, allows the use of a text editor to write multimedia presentations. SMIL is a W3C recommendation, and several implementations are available. This article explains how to write a multimedia presentation in SMIL.