What’s MPEG-21 ?

(a short summary of available papers by OCCAMM)

• MPEG-21 Digital Item– the standardised representation of “a work” in digital form – it may have a hiererachical and dynamic structure (it could be composed of

other Digital Items changing over time)– it can show various configurations depending on certain conditions (think of

active Web pages)– it can include both content (audio, picture, text, etc.) and associated

information (descriptions, usage rules, references, etc.)

• User– whatever entity interacts with Digital Items (to create, modify, transfer, use

them, etc.)– performs transactions with other Users, during which one or more Digital

Items are acted upon and some “value” (money, information, etc.) is transferred

MPEG-21 Foundation Concepts

User

User

User

User

User

MPEG-21Digital Item

MPEG-21Digital Item

MPEG-21Digital Item

MPEG-21Digital Item

transactiontransaction

transaction

transaction

transaction

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MPEG-21’s Universe

• It’s the set of normative items (architectures, formats, algorithms, protocols, interfaces, etc.) that allow Users to interact with Digital Items in a standard way and in accordance with the following principles

– full interoperability across all terminals and networks

– easily understandable commands and procedures

– protection of intellectual property

– protection of privacy

– clear and unambiguous usage rules

– identification of all interacting entities

– traceability of all events and processes

• The needed normative items may be– already available inside MPEG -> MPEG-21 endorses them

– already available outside MPEG -> MPEG-21 adopts them

– not yet existing but within MPEG’s mandate -> MPEG-21develops them

• Normative items outide MPEG’s mandate (es. regarding payment infrastructures) are not part of the MPEG-21 Multimedia Framework. However, MPEG-21 specifies appropriate interfaces with other frameworks

MPEG-21 Multimedia Framework

MPEG-21 Multimedia Framework

MPEG-21Digital Item

MPEG-21Digital Item MPEG-21

Digital Item

MPEG-21Digital Item

User

UserUser

UserUser

MPEG-21 Multimedia Framework

another framework

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• Identify the general problem to be addressed, perform a state-of-art survey and select specific areas where an intervention is deemed to be needed, proposing the relevant “work items” to ISO (it’s where they are at now)– Define a number of hypothetical operational scenarios (use cases)– From there, derive high level requirements, representing User expectations as regards the

Multimedia Framework– Identify the functions that are needed to fulfil those requirements, starting from high level

functions then going down into detail– Such functions have been grouped according to 7 categories, each one representing a specific

work area for MPEG-21• Content Representation• Digital Item Declaration• Content Management and Usage• Content Identification and Description• Intellectual Property Management and Protection• Terminals and Networks• Event Reporting

How MPEG-21 Proceeds

MPEG-21 Work Areas

MPEG-21 Multimedia Framework

Digital ItemDeclaration

ContentRepresentation

ContentManagement and Usage

ContentIdentification and

Description

IPMP

Terminals and Networks

Event Reporting

• Goal– establish an abstract, flexible and interoperable scheme for Digital Item

declaration

• Criteria– content and descriptive data shall be fully separable– the defined scheme shall be applicable to all content and descriptive data types– the scheme shall allow constructing composite and reconfigurable Items (e.g.

recursive incapsulation of Digital Items)– it shall be possible to search and navigate a Digital Item’s tree structure in an

efficient way– it shall be possible for a User to build his/her own “collections” of Digital

Items including customised references and comments– the scheme shall allow for unambiguous identification of a Digital Item and its

components, and permit revision of such identification information, in a open and extensible manner

Digital Item Declaration

• Goals– define interfaces and protocols for Digital Item search, store and management– define interfaces and protocols for management of User profiles and Digital Item usage data– define interfaces e protocols enabling use of intelligent agents within the Multimedia Framework

• Criteria– the Multimedia Framework shall provide means for a User to locate Digital Items of interest

wherever they are, taking also into account his/her personal preferences– different Digital Item management systems shall be totally interopeable– the Multimedia Framework shall provide means for the management of a Digital Item life cycle

according to reconfigurable policies– the Multimedia Framework shall provide means for tracing all modifications that a Digital Item

incurs over time– it shall be possible at any instant for a User to know where all the copies of all the Digital Items

he/she owns are located and what usage rules apply to each copy– the Multimedia Framework shall provide means for creating, modifying and managing User

profiles and Digital Item usage data, as well as to exchange such information with other frameworks

Content Management and Usage

• Goals– define a common framework for the identification and description of Digital Items, their

components and related information– define appropriate interfaces with existing identification systems– define identification methods when nothing exists yet (e.g. for indentification of people

and rights)

• Criteria– account for the needs stemming from of the largest possible number of business models– allow for multiple identification data generation and management methods– ensure persistent association between identification data and Digital Items– standardise access to identification data, including procedures for data insertion,

modification or extraction– ensure protection of identification data– allow for seamless integration, efficient organization e full interoperability among

identification data generated by different identification systems (e.g. existing systems vs new ones)

Content Identification and Description

• Goals– define a “trusted framework” of IPMP systems– define methods for norms and rules codification– define interfaces with platforms that provide financial transactions in association to rights

management– provide a uniform technical and organisational foundation for a “Domain Governance

Organisation” that governs (on behalf of all Users) the behaviour of devices, systems and applications involved in interacting with Digital Items and services that provide transactional support within the Multimedia Framework

• Criteria– identify and liaise with potential “Domain Governance Organisations” and in general with

relevant “governing organisations”– endorse, possibly with adaptations, the solutions identified by MPEG for protecting MPEG-4

content and MPEG-7 descriptors, and extend them to protect al types of Digital Items– adopt, possibly with adaptations and extentions, existing languages allowing formal

description of contractual clauses and develop new laguages as needed (e.g. to allow formal expression of laws, governamental policies, etc.)

IPMP

Societal Platform

Government, Courts, Supranational Organisations

Trust &Control

Rights Infrastructure ServicesIPMP Systems,

Clearinghouses, ...

Domain GovernanceOrganisations

RightsHolder

Intermediary1 Intermediary

nEnd User

The Domain Governance Organisations of MPEG-21

• Goal– define programming interfaces and protocols that enable transparent access to Digital

Items across a multiplicity of networks and devices; namely specify• API and associated protocols for terminal Quality of Service (QoS) management• NPI and associated protocols for network QoS management• API and associated protocols for joint terminal and network QoS management• rules for QoS negotiation and implementation• API enabling QoS agent technologies

• Criteria– Users shall not be expected to know anything about the devices and channels through

which they access Digital Items– Users shall only be presented with a clear offer specifying (in a non-technical fashion)

what QoS is available for what price– portability of Digital Items across all types of terminals and networks shall be granted,

possibly by implementing some form of content scalability– any conversion, scaling and adaptation performed on Digital Items to port them across

different terminals and networks shall be totally transparent to the Users

Terminals and Networks

MPEG-21 QoS Management

Terminal Manager

Network Manager

Global QoS ManagerUser

Resource Manager

Resource Manager

Prediction Manager

Prediction Manager

Terminal

Network

• Goals– standardise metrics for performance of all reportable “events” within the Multimedia Framework– provide means of capturing and containing these metrics and interfaces that refer to identified

Digital Items, environments, processes, transactions and Users

• Criteria– each and every interaction within the Multimedia Framework shall be treated as an “event”– different needs as regards access to recorded “events” originated by different Users and business

models shall be accounted for (e.g. for marketing, advertising, financial reporting, network and service performance evaluation purposes, etc.)

– particular attention shall be payed to “events” related to• Digital Item integrity• interactions involving Digital Items• financial transactions among Users• Digital Items delivery• enforcement of Digital Item usage rules and applicable legislation

– it shall be possible to make such metrics available to processes that run outside the MPEG-21 Multimedia Framework, for instance processes belonging to other frameworks that interoperate with MPEG-21

Event Reporting