PostScript (23 KB)
Word (8 KB)Flexible-IIF: A Conceptual Framework for Intermedia Development in MPEG-4
Contribution M2979, 42nd MPEG Meeting, San Jose, CA, January 1998
Introduction
This document discusses a conceptual framework for Intermedia development in MPEG-4 (Flexible-IIF) and can be seen as an advanced extension to the Integrated Intermedia Format (IIF) proposed in [1]. IIF allows efficient streaming of a file even in highly demanding environments such as media servers, or, at the user's choice, introduces various types of access of data objects in the file. Random access as well as sequential segment-based data access to objects is supported. Extensions to allow streaming without prior processing of the data, referred in this proposal as direct streaming, are supported as well. IIF formatted files intended for streaming applications can be stored with minimum overhead, while IIF formatted files intended for random access or storage can provide additional functionality.
This document should be considered as a draft with the role to stimulate discussion on the role and the organizational and functional structure of the meta-data in the MPEG-4 Intermedia format. Flexible-IIF can be seen as a natural umbrella and unification tool for other Intermedia formats proposed in MPEG-4 and a basis of the forth coming MPEG-7. A more complete version of such document will be released soon. Some of the current characteristics of such framework are the following: enhanced flexibility, easy reprogrammability, versatile support for user and local terminal interaction, support for "packaged formats," and extension to the MPEG-4 Intermedia requirements specified in [2]. The final goal is to design a very flexible and extensible metadata representation and manipulation tool similarly to what is done in the contest of computer music in the Xlisp based Stella[3] Common Music and common Lisp Music [4].