topical media & game development
research directions -- meta standards
All these standards!
Wouldn't it be nice to have one single standard
that encompasses them all?
No, it would not!
Simply, because such a standard is inconceivable,
unless you take some proprietary standard or a particular
platform as the defacto standard
(which is the way some people look at the Microsoft win32
platform, ignoring the differences between 95/98/NT/2000/XP/...).
In fact, there is a standard that acts as a glue between
the various standards for multimedia, namely XML.
XML allows for the interchange of data between various
multimedia applications, that is the transformation of one encoding
into another one.
But this is only syntax.
What about the semantics?
Both with regard to delivery and presentation
the MPEG-4 proposal makes an attempt to delineate
chunks of core fuctionality that may be shared between applications.
With regard to presentation, SMIL may serve as an example.
SMIL applications themselves already (re)use
functionality from the basic set of XML-related
technologies,
for example to access the document structure through
the DOM (Document Object Model).
In addition, SMIL defines components that it may potentially share
with other applications.
For example, SMIL shares its animation facilities
with SVG (the Scalable Vector Graphics format recommended
by the Web Consortium).
The issue in sharing is, obviously, how to relate
constructs in the syntax to their operational support.
When it is possible to define a common base
of operational support for a variety of multimedia applications
we would approach our desired meta standard, it seems.
A partial solution to this problem has
been proposed in the now almost forgotten HyTime
standard for time-based hypermedia.
HyTime introduces the notion
of architectural forms
as a means to express the operational support needed
for the interpretation of particular encodings,
such as for example synchronization or
navigation over bi-directional links.
Apart from a base module, HyTime compliant architectures
may include a units measurement module,
a module for dealing with location addresses,
a module to support hyperlinks, a scheduling module
and a rendition module.
To conclude, wouldn't it be wonderful if, for example,
animation support could be shared between
rich media X3D
and SMIL?
Yes, it would!
But as you may remember from the discussion on the timing
models used by the various standards, there is still
to much divergence to make this a realoistic option.
(C) Æliens
04/09/2009
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