In this paper we analyze the process of hypermedia applications design and implementation, focusing in particular on two critical aspects of these applications: the navigational and interface structure. We discuss the way in which we build the navigation and abstract interface models using the Object-Oriented Hypermedia Design Method (OOHDM); we show which concerns must be taken into account for each task by giving examples from a real project we are developing, the Portinari Project. We show which implementation concerns must be considered when defining interface behavior, discussing both a Toolbook and a HTML implementation of the example application.

Systematic hypermedia application design with OOHDM

Overview of the MPEG-4 Standard and Error Resilience Investigations

A method and system are provided for downloading software components from a remote source to a software application for providing updates or additions to the application's functionality. All components and files that may be utilized to update or add to functionality available to the application are identified and are assembled on a manifest that may be located on a remote web server accessible by the application. If components of the application should be updated, or corrections or improvements to existing components are available, or new functionality is available that will transform the user's existing application and document into a “smart” application and “smart” document, the application may connect to the web server to download the required components.

Mechanism for downloading software components from a remote source for use by a local software application

Call for papers for Special Issue of ACM Transactions on Multimedia Computing, Communications and Applications on Interactive Digital Television

ACM Transactions on Multimedia Computing, Communications and Applications (ACM TOMCCAP)

A system and method is provided for integrating and executing smart tags in online content for display by a computing application on a client computer without the deployment of client side code. The computing application includes a helper object and a recognizer/action handler. The computing application requests content from one or more cooperating content servers over a communications network. Upon receipt of the content, the computing application executes the helper object to parse the received content for a smart tag list file, related to the received content. After receiving the smart tag list file, the recognizer/action handler incorporates the smart tags and associated actions from the smart tag list file into the document for display to participating users.

System and method for incorporating smart tags in online content

As in all main terrestrial DTV Systems, the Brazilian middleware, named Ginga, supports both declarative applications (through its presentation, or declarative, environment Ginga-NCL) and procedural applications (through its execution, or procedural, environment Ginga-J). Since hybrid applications are common, either type of Ginga application may make use of facilities of both presentation and execution application environments. This paper focuses on the presentation environment Ginga-NCL. The main Brazilian inovations are then presented, regarding the Ginga architecture, the declarative NCL language specification, the editing commands for live application production, and the transport data structure.

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Ginga-NCL: the declarative environment of the Brazilian digital TV system

This paper describes the nested context model, a conceptual framework for the definition, presentation and browsing of documents. The model carefully combines hypertext links with the concept of context nodes, used to group together sets of nodes. Context nodes can be nested to any depth and, thus, generalize the classical hierarchical organization of documents. The nested context model also defines an abstract and flexible application program interface that captures the idea that different applications may observe the same node in different ways. Finally, the model offers a rich set of operations to explore the double structure of a hyperdocument - that defined by the links and that induced by the nesting of context nodes.

/pdf/the-nested-context-model-for-hyperdocuments-3e11ehe85w.pdf

The nested context model for hyperdocuments

This paper discusses multimedia and hypermedia modeling, authoring and formatting tools, presenting the proposals of the HyperProp system and comparing them to related work. It also highlights several research challenges that still need to be addressed. Moreover, it stresses the importance of document logical structuring and considers the use of compositions in order to represent context relations, synchronization relations, derivation relations and task relations in hypermedia systems. It discusses temporal and spatial synchronization among multimedia objects and briefly presents the HyperProp graphical authoring and formatting tools. Integration between the proposed system and the WWW is also addressed.

Modeling, authoring and formatting hypermedia documents in the HyperProp system

This article presents the innovative features of Ginga-NCL, an open middleware specification for multimedia IPTV services. Ginga-NCL relies on the Nested Context Language, a domain-specific declarative language targeting multimedia application authoring. As a glue language, NCL relates media objects in time and space without restricting or imposing any media content type, including media objects with imperative and declarative code written using other languages. Other NCL features include support for multidevice presentations, content adaptations, presentation adaptations, and advanced code reuse. Ginga-NCL allows NCL applications to be modified on the fly by means of live editing commands. Initially defined as the standard middleware for the Brazilian terrestrial DTV system, Ginga-NCL has recently become part of ISDB standards and an ITU-T Recommendation for IPTV services.

Ginga-NCL: Declarative middleware for multimedia IPTV services

Hypermedia authoring tools usually suffer from a lack of validation capabilities that would make them possible to check a document against temporal inconsistencies. The document design validation methodology proposed in the paper is meant to overcome this problem. The starting point is a document description given in a high-level modeling technique which include hypermedia basic concepts such as nodes (including composite nodes), anchors and links. The high-level document is then translated into a RT-LOTOS formal specification on which simulation, reachability analysis and minimization techniques can be applied for validation purposes. The proposed approach extends an early work to include not only document intrinsic temporal consistency check, but also consistency checking, taking into account the presentation platform.

Luiz Fernando Gomes Soares

Papers

Ginga-NCL: the declarative environment of the Brazilian digital TV system

The nested context model for hyperdocuments

Modeling, authoring and formatting hypermedia documents in the HyperProp system

Ginga-NCL: Declarative middleware for multimedia IPTV services

Design methodology and formal validation of hypermedia documents