MPEG-21

1
MPEG-21 Multimedia Framework

• Leonardo Chiariglione Telecom Italia Lab
• IP networking and MEDIACOM-2004 Workshop
• Geneva, CH 01/04/24

2
MPEG - the beginnings

• The rationale
• Digital technologies destroy industry boundaries
• Digital audio and video standards should be
  developed as generic technologies
• The advantage of generic technologies
• They can be used by multiple industries
• They can be used to provide interoperability
  across industries
• Communication standards are about
  interoperability!

3
The achievements

• MPEG-1
• Approved Nov 1992 - Error free environments
• MPEG-2
• Approved Nov 1994 - Broadcast TV and package
  media
• MPEG-4
• Approved Oct 1998 and Dec 1999 - Object based AV
  coding
• MPEG-7
• To be approved Jul 2001 - Multimedia description
• MPEG-21
• First standard approved Mar 2002 Multimedia
  framework

4
MPEG-1 - ISO/IEC 111721992

• Coding of moving pictures and associated audio
  for digital storage media at up to about 1,5
  Mbit/s
• Part 1 - MPEG-1 Systems - Program Stream
• Part 2 - MPEG-1 Video for CD I
• Part 3 - MPEG-1 Audio
• Part 4 Conformance
• Part 5 Reference software

5
The use of MPEG-1

• Video CD (gt60 million players sold in China)
• The format of audio and video for PC (MPEG-1
  software decoders in Windows)
• MPEG-1 Audio layer III (a.k.a. MP3) is widely
  used for Web music (more than 100 million
  software players)
• Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) utilises MPEG-1
  Audio layer II
• Several types of MPEG-1 video cameras on sale

6
MPEG-2 - ISO/IEC 138181994

• Generic coding of moving pictures and associated
  audio
• Part -1 Systems - joint with ITU
• Part -2 Video - joint with ITU
• Part -3 Audio
• Part -4 Conformance
• Part -5 Reference software
• Part -6 DSM CC
• Part -7 AAC - Advanced Audio Coding
• Part -9 RTI - Real Time Interface

7
The use of MPEG-2

• Over 50 million set top boxes for satellite/cable
  sold
• Digital television VHF/UHF broadcasting
• Over 30 million hardware DVD players sold
• Several tens of million software DVD players sold
• The MPEG-2 422 profile is largely used in the
  television production industry
• MPEG-2 has created the entirely new digital
  television industry worth 30 billion USD

8
MPEG-4 - ISO/IEC 144961998

• Coding of audio-visual objects
• Part 1 Systems
• Part 2 Visual
• Part 3 Audio
• Part 4 Conformance
• Part 5 Reference Software
• Part 6 DMIF - Delivery Multimedia Integration
  Framework
• Part 7 Optimized Software
• Part 8 4 on IP
• Part 9 Reference Hardware Description

9
The use of MPEG-4

• MPEG-4 Video
• adopted for visual communication in the mobile
  environment
• used in WMF
• Being requested by customers for all low bitrate
  applications
• Huge open source movement
• MP4 file format
• adopted for visual communication in the mobile
  environment

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MPEG-7 ISO/IEC 15938

• Multimedia content description interface
• Part 1 Systems
• Part 2 DDL - Description definition language
• Part 3 Visual
• Part 4 Audio
• Part 5 Multimedia description schemes
• Part 6 Reference software
• Part 7 Conformance testing

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Role of MPEG standards past and future

• The past
• MPEG technologies have been used to create
  infrastructures on which business can flourish
• This happened in the simple transposition of the
  physical/analogue world to the digital world
• The future
• MP3, DviX and peer-to-peer protocols etc. have
  shown the power of digital content in peoples
  hands
• These technologies have resulted in mass abuse of
  other peoples IPR because of the absence of an
  appropriate infrastructure

12
MPEG-21 The vision

• A future where every human on the Earth is
  potentially an element of a network involving
• billions of content providers
• billions of value adders
• billions of packagers
• billions of service providers
• billions of consumers
• billions of resellers
• To make this future real we need an
  infrastructure enabling electronic commerce of
  digital content

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Is MPEG trying to tame the hackers?

• MPEG technologies have been used to innovate
  substantially the way people produce, offer,
  access and consume digital content
• But MPEG has a also long history in working with
  the creative industries and rights holders
  communities on the identification, management and
  protection of intellectual property carried on
  systems designed to MPEG specifications.

14
MPEG-21 - Method of work

• Define a framework supporting the vision
  statement
• Involve relevant bodies in this effort
• Identify the critical technologies of the
  framework
• Understand how the components of the framework
  are related and identify where gaps exist
• For each of the non-available technologies
• If they fall under the MPEG expertise then
  develop them
• Else engage other bodies to achieve their
  development
• Perform the actual integration of the technologies

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The basic elements of the framework

• What
• A Digital Item is a structured digital object
  with a standard representation, identification
  and metadata within the MPEG-21 framework.
• Who
• A User is any entity that interacts in the
  MPEG-21 environment or makes use of a Digital
  Item.

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Example of Digital Item music compilation

• music
• photos
• video
• animation graphics
• lyrics
• scores
• MIDI files
• interview with the singers

• news related to the song
• statement by an opinion maker
• rating of an agency
• position in the hit list
• navigational information driven by user
  preferences
• bargains
• ...

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What Users can do

• Create content
• Provide content
• Archive content
• Rate content
• Enhance/deliver content
• Aggregate content
• Syndicate content

• Retail sale of content
• Consume content
• Subscribe to content
• Regulate content
• Facilitate transactions that occur from any of
  the above
• Regulate transactions that occur from any of the
  above

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The MPEG-21 technologies - 1

• Digital Item Declaration
• a uniform and flexible abstraction and
  interoperable schema for declaring digital items
• Digital Item Identification and Description
• a framework for identification and description
  of any entity regardless of its nature, type or
  granularity
• Content management and usage
• interfaces and protocols to enable creation,
  manipulation, storage, delivery and (re)use of
  content across the content distribution and
  consumption value network

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The MPEG-21 technologies - 2

• Intellectual Property Management and Protection
• The means to enable content to be persistently
  and reliably managed and protected across
  networks and devices
• Content representation
• Digital representation of content as different
  media so that content can be moved and consumed
  seamlessly
• Terminals and networks
• The means to provide interoperable and
  transparent access to content across networks and
  terminal installations

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The MPEG-21 technologies - 3

• Event reporting
• metrics and interfaces that enable Users to
  understand precisely the performance of all
  reportable events within the framework

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The Multimedia Framework
Event Reporting Metrics Interfaces
Event Reporting Metrics Interfaces
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MPEG-21 Where we are - 1

• PDTR of Vision, Technologies and Strategy
• FDTR approval July 2001
• WD of Intellectual Property Management and
  Protection
• FDIS approval Mar 2002
• WD of Digital Item Declaration
• FDIS approval Mar 2002
• WD of Digital Item Identification and
  Description
• FDIS approval Jul 2002

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MPEG-21 Where we are - 2

• Call for Requirements on Rights Data Dictionary
  and Rights Description Language
• Deadline for responses 1 Jun 2001
• Other Calls will be produced as requirements on
  other areas mature

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From the Call for Requirements

• Standard ways of expressing information about
  intellectual property rights in the
  machine-to-machine network environment
• Usage permissions expressed by producers and
  publishers down the delivery and value chain
  (downstream rights).
• Define and manage the rights of creators and
  their relationship with producers and publishers
  (upstream rights)
• Rights management solutions must look beyond
  individual media sectors to cover the IP
  industries as a whole

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• Stay tuned to
• http//www.cselt.it/mpeg/