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VAMP: a service for validating MPEG-7 descriptions w.r.t. to formal profile definitions

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Abstract

MPEG-7 can be used to create complex and comprehensive metadata descriptions of multimedia content. Since MPEG-7 is defined in terms of an XML schema, the semantics of its elements has no formal grounding. In addition, certain features can be described in multiple ways. MPEG-7 profiles are subsets of the standard that apply to specific application areas and that aim to reduce this syntactic variability, but they still lack formal semantics. We propose an approach for expressing the semantics explicitly by formalizing the constraints of various profiles using ontologies, logical rules and ad-hoc programming, thus enabling interoperability and automatic use for MPEG-7 based applications. We have implemented VAMP, a full semantic validation service that detects any inconsistencies of the semantic constraints formalized. Another contribution of this paper is an analysis of how MPEG-7 is practically used. We report on experiments about the semantic validity of MPEG-7 descriptions produced by numerous tools and projects and we categorize the most common errors found.

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Notes

  1. VAMP is available as a web application at http://vamp.joanneum.at and as a web service.

  2. Five other profiles are actually discussed in [15] but have been later merged or withdrawn.

  3. http://www.id3.org/

  4. http://www.exif.org/

  5. http://www.3gpp.org/

  6. http://www-nlpir.nist.gov/projects/trecvid/

  7. http://vamp.joanneum.at/data/xsd/trecvid_xsd/

  8. http://www.w3.org/2005/Incubator/mmsem/wiki/Tools_and_Resources

  9. http://www.semanticmetadata.net/features/

  10. http://www.acemedia.org/aceMedia/results/software/m-ontomat-annotizer.html

  11. http://mpeg7lld.nue.tu-berlin.de/

  12. http://mpeg7spkc.nue.tu-berlin.de/

  13. http://mpeg7audioenc.sourceforge.net/

  14. http://www.research.ibm.com/VideoAnnEx

  15. http://frameline.tv/

  16. http://vitooki.sourceforge.net/components/muvino/code/index.html

  17. http://www.nhk.or.jp/strl/mpf/english/editor.htm

  18. The MPEG-7 Specification Repository is a semantic wiki for sharing information relevant for practical work with MPEG-7, e.g. specifications, examples, tools, events, projects, etc.

  19. The proleptic Gregorian calendar includes dates prior to 1582 (the year it came into use as an ecclesiastical calendar).

  20. http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml/#sec-well-formed

  21. http://jena.sourceforge.net/

  22. http://jena.sourceforge.net/inference/index.html#rules

  23. http://clarkparsia.com/pellet

  24. http://www.w3.org/2005/Incubator/mmsem/wiki/Vocabularies

  25. http://www.w3.org/2008/WebVideo/Annotations/

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Alia Amin (CWI) for the design of the VAMP interface, Philip Hofmair and Rudolf Schlatte (JRS) for their help in the implementation of VAMP, and Lynda Hardman (CWI) for her feedback on earlier versions of this paper. The research leading to this paper was partially supported by the European Commission under the contracts FP6-027026, “Knowledge Space of semantic inference for automatic annotation and retrieval of multimedia content - K-Space”, IST-2-511316, “IP-RACINE: Integrated Project - Research Area CINE” and FP6-027122, “SALERO: Semantic AudiovisuaL Entertainment Reusable Objects”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. EURECOM, 2229 route des crêtes, 06560, Sophia-Antipolis, France

    Raphaël Troncy

  2. CWI, 413 Kruislaan, 1098, SJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Raphaël Troncy

  3. Joanneum Research Forschungsgesellschaft mbH, Institute of Information Systems, Steyrergasse 17, 8010, Graz, Austria

    Werner Bailer & Martin Höffernig

  4. Digital Enterprise Research Institute, National University of Ireland, IDA Business Park, Lower Dangan, Galway, Ireland

    Michael Hausenblas

Authors
  1. Raphaël Troncy
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  2. Werner Bailer
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  3. Martin Höffernig
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  4. Michael Hausenblas
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Correspondence to Raphaël Troncy.

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Troncy, R., Bailer, W., Höffernig, M. et al. VAMP: a service for validating MPEG-7 descriptions w.r.t. to formal profile definitions. Multimed Tools Appl 46, 307–329 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-009-0397-2

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