A New Type of Contextual Information Based on the Adaptation Authorisation

This paper proposes a new type of context description metadata based on the information extracted from the authorisation of adaptation in a generic multimedia scenario. After a deep study of the state-of-the-art in the use and representation of contexts for multimedia content adaptation, we conclude that MPEG-21 digital item adaptation is the most suited standardisation initiative in this area. We, then, present a flexible and interoperable way to express contextual information based on profiles and on MPEG-21 DIA usage environment descriptors. Furthermore, our results are applied to a virtual collaboration system which is being developed under the VISNET-II European network of excellence (NoE).