Multimedia Content Adaptation Modelled as a Constraints Matching Problem with Optimisation

Within a multimedia adaptation engine working with different adaptation tools and parameters, an important function is the selection of the most appropriate parameters to execute these adaptation tools. MPEG-21 compliant multimedia adaptation engines make use of MPEG-21 description tools to drive the decisions targeting to adapt multimedia content to the usage environment (terminal capabilities, network conditions, user preferences, etc). In this paper, a simple but effective method to model the decision phase of the adaptation engine is presented. This method is based on constraints matching with a final optimisation phase. The proposed system works over MPEG-21 compliant usage environment descriptions, also making use of MPEG- 7 content descriptions when available.