A time-based multimedia document architecture

Multimedia documents differ significantly from traditional documents which are composed of text and possibly geometric graphics. The introduction of continuous media such as audio, video, and computer generated graphics (e.g., animation) imposes new requirements on document representation. We have designed a model that supports the creation of multimedia documents by means of a logical structure, a layout structure, and a rendering scenario, which is a schedule for document playback. Special multimedia authoring tools are also required to facilitate the potentially complicated nature of multimedia document creation and manipulation. We provide a description of our model including a discussion of hierarchical structures, rendering scenarios, and multimedia authoring tools