Environmentally-adaptive XML transformation and its application to content delivery

Environmentally-adaptive XML transformation is a key goal for content adaptation. It needs a standard and computationally efficient framework for transformation engine that can transform input XML data depending on environment descriptions (e.g. terminal capabilities) and rule descriptions (e.g. access policies). We propose a method to realize the framework. We adopt XSLT and DOM processors: the DOM processors use environment descriptions and rule descriptions in composing XLST instances; the XLST processors refer to the XLST instances in transforming the input XML data. We cache the XLST instances for reuse. Since one XLST instance is produced for each environment description, their number is manageable; XLST instances are not necessarily created for every input. Caching the XLST instances and reducing the number of XLST instances created yields a significant computational advantage in large-scale multimedia content delivery. We will use the proposed framework to create an AAA (authentication, authorization, and accounting) system for multimedia content delivery and network control.