MPEG-7 tools for universal multimedia access

Universal Multimedia Access (UMA) deals with seamless access to once-only-created content via any kind of terminal and any kind of network connectivity, which implies that the content should be adapted in order to fit a variety of terminal and network characteristics, as well as user preferences. The MPEG-7 standard offers some support for UMA within its section on Multimedia Description Schemes (MDS). Within the standard, several groups of tools serve this purpose. For instance, the Navigation and Access Tools provide some Description Schemes that allow the description of adapted content variations and summaries and allow for preprocessed content versions. Some support is also found in the Content Metadata Tools (Media and Usage Tools), for real-time ease in creation of online content versions and in limited support for session description, which is completed in MPEG-21.