Towards a High-Level Multimedia Modelling & Synchronisation Environment Based on Constraint Programming

The problem of modelling and synchronisation of multimedia objects is addressed in the declarative logic programming setting and in particular within the framework of (objectoriented) timed concurrent constraint programming (OO-TCCP). The real-time extensions that have been proposed for the concurrent constraint programming framework are coupled with the object-oriented and inheritance mechanisms that have been developed for logic programs yielding an integrated declarative environment for multimedia objects modelling, composition and synchronisation. The expressiveness and ability of OO-TCCP to act as a basis for building high-level, user-friendly authoring environments is illustrated by presenting a simple object model for multimedia composition and synchronisation followed by an analysis on how it can be used to model the temporal behaviour and relationships of multimedia objects. The implementation in OO-TCCP of a realistic multimedia application is presented, using the techniques discussed in the paper. To the best of our knowledge this is the first time logic programming (in the form of concurrent constraint programming or otherwise) is used for multimedia modelling and synchronisation.