A State-Transition Model for Distributed Multimedia Documents

In this paper we present a state-transition model to describe a multimedia presentation evolution, i.e., its run-time behavior. Each object is modelled as an independent entity with its own behavior and resources allocation: a certain amount of bandwidth, buffer and a display (or an audio channel) for its playback. The evolution of a single media is modelled by means of a finite state machine, in which states transitions are triggered when some specific events occur, provided some conditions hold. The overall presentation is modelled as parallel (or sequential) composition of single media items’ executions. The model is well suited for reasoning on multimedia documents dynamics, and to prove properties about them.