Formal design of SMIL presentations

SMIL (Synchronised Multimedia Integration Language) is an XML language for the distribution of synchronised video, sound and other media in presentations, and is likely to be the preferred format for distribution of multimedia presentations that include synchronised and streamed media. Previous work has argued that conventional hypermedia design methods provide insufficient design rigour to allow their use with confidence for safety and mission critical applications. It was shown how formal methods, derived from the theory of computer science, could be applied to the design of hypermedia presentations to provide a rigorous design technique. Two limitations of this work are discussed. The first is its restriction to closed systems. Although it was argued that most safety critical hypermedia systems are closed, this is not the case with many 'mission critical' applications, particularly those in e-business. The second limitation is the application of the technique to a relatively small number of media. Again, safety critical applications tend to be conservative in their use of media, but it would be advantageous for many other application areas if this constraint were not there. This paper discusses how this work may be extended in two key areas to remove these limitations. The first allows the method to be used the design of SMIL presentations, providing a means of rigorous design for synchronised and streamed media, necessary in these media are to be used in safety and mission critical applications, and is achieved by a detailed extension of the underlying models on which the method is based to cover the operation of SMIL. Copyright 2003 ACM.