IEC 62524:2009

Multimedia systems and equipment - Multimedia e-publishing and e-books - Reader's format for e-publishing

IEC 62524:2009 specifies a reader's format for multimedia e-publishing employed for e-book data interchange among publishers and readers, satisfying a number of readers' requirements such as being non-revisable, equipment-adaptive and application-adaptive.

Systèmes et appareils multimedia - Edition électronique multimedia et livres électroniques - Format du lecteur pour édition électronique

La CEI 62524:2009 spécifie un format de lecteur pour l'édition électronique multimédia, utilisé pour l'échange de données de livres électroniques entre éditeurs et lecteurs, satisfaisant à un certain nombre d'exigences des lecteurs telles que le fait d'être non révisable, de pouvoir s'adapter au matériel et de pouvoir s'adapter à l'application.

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 10-Feb-2009
• ICS: 01 - GENERALITIES. TERMINOLOGY. STANDARDIZATION. DOCUMENTATION
• ICS: 33.160.99 - Other audio, video and audiovisual equipment
• Technical Committee: TA 10 - Multimedia e-publishing and e-book technologies
• Current Stage: PPUB - Publication issued
• Start Date: 11-Feb-2009
• Completion Date: 11-Feb-2009

Standards Content (sample)

IEC 62524
Edition 1.0 2009-02
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
NORME
INTERNATIONALE
Multimedia systems and equipment – Multimedia e-publishing and e-books –
Reader’s format for e-publishing
Systèmes et appareils multimedia – Edition électronique multimedia et livres
électroniques – Format du lecteur pour édition électronique
IEC 62524:2009
---------------------- Page: 1 ----------------------
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IEC 62524
Edition 1.0 2009-02
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
NORME
INTERNATIONALE
Multimedia systems and equipment – Multimedia e-publishing and e-books –
Reader’s format for e-publishing
Systèmes et appareils multimedia – Edition électronique multimedia et livres
électroniques – Format du lecteur pour édition électronique
INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
COMMISSION
ELECTROTECHNIQUE
PRICE CODE
INTERNATIONALE
CODE PRIX
ICS 33.160.99 ISBN 978-2-88910-755-1
® Registered trademark of the International Electrotechnical Commission
Marque déposée de la Commission Electrotechnique Internationale
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– 2 – 62524 © IEC:2009
CONTENTS

FOREWORD...........................................................................................................................2H4

INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................3H6

1 Scope...............................................................................................................................4H7

2 Normative references .......................................................................................................5H7

3 Terms and definitions .......................................................................................................6H7

4 Position and requirements for reader’s format ..................................................................7H8

4.1 Reader’s format in contents creation/distribution model...........................................8H8

4.2 Requirements for reader’s format ............................................................................9H8

4.3 File format...............................................................................................................10H9

4.4 Features of the reader’s format ...............................................................................11H9

4.4.1 General .......................................................................................................12H9

4.4.2 Types of displayable elements.....................................................................13H9

4.4.3 Layout and styling .......................................................................................14H9

4.4.4 Fonts .........................................................................................................15H10

4.4.5 E-book specific features ............................................................................16H10

5 Conformance level..........................................................................................................17H10

Annex A (normative) C-XMDF reader's format .....................................................................18H11

Bibliography..........................................................................................................................19H48

Figure 1 – Contents creation/distribution model ......................................................................20H8

Figure A.1 – Relation between generic and reader's formats.................................................21H11

Figure A.2 – A visual example of a text flow..........................................................................22H22

Figure A.3 – Relationship between cell flow, cell and scene..................................................23H26

Figure A.4 – Paragraph tag and an image.............................................................................24H31

Figure A.5 – Flowing text interrupted by line break tag..........................................................25H33

Figure A.6 – Horizontal line tag and an image.......................................................................26H34

Figure A.7 – Effect of horizontal tag......................................................................................27H36

Figure A.8 – Text and image tag .........................................................................................28H38

Figure A.9 – Effect of align parameter ..................................................................................29H39

Figure A.10 – Image splitting ................................................................................................30H42

Table A.1 – File types ...........................................................................................................31H11

Table A.2 – Cxmdf_string type ..............................................................................................32H12

Table A.3 – File types ...........................................................................................................33H14

Table A.4 – File naming conventions ....................................................................................34H15

Table A.5 – Media types .......................................................................................................35H16

Table A.6 – The data structure of root file .............................................................................36H16

Table A.7 – Special characters .............................................................................................37H22

Table A.8 – Data structure of text flow control file .................................................................38H23

Table A.9 – Data structure of block control information .........................................................39H25

Table A.10 – Treatment of block boundary............................................................................40H26

Table A.11 – Data structure of cell flow control file ...............................................................41H27

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62524 © IEC:2009 – 3 –

Table A.12 – Data structure of cell control information ..........................................................42H28

Table A.13 – Parameters of a paragraph tag stored in block control information ...................43H32

Table A.14 – Parameter of a line break tag stored in the block control information................44H33

Table A.15 – Parameters of a font settings tag stored in the block control information ..........45H35

Table A.16 – Parameters of a ruby tag stored in the block control information ......................46H36

Table A.17 – Parameter stored in the block control information.............................................47H36

Table A.18 – Parameters stored in the block control information ...........................................48H37

Table A.19 – Parameters of an image tag stored in the block control information ..................49H39

Table A.20 – Parameters of mask tag stored in the block control information ........................50H40

Table A.21 – Parameters of link jump tag stored in the block control information ..................51H41

Table A.22 – Parameters of a URL jump tag stored in the block control information ..............52H41

Table A.23 – Parameters of a mailer launch tag stored in the block control information ........53H42

Table A.24 – Data structure of the MIG format ......................................................................54H43

Table A.25 – Gif image support.............................................................................................55H44

Table A.26 – Possible tag nesting.........................................................................................56H45

Table A.27 – Conformance levels .........................................................................................57H46

Table A.28 – Tags eligible for each conformance level..........................................................58H46

Table A.29 – Files eligible for each conformance level..........................................................59H46

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– 4 – 62524 © IEC:2009
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
MULTIMEDIA SYSTEMS AND EQUIPMENT –
MULTIMEDIA E-PUBLISHING AND E-BOOKS –
READER’S FORMAT FOR E-PUBLISHING
FOREWORD

1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising

all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote

international co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To

this end and in addition to other activities, IEC publishes International Standards, Technical Specifications,

Technical Reports, Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) and Guides (hereafter referred to as “IEC

Publication(s)”). Their preparation is entrusted to technical committees; any IEC National Committee interested

in the subject dealt with may participate in this preparatory work. International, governmental and non-

governmental organizations liaising with the IEC also participate in this preparation. IEC collaborates closely

with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in accordance with conditions determined by

agreement between the two organizations.

2) The formal decisions or agreements of IEC on technical matters express, as nearly as possible, an international

consensus of opinion on the relevant subjects since each technical committee has representation from all

interested IEC National Committees.

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between any IEC Publication and the corresponding national or regional publication shall be clearly indicated in

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5) IEC provides no marking procedure to indicate its approval and cannot be rendered responsible for any

equipment declared to be in conformity with an IEC Publication.

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8) Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this publication. Use of the referenced publications is

indispensable for the correct application of this publication.

9) Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this IEC Publication may be the subject of

patent rights. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.

International Standard IEC 62524 has been prepared by technical area 10: Multimedia e-

publishing and e-books, of IEC technical committee 100: Audio, video and multimedia

systems and equipment.

This bilingual version, published in 2009-04, corresponds to the English version.

The text of this standard is based on the following documents:
CDV Report on voting
100/1376/CDV 100/1487/RVC

Full information on the voting for the approval of this standard can be found in the report on

voting indicated in the above table.
The French version of this standard has not been voted upon.
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62524 © IEC:2009 – 5 –

This publication has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.

The committee has decided that the contents of this publication will remain unchanged until

the maintenance result date indicated on the IEC web site under "http://webstore.iec.ch" in

the data related to the specific publication. At this date, the publication will be

• reconfirmed,
• withdrawn,
• replaced by a revised edition, or
• amended.
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– 6 – 62524 © IEC:2009
INTRODUCTION

Markets for multimedia e-book and e-publishing require standardization of formats for e-book

data interchange among related parties: authors, data preparers, publishers and readers. The

formats are classified into submission format, generic format and reader’s format. The

submission format has to support an interaction between authors and data preparers. The

generic format has to provide an interchange format for data preparers and publishers and

therefore should be reading-device-independent. The reader’s format depends on e-

publishing equipment.
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62524 © IEC:2009 – 7 –
MULTIMEDIA SYSTEMS AND EQUIPMENT –
MULTIMEDIA E-PUBLISHING AND E-BOOKS –
READER’S FORMAT FOR E-PUBLISHING
1 Scope

This International Standard specifies a reader’s format for multimedia e-publishing employed

for e-book data interchange among publishers and readers, satisfying a number of readers’

requirements such as being non-revisable, equipment-adaptive and application-adaptive.

NOTE This International Standard does not address the following issues:
• elements necessary for final print reproduction only;
• rendering issues related to physical devices;
• metadata issues for document management;
• security issues such as DRM for document.
2 Normative references

The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document.

For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition

of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.

IEC/TS 62229:2006, Multimedia systems and equipment – Multimedia e-publishing and e-

book – Conceptual model for multimedia e-publishing
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
3.1
data preparer
organization or person that prepares an e-book
NOTE An editor is an example of preparer.
3.2
multimedia e-book
multimedia content consisting of text, graphics, sound and/or video data
3.3
publisher
organization or person that issues and distributes an e-book
3.4
reader
the final user who reads the e-book
3.5
reader’s format
format for multimedia e-book contents rendered and presented by reading device
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– 8 – 62524 © IEC:2009
3.6
reading device
equipment or program used to render and display e-books
4 Position and requirements for reader’s format
4.1 Reader’s format in contents creation/distribution model
The conceptual model for multimedia e-publishing (IEC 62229) defines a contents
creation/distribution model shown in Figure 1.
Author <--(1)--> Data preparer <--(2)--> Publisher --(3)--> Reader
IEC 190/09
Figure 1 – Contents creation/distribution model

In the third step of the distribution chain, the publisher creates the final version of the

document in the reader’s format, based on data obtained from the generic format in the

previous step, and finally distributes it to the reader. There can be several distinct reader’s

formats, adapted to the various reading devices and distribution schemes. Because of reading

devices’ potential limitations, some reader’s format may lack support for certain features of

the corresponding generic format. It is the publisher’s role to determine how to convert an e-

book to a less capable format.
4.2 Requirements for reader’s format
The reader’s format can satisfy the following requirements of readers:
a) non-revisable

As the reader’s format is the final form of the document, which will be used only for

viewing, there is little point in it being revisable. What matters most is that the file should

be easy to process, even if this makes editing the data more difficult. Being revisable can

even be considered a problem, since it makes the format needlessly complex.
b) equipment-adaptive, application-adaptive

The reader’s format is directly processed while the reader browses the book. For that

reason, to maximize the reader’s comfort, the format should be specifically designed to

match the capabilities of the device, in terms of CPU power, memory foot-print, display

size, etc. For example, a format targeted at a device with weak processing abilities should,

in order to keep the memory and CPU requirements low: (1) Use a light special purpose

binary structure, rather than processing-intensive formats like XML, (2) store the pre-

calculated position of the elements, rather than compute the layout on the fly... On the

other hand, if the target reading device is a high end processing system like a PC, a

format allowing for rich multimedia effects would be preferred, since it can easily be

handled.
c) legibility

To achieve a sufficient level of reading comfort, it is important that the reader’s format

pays attention to legibility on the reading device. In that regard, the following

implementation methods can be considered.
• Fixed page layout

The format defines the document so that each page of the document may be rendered

identically on any reading device. In this type of layout, it is common to record directly

in the file the actual position of all displayable elements. Generally, as the publisher

can specify precisely the final aspect, he will set the layout that is deemed to be the

most comfortable for the reader. Consequently, complex designs can be achieved, as

long as the display is as large as, or maybe larger, than the designer expected, making

it possible to reach excellent levels of legibility. On the other hand, if the actual display

is smaller than the one the document was designed for, it must be zoomed out,
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62524 © IEC:2009 – 9 –

possibly making some characters unreadable, or the reader has to scroll around the

document, reducing the reading comfort.
• Flowing layout

In this type of layout, the reading device dynamically determines, according to the

screen size, where line breaks should be inserted, and compute the resulting position

of the various elements. The final layout therefore depends on the screen size, font

type, font size, etc. The reading device usually has a set of rules to handle word

wrapping or hyphenation (ends of lines). Even though this layout model cannot achieve

designs as sophisticated as fixed page layouts, it can guarantee that the text will

remain clearly readable, whatever the screen size. It also usually gives more

customization options to the reader, letting him set parameters as the font size or

colour, making it more easily adaptable to individual readers’ preferences. On the

other hand, the publisher somewhat loses control over the final appearance of the

document.
• Others
Intermediate solutions also exist. For example, a format could specify what is

essentially a fixed layout when the screen is large enough to display the defined layout

at the current zoom level, but also allow, when zooming in, to change the layout (by

collapsing the margins or changing the paragraphs size, for example), so that the

characters can indeed be zoomed in, without making the page larger than the screen.

4.3 File format

A reader’s format may have a specific data structure depending on the reading device. When

rendering functionality is supported by reading devices, both logical structure and style

specification are recommended for flexibility of presentation. When no rendering functionality

is supported by reading devices, the reader’s format should have a final form structure.

The format may also be adapted to the mode of distribution.

• Complete single download: A whole e-book is copied or downloaded at a time to the

reading device. In that case, the e-book can usually be stored in a single file.

• Continuous download: Chunks are downloaded on demand, during the rendering. This is

useful for device with readily available connectivity, but limited storage capacity. This may

be achieved by splitting the document in several small files.
4.4 Features of the reader’s format
4.4.1 General

The features of the reader’s format may vastly vary with the targeted reading devices,

depending on their capabilities. For this reason, while creating contents for a particular

reading device, the publisher may have to omit some features, or, on the contrary, add others

to compensate.
4.4.2 Types of displayable elements

Actual rendering capacities of the rendering device may vary, but reader’s formats should at

least support text and static images. In addition, animations made of a sequence of static

images, sound, movies and other multimedia data may be supported too.
4.4.3 Layout and styling

Reader’s format, as the final document, shall contain all the styling information needed for

proper screen rendering. As stated in 4.2 c), there are mainly two types of layout: the fixed

page layout, and the flowing layout. In each case, the way to specify the style may be quite

different. When opting for a fixed page layout, the most common solution is to store the final

position and style of each displayable element. On the other hand, formats with a flowing

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– 10 – 62524 © IEC:2009

layout will have settings such as line spacing, character spacing, indentation and margins,

which will be used for computing the layout on the fly by the reading device.
4.4.4 Fonts

In most formats, it is possible to set various text properties, such as font, size, colour, bold or

italic, etc.

Moreover, in the case of fixed layout, to ensure that the page is rendered as intended, the

font itself may be embedded in the document. On the other hand, in the case of flowing layout,

while it is common to use the fonts bundled with the system, font data can sometimes be

embedded in the document to ensure that all the needed glyphs will be available at read-time.

4.4.5 E-book specific features
• Link jump

Allows to jump to a predefine position within the document or to a web site, upon clicking

on, or otherwise activating a certain part of the document.
• Effects

Specifies special visual effects for certain parts of the document, like fade-in or wipe.

5 Conformance level

Generally, reader’s formats are designed to closely match the reproduction capabilities of the

reading devices. As reading devices can be quite diverse in reproduction capabilities, it is to

be expected that the capabilities of each reader’s formats differ accordingly. To ease

communication and understanding between the various actors of the e-book publishing market,

this International Standard establishes a 3-level classification, namely, minimum, medium and

rich conformance levels, to help categorize the different reader’s formats.

This International Standard requires that each format define such 3-tier classification in itself.

While this standard stipulates a very rudimentary capability for minimum conformance level,

other details of the 3 levels are left to the description of each format to allow for diversity

among different formats.
a) Minimum conformance level
Targeted at devices with low reproduction capabilities.

This standard requires that at least a line of text data be displayed for a viewer to satisfy

minimum conformance level.
b) Medium conformance level
Intermediate level between minimum and rich conformance levels.
c) Rich conformance level
Targeted at devices with high reproduction capabilities.
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62524 © IEC:2009 – 11 –
Annex A
(normative)
C-XMDF reader's format
A.1 About compact XMDF

The present International Standard describes an e-book format targeted at mobile phones.

Similarly to HTML, text is not divided into pages, but dynamically arranged according to the

screen and font size. This type of layout will be called flowing layout.

Compact XMDF documents may be divided into several parts, for distribution or retail

purposes.

A compact XMDF document is usually made of several flows. These data structures are

meant to match a meaningful division of the document, such as chapters. Flows are displayed

in the order specified in the content data. The viewer should do a page break when moving

from a flow to the next one. The specific way a document is to be divided into flows is not

specified, and is left to the document preparer’s discretion. Chapters of a novel or articles of a

newspaper are good examples of possible divisions. Note that it is perfectly acceptable not to

organize the documen
...