ISO/IEC 15938-7:2003

Information technology — Multimedia content description interface — Part 7: Conformance testing

ISO/IEC 15938-7:2003 specifies a metadata system for describing multimedia content. ISO/IEC 15938-7:2003 specifies how tests can be designed to verify whether descriptions and description consuming terminals meet the specifications of parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of ISO/IEC IEC 15938. In ISO/IEC 15938-7:2003, the creation or extraction of descriptions from multimedia content is not addressed specifically. A system producing descriptions may be said to be an ISO/IEC 15938 compatible description production system if it produces descriptions (binary or textual) that conform to the specifications of parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of ISO/IEC 15938. The characteristics of descriptions and the terminals consuming descriptions are defined for parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of ISO/IEC 15938 as follows. Descriptions: the characteristics of a specific description are defined according to syntax and semantics of elements from ISO/IEC 15938 (all parts) that are used in the description. Terminals: the characteristics of a terminal consuming a description are defined according to the required description decoding process for the elements used in the description. An example of a description decoding property is the arithmetic accuracy in which the value of element are represented. The capabilities of a description consuming terminal are determined by the domain of descriptions and elements that the terminal is capable of decoding. A description can be decoded by a terminal if the elements of the description are within the subset of ISO/IEC 15938 (all parts) specified for a given definition of decoder capabilities. Guidelines are given on constructing tests to verify conformance of descriptions and terminals. ISO/IEC 15938-7:2003 provides additional guidelines on how to construct test suites for checking conformance of terminals. In addition, some test descriptions are provided. The conformance testing consists of two stages: Systems testing and Description Definition Language (DDL) testing. The Systems conformance testing involves decoding the description stream, which may be in binary or textual access unit form, and checking that after the decoding of each access unit the current description tree maintained by the terminal is DDL conformant. In the case that the input description to the Systems processor is an XML file, the conformance is directly performed by the DDL testing. The DDL conformance testing involves parsing the textual XML description and checking that the description is well-formed and valid according to the schema comprised from parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of ISO/IEC 15938. The conformance testing of descriptions does not involve checking the semantics of the descriptions.

Technologies de l'information — Description de l'interface du contenu multimédia — Partie 7: Essais de conformité

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 25-Nov-2003
• ICS: 35.040 - Information coding
• ICS: 35.040.40 - Coding of audio, video, multimedia and hypermedia information
• Technical Committee: ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29 - Coding of audio, picture, multimedia and hypermedia information
• Drafting Committee: ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29 - Coding of audio, picture, multimedia and hypermedia information
• Current Stage: 9020 - International Standard under periodical review
• Start Date: 15-Apr-2026
• Completion Date: 15-Apr-2026

Relations

• Amended By: ISO/IEC 15938-7:2003/Amd 1:2005 - Information technology — Multimedia content description interface — Part 7: Conformance testing — Amendment 1: Conformance extensions
• Effective Date: 06-Jun-2022
• Amended By: ISO/IEC 15938-7:2003/Amd 2:2007 - Information technology — Multimedia content description interface — Part 7: Conformance testing — Amendment 2: Fast access extensions conformance
• Effective Date: 06-Jun-2022
• Amended By: ISO/IEC 15938-7:2003/Amd 4:2008 - Information technology — Multimedia content description interface — Part 7: Conformance testing — Amendment 4: Improvements to geographic descriptor conformance
• Effective Date: 06-Jun-2022
• Amended By: ISO/IEC 15938-7:2003/Amd 3:2007 - Information technology — Multimedia content description interface — Part 7: Conformance testing — Amendment 3: Conformance testing of perceptual 3D shape descriptor
• Effective Date: 06-Jun-2022
• Amended By: ISO/IEC 15938-7:2003/Amd 5:2010 - Information technology — Multimedia content description interface — Part 7: Conformance testing — Amendment 5: Conformance testing for image signature tools
• Effective Date: 31-Jul-2021
• Amended By: ISO/IEC 15938-7:2003/Amd 6:2011 - Information technology — Multimedia content description interface — Part 7: Conformance testing — Amendment 6: Conformance testing for video signature tools
• Effective Date: 09-May-2020
• Parent: ISO/IEC 15938-7:2003/Amd 1:2005 - Information technology — Multimedia content description interface — Part 7: Conformance testing — Amendment 1: Conformance extensions
• Effective Date: 15-Apr-2008
• Parent: ISO/IEC 15938-7:2003/Amd 3:2007 - Information technology — Multimedia content description interface — Part 7: Conformance testing — Amendment 3: Conformance testing of perceptual 3D shape descriptor
• Effective Date: 15-Apr-2008
• Parent: ISO/IEC 15938-7:2003/Amd 4:2008 - Information technology — Multimedia content description interface — Part 7: Conformance testing — Amendment 4: Improvements to geographic descriptor conformance
• Effective Date: 15-Apr-2008
• Parent: ISO/IEC 15938-7:2003/Amd 2:2007 - Information technology — Multimedia content description interface — Part 7: Conformance testing — Amendment 2: Fast access extensions conformance
• Effective Date: 15-Apr-2008

Overview

ISO/IEC 15938-7:2003 defines conformance testing for the multimedia content description interface (ISO/IEC 15938). It specifies how to design tests that verify whether multimedia descriptions and description-consuming terminals comply with the syntactic and structural rules defined in parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of ISO/IEC 15938. The standard focuses on validating description formats and decoder behavior (binary or textual), not on how descriptions are created or on their semantic correctness.

Key Topics

• Scope of conformance: Tests validate that descriptions and terminals conform to the syntax and schema rules specified across ISO/IEC 15938 parts 1–5.
• Two-stage conformance testing:
  • Systems testing - decode description streams (binary or textual access units) and verify that the terminal’s current description tree is DDL-conformant after each access unit.
  • DDL (Description Definition Language) testing - parse textual (XML) descriptions and check well-formedness and validity against the aggregated XML schema derived from parts 1–5.
• Description and terminal characteristics:
  • Descriptions are assessed by the syntax and semantics of the elements used (as defined in ISO/IEC 15938).
  • Terminals are characterized by their decoding capabilities (e.g., supported elements, arithmetic accuracy for element values).
• Test construction guidance: Provides guidelines for building test suites, defining decoder capability subsets, and constructing example test descriptions and conformance bitstreams.
• Limitations: The standard does not address extraction/creation of descriptions from media, nor does it evaluate the semantic correctness of description content.

Applications

ISO/IEC 15938-7:2003 is practical for:

• Conformance test labs creating standardized test suites and bitstreams for validating multimedia metadata implementations.
• Device and software manufacturers verifying that description-consuming terminals (players, indexers, retrieval engines) correctly decode and maintain description trees.
• Interoperability and QA teams ensuring consistent handling of binary and XML description formats across products.
• Standards implementers and integrators defining decoder capability profiles and verifying that systems meet the schema and decoding requirements.

Practical uses include certification testing, supplier acceptance testing, regression testing of decoders, and validating XML-based description files against the DDL schema.

Related Standards

• ISO/IEC 15938 parts 1–5 - define the syntax, semantics, DDL and schema used as the base for conformance testing in part 7.

Keywords: ISO/IEC 15938-7:2003, conformance testing, multimedia metadata, DDL testing, description decoding, XML schema, description tree, systems testing.

Standards Content (Sample)

INTERNATIONAL ISO/IEC
STANDARD 15938-7
First edition
2003-12-01
Information technology — Multimedia
content description interface —
Part 7:
Conformance testing
Technologies de l'information — Description de l'interface du contenu
multimédia —
Partie 7: Essais de conformité

Reference number
©
ISO/IEC 2003
PDF disclaimer
This PDF file may contain embedded typefaces. In accordance with Adobe's licensing policy, this file may be printed or viewed but
shall not be edited unless the typefaces which are embedded are licensed to and installed on the computer performing the editing. In
downloading this file, parties accept therein the responsibility of not infringing Adobe's licensing policy. The ISO Central Secretariat
accepts no liability in this area.
Adobe is a trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated.
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parameters were optimized for printing. Every care has been taken to ensure that the file is suitable for use by ISO member bodies. In
the unlikely event that a problem relating to it is found, please inform the Central Secretariat at the address given below.

This CD-ROM contains:
1) the publication ISO/IEC 15938-7 in portable document format (PDF), which can be viewed using
Adobe® Acrobat® Reader;
2) Visual, Systems, Audio and MDS conformance bitstreams.

Adobe and Acrobat are trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated.
©  ISO/IEC
...

INTERNATIONAL ISO/IEC
STANDARD 15938-7
First edition
2003-12-01
Information technology — Multimedia
content description interface —
Part 7:
Conformance testing
Technologies de l'information — Description de l'interface du contenu
multimédia —
Partie 7: Essais de conformité

Reference number
©
ISO/IEC 2003
PDF disclaimer
This PDF file may contain embedded typefaces. In accordance with Adobe's licensing policy, this file may be printed or viewed but
shall not be edited unless the typefaces which are embedded are licensed to and installed on the computer performing the editing. In
downloading this file, parties accept therein the responsibility of not infringing Adobe's licensing policy. The ISO Central Secretariat
accepts no liability in this area.
Adobe is a trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated.
Details of the software products used to create this PDF file can be found in the General Info relative to the file; the PDF-creation
parameters were optimized for printing. Every care has been taken to ensure that the file is suitable for use by ISO member bodies. In
the unlikely event that a problem relating to it is found, please inform the Central Secretariat at the address given below.

©  ISO/IEC 2003
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and microfilm, without permission in writing from either ISO at the address below or
ISO's member body in the country of the requester.
ISO copyright office
Case postale 56 • CH-1211 Geneva 20
Tel. + 41 22 749 01 11
Fax + 41 22 749 09 47
E-mail [e-mail]
Web www.iso.org
Published in Switzerland
ii © ISO/IEC 2003 — All rights reserved

Contents Page
Foreword. iv
Introduction . v
1 Scope. 1
1.1 Organization of the document . 1
2 Normative references. 1
3 Terms, definitions, symbols and abbreviated terms. 3
3.1 Conventions. 3
3.2 Terminology. 5
3.3 Symbols and abbreviated terms. 7
4 Overview of conformance testing . 8
4.1 Introduction. 8
4.2 Conformance testing. 8
4.3 Interoperability points. 10
5 Conformance testing with respect to Systems processing . 10
5.1 Introduction. 10
5.2 Systems processing. 10
5.3 Systems interfaces. 10
5.4 Systems Textual Encoder . 11
5.5 Systems Textual Bitstream in Access Unit Form . 11
5.6 Systems Textual Decoder . 12
5.7 Systems Binary (BiM) Encoder. 13
5.8 Systems Binary (BiM) Bitstream in Access Unit Form . 13
5.9 Systems Binary (BiM) Decoder. 14
6 Conformance testing with respect to DDL processing. 16
6.1 Introduction. 16
6.2 DDL Schema validity assessment. 16
6.3 DDL conformance points . 17
6.4 DDL processor. 17
6.5 Systems Conformance Bitstreams . 18
7 Conformance Testing with respect to ISO/IEC 15938 Schema . 21
7.1 Introduction. 21
7.2 Conformance Testing with respect to 15938-2 (DDL) . 21
7.3 Conformance Testing with respect to 15938-3 (Visual) . 21
7.4 Conformance Testing with respect to 15938-4 (Audio). 23
7.5 Conformance Testing with respect to 15938-5 (MDS). 25
8 Example Descriptions (informative). 28
8.1 Introduction. 28
8.2 Description 1. 28
8.3 Description 2. 29
8.4 Description 3. 30
Annex A (informative) Patent Statements . 31
Bibliography . 33

© ISO/IEC 2003 — All rights reserved iii

Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical
Commission) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that are members of
ISO or IEC participate in the development of International Standards through technical committees
established by the respective organization to deal with particular fields of technical activity. ISO and IEC
technical committees collaborate in fields of mutual interest. Other international organizations, governmental
and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO and IEC, also take part in the work. In the field of information
technology, ISO and IEC have established a joint technical committee, ISO/IEC JTC 1.
International Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
The main task of the joint technical committee is to prepare International Standards. Draft International
Standards adopted by the joint technical committee are circulated to national bodies for voting. Publication as
an International Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the member bodies casting a vote.
ISO/IEC 15938-7 was prepared by Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology,
Subcommittee SC 29, Coding of auto, picture, multimedia and hypermedia information.
ISO/IEC 15938 consists of the following parts, under the general title Information technology — Multimedia
content description interface:
 Part 1: Systems
 Part 2: Description definition language
 Part 3: Visual
 Part 4: Audio
 Part 5: Multimedia description schemes
 Part 6: Reference software
 Part 7: Conformance testing
 Part 8: Extraction and use of MPEG-7 descriptions
iv © ISO/IEC 2003 — All rights reserved

Introduction
ISO/IEC 15938, also known as "Multimedia Content Description Interface," provides a standardized set of
technologies for describing multimedia content. It addresses a broad spectrum of multimedia applications and
requirements by providing a metadata system for describing the features of multimedia content.
The following are specified in ISO/IEC 15938:
• Description Schemes (DS) describe entities or relationships pertaining to multimedia content.
Description Schemes specify the structure and semantics of their components, which may be Description
Schemes, Descriptors, or datatypes.
• Descriptors (D) describe features, attributes, or groups of attributes of multimedia content.
• Datatypes are the basic reusable datatypes employed by Description Schemes and Descriptors.
• Systems tools support delivery of descriptions, multiplexing of descriptions with multimedia content,
synchronization, file format, and so forth.
ISO/IEC 15938 is subdivided into eight parts:
Part 1 — Systems: specifies the tools for preparing descriptions for efficient transport and storage,
compressing descriptions, and allowing synchronization between content and descriptions.
Part 2 — Description Definition Language: specifies the language for defining the standard set of
description tools (DSs, Ds, and datatypes) and for defining new description tools.
Part 3 — Visual: specifies the description tools pertaining to visual content.
Part 4 — Audio: specifies the description tools pertaining to audio content.
Part 5 — Multimedia Description Schemes: specifies the generic description tools pertaining to multimedia
including audio and visual content.
Part 6 — Reference Software: provides a software implementation of ISO/IEC 15938.
Part 7 — Conformance testing: specifies the guidelines and procedures for testing conformance of
implementations of the standard.
Part 8 — Extraction and Use: provides guidelines and examples of the extraction and use of descriptions.
This part of ISO/IEC 15938 specifies the conformance part of the ISO/IEC 15938 standard by specifying the
guidelines and procedures for testing conformance of implementations of the standard.
© ISO/IEC 2003 — All rights reserved v

INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO/IEC 15938-7:2003(E)

Information technology — Multimedia content description
interface —
Part 7:
Conformance testing
1 Scope
1.1 Organization of the document
ISO/IEC 15938 specifies a metadata system for describing multimedia content. This part of ISO/IEC 15938
specifies how tests can be designed to verify whether descriptions and description consuming terminals meet
the specifications of parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of ISO/IEC 15938. In this part of ISO/IEC 15938, the creation or
extraction of descriptions from multimedia content is not addressed specifically. A system producing
descriptions may be said to be an ISO/IEC 15938 compatible description production system if it produces
descriptions (binary or textual) that conform to the specifications of parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of ISO/IEC 15938.
The characteristics of descriptions and the terminals consuming descriptions are defined for parts 1, 2, 3, 4
and 5 of ISO/IEC 15938 as follows.
 Descriptions: the characteristics of a specific description are defined according to syntax and semantics
of elements from ISO/IEC 15938 that are used in the description.
 Terminals: the characteristics of a terminal consuming a description are defined according to the
required description decoding process for the elements used in the description. An example of a
description decoding property is the arithmetic accuracy in which the value of element are represented.
The capabilities of a description consuming terminal are determined by the domain of descriptions and
elements that the terminal is capable of decoding. A description can be decoded by a terminal if the
elements of the description are within the subset of ISO/IEC 15938 specified for a given definition of
decoder capabilities.
In this document, procedures are described for testing conformance of descriptions and terminals according to
the specifications of parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of ISO/IEC 15938. Given a set of claimed characteristics
(descriptions and terminals), the requirements for conformance are fully determined by parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5
of ISO/IEC 15938. This part of ISO/IEC 15938 summarizes the requirements and defines how conformance
can be tested. Guidelines are given on constructing tests to verify conformance of descriptions and terminals.
This document provides additional guidelines on how to construct test suites for checking conformance of
terminals. In addition, some test descriptions are provided.
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.
ISO 8601, Data elements and interchange formats — Information interchange — Representation of dates and
times
© ISO/IEC 2003 — All rights reserved 1

ISO 639 (all parts), Code for the representation of names of languages
ISO 3166-1, Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions — Part 1: Country
codes
ISO 3166-2, Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions — Part 2: Country
subdivision code
NOTE The current list of valid ISO 3166-1 country and ISO 3166-2 region codes is maintained by the official
maintenance authority Deutsches Institut für Normung. Information on the current list of valid region and country codes
can be found at http://www.din.de/gremien/nas/nabd/iso3166ma/index.html.
ISO 4217, Codes for the representation of currencies and funds
NOTE The current list of valid ISO 4217 currency codes is maintained by the official maintenance authority British
Standards Institution (http://www.bsi-global.com/iso4217currency).
XML, Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0, October 2000
XML Schema, W3C Recommendation, 2 May 2001
XML Schema Part 0: Primer, W3C Recommendation, 2 May 2001
XML Schema Part 1: Structures, W3C Recommendation, 2 May 2001
XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes, W3C Recommendation, 2 May 200
xPath, XML Path Language, W3C Recommendation, 16 November 1999
NOTE These documents are maintained by the W3C (http://www.w3.org). The relevant documents can be obtained
as follows:
Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0 (Second Edition), 6 October 2000,
http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-xml-20001006
XML Schema: W3C Recommendation, 2 May 2001, http://www.w3.org/XML/Schema
XML Schema Part 0: Primer, W3C Recommendation, 2 May 2001, http://www.w3.org/TR/xmlschema-0/
XML Schema Part 1: Structures, W3C Recommendation, 2 May 2001, http://www.w3.org/TR/xmlschema-1/
XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes, W3C Recommendation 2 May 2001, http://www.w3.org/TR/xmlschema-2/
xPath, XML Path Language, W3C Recommendation, 16 November 1999,
http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-xpath-19991116.
Canonical XML Version 1.0, W3C Recommendation 15 March 2001,
http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/REC-xml-c14n-20010315
RFC 2045 Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part One: Format of Internet Message Bodies
RFC 2046 Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Two: Media Types
RFC 2048, Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Four: Registration Procedures
RFC 2045-CHARSETS, Registered Character set codes of RFC2045
RFC2046-MIMETYPES, Registered Mimetypes of RFC2046
NOTE The relevant lists can be obtained as follows:
2 © ISO/IEC 2003 — All rights reserved

MIMETYPES. The current list of registered mimetypes, as defined in RFC2046, RFC2048, is maintained by IANA (Internet
Assigned Numbers Authority). It is available from ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/iana/assignments/media-types/media-types/
CHARSETS. The current list of registered character set codes, as defined in RFC2045 and RFC2048 is maintained by
IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority). It is available from ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/iana/assignments/character-sets.
3 Terms, definitions, symbols and abbreviated terms
For the purposes of this document, the following terms, definitions, symbols and abbreviated terms apply.
3.1 Conventions
3.1.1 Description tools
This part of ISO/IEC 15938 specifies conformance for descriptions and bitstreams complying with
ISO/IEC 15938. Descriptions are instances of description tools defined in ISO/IEC 15938. The important
concepts are defined as follows.
 Description Tool (or tool): refers to a Description Scheme, Descriptor, or Datatype.
 Description Scheme (DS): a description tool that describes entities or relationships pertaining to
multimedia content. DSs specify the structure and semantics of their components, which may be
Description Schemes, Descriptors, or datatypes.
 Descriptor (D): a description tool that describes a feature, attribute, or group of attributes of multimedia
content.
 Datatype: a basic reusable datatype employed by Description Schemes and Descriptors.
3.1.2 Naming convention
In order to specify the description tools, constructs provided by the Description Definition Language (DDL)
specified in ISO/IEC 15938-2 are used, such as "element," "attribute," "simpleType" and "complexType." The
names associated to these constructs are created on the basis of the following conventions.
 If the name is composed of multiple words, the first letter of each word is capitalized, with the exception
that the capitalization of the first word depends on the type of construct as follows.
 Element naming: the first letter of the first word is capitalized (e.g. TimePoint element of TimeType).
 Attribute naming: the first letter of the first word is not capitalized (e.g. timeUnit attribute of
IncrDurationType).
 complexType naming: the first letter of the first word is capitalized, and the suffix "Type" is used at the
end of the name (e.g. PersonType).
 simpleType naming: the first letter of the first word is not capitalized, the suffix "Type" may be used at the
end of the name (e.g. timePointType).
NOTE When referencing a complexType or simpleType in the definition of a description tool, the "Type" suffix is not
used. For instance, the text refers to the "Time datatype" (instead of "TimeType datatype"), to the "MediaLocator D"
(instead of "MediaLocatorType D") and to the "Person DS" (instead of PersonType DS).
© ISO/IEC 2003 — All rights reserved 3

3.1.3 Documentation convention
The syntax of each description tool is specified using the constructs provided by the DDL specified in
ISO/IEC 15938-2, and is presented in this document using a specific font and background as shown in the
following example:






The semantics of each description tool is specified in text using a table format, where each row contains the
name and a definition of a type, element or attribute as shown in the following example:
Name Definition
ExampleType Specifies an .
element1
Describes the …
attribute1
Describes the …
Diagrammatic notation is sometimes used to depict overviews of the description tools. Such overview
diagrams generally depict aggregation and generalization relationships between description tools or the
entities being described. In these diagrams, rectangular shapes containing a name denote description tools
(DSs or Ds) that are used to describe entities. In some diagrams, multiple description tools are listed in a
single rectangle. Large diamond shapes containing a name denote description tools (DSs or Ds) that are used
to describe relationships. Furthermore, paths between rectangles or diamonds denote association,
generalization or aggregation relationships. Generalization relationships are indicated by a solid path with a
filled triangle pointing at the more general entity. Aggregation (composition) relationships are indicated by a
solid path with a (filled) diamond at the aggregating (composing) entity. Aggregation relationship paths may be
accompanied by an indication of the multiplicity (minOccurs, maxOccurs) of the relation in text form.
The informative examples are included in separate subclauses, and are presented in this document using a
separate font and background as shown in the following example:

example element content

Moreover, the schema or set of description tools defined in this document follows a type-centric approach.
The description tools are specified by defining the complexType or simpleType for each tool, but not declaring
an element of this type at the global scope with the exception of the root element. However, in order to
illustrate informative example descriptions in this document, the examples assume that an element of the
example type (complexType or simpleType) has been declared, such as a member of another complexType
or simpleType. For example, the description above assumes that the following declaration has been made:


The term "reserved" is used in specifying the semantics of some description tools. The term "reserved"
indicates that particular values are reserved for use in future extensions of ISO/IEC 15938.
4 © ISO/IEC 2003 — All rights reserved

3.2 Terminology
3.2.1 General terminology
3.2.1.1
MPEG-7 Terminal
An entity that consumes an MPEG-7 description and provides it to further processing. An MPEG-7 terminal
can be composed of a Systems decoder, a MPEG-7 validating parser or both of them
3.2.1.2
MPEG-7 validating terminal
An MPEG-7 Terminal which validates MPEG-7 descriptions against their definitions expressed using the DDL
and provides them to further processing
3.2.1.3
MPEG-7 systems terminal
An MPEG-7 Terminal which receives description stream and provides reconstructed description to further
processing
3.2.2 Schema-related terminology
3.2.2.1
Attribute
A field of a description tool which is of simple type
3.2.2.2
Base type
A type that serves as the root type of a derivation hierarchy for other types
3.2.2.3
Datatype
A primitive reusable type employed by Description Schemes and Descriptors
3.2.2.4
Derived type
A type that is defined in terms of extension or restriction of other types
3.2.2.5
Description
An instantiation of one or more description tools
3.2.2.6
Description Scheme
A description tool that describes entities or relationships pertaining to multimedia content. Description
Schemes specify the structure and semantics of their components, which may be Description Schemes,
Descriptors, or datatypes
3.2.2.7
Description Tool
A Description Scheme, Descriptor, or datatype
3.2.2.8
Descriptor
A description tool that describes a feature, attribute, or group of attributes of multimedia content
3.2.2.9
Instantiation
Assignment of values to the fields (elements, attributes) of one or more description tools
© ISO/IEC 2003 — All rights reserved 5

3.2.2.10
Element
A field of a description tool which is of complex type
3.2.2.11
Schema
The set of related description tools, for example, those specified in ISO/IEC 15938
3.2.2.12
Type
The format used for collection of letters, digits, and/or symbols, to depict values of an element or attribute of
description tool. A type consists of a set of distinct values, a set of lexical representations, and a set of
facets that characterize properties of the value space, individual values, or lexical items
3.2.2.13
Canonical XML
A canonical form of an XML document. If the canonical forms of two XML documents are strictly identical, the
two XML documents are considered logically equivalent within the context of this specification.
Canonicalization takes into account all syntactic changes physical permitted by XML 1.0 and Namespaces in
XML
3.2.2.14
XML canonicalization
A method that generates the canonical form of an XML document. The term XML canonicalization refers to
the process of applying the XML canonicalization method to an XML document
3.2.2.15
Information set, or infoset
An XML document's information set consists of a number of information items. An information item is an
abstract description of some part of an XML document: each information item has a set of associated named
properties
3.2.2.16
Post schema validation infoset (PSVI)
An infoset which supports information items and properties as defined in XML Schema — Part 1 — Annex D
3.2.3 Systems-related terminology
3.2.3.1
Access Unit
An entity within a description stream that is atomic in time, i.e., to which a composition time can be attached
3.2.3.2
Current description tree
The description tree that represents the current description in an MPEG-7 Systems decoder
3.2.3.3
Description stream
The ordered concatenation of either binary or textual access units conveying a single, possibly time-variant,
multimedia content description
3.2.3.4
Description tree
A model of the description handled by MPEG-7 Systems decoder. A description tree consists of nodes, which
represent elements or attributes of a description
6 © ISO/IEC 2003 — All rights reserved

3.3 Symbols and abbreviated terms
AV: Audio-visual
BiM: Binary format for MPEG-7
CS: Classification Scheme
D: Descriptor
Ds: Descriptors
DCT: Discrete Cosine Transform
DDL: Description Definition Language
DS: Description Scheme
DSs: Description Schemes
IANA: Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
IETF: Internet Engineering Task Force
IPMP: Intellectual Property Management and Protection
ISO: International Organization for Standardization
JPEG: Joint Photographic Experts Group
MDS: Multimedia Description Schemes
MPEG: Moving Picture Experts Group
MPEG-2: Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information (see ISO/IEC 13818)
MPEG-4: Coding of audio-visual objects (see ISO/IEC 14496)
MPEG-7: Multimedia Content Description Interface Standard (see ISO/IEC 15938)
MP3: MPEG-2 layer 3 audio coding
PSVI: Post schema validation infoset
QCIF: Quarter Common Intermediate Format
SMPTE: Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers
TeM: Textual format for MPEG-7
TZ: Time Zone
TZD: Time Zone Difference
URI: Uniform Resource Identifier (see RFC 2396)
URL: Uniform Resource Locator (see RFC 2396)
© ISO/IEC 2003 — All rights reserved 7

W3C: World Wide Web Consortium
XML: Extensible Markup Language
4 Overview of conformance testing
4.1 Introduction
This clause provides an overview of conformance testing of descriptions and terminals.
4.2 Conformance testing
4.2.1 Conformance testing of descriptions
Figure 1 shows an overview of conformance testing of descriptions. The conformance testing consists of two
stages: Systems testing and DDL testing. The Systems conformance testing involves decoding the description
stream, which may be in binary or textual access unit form, and checking that after the decoding of each
access unit the current description tree maintained by the terminal is DDL conformant. In the case that the
input description to the Systems processor is an XML file, the conformance is directly performed by the DDL
testing. The DDL conformance testing involves parsing the textual XML description and checking that the
description is well-formed and valid according to the schema comprised from the MDS, Visual, Audio,
Systems, and DDL parts of the standard.
The objective of the conformance testing of descriptions is to check the syntactic compliance with
ISO/IEC 15938 Parts 1 – 5. As a result, the conformance testing of descriptions does not involve checking the
semantics of the descriptions. For example, conformance testing of descriptions does not check whether the
“name” field of a description actually contains the “true name” of an individual. However, the conformance
testing of the description does determine whether the description is syntactically well-formed in the sense of
XML processing and syntactically valid in the sense of conforming to the schema.

Description
DDL
Validating Result
Description stream Systems
parser
Terminal
Schema
Figure 1 — Overview of conformance testing of descriptions
4.2.2 Conformance testing of terminals
The conformance testing involves the comparison of the result of processing a description using a reference
terminal against the result using the test terminal. The reference terminal processes the description in terms of
reference Systems and/or reference validation. Likewise, the test terminal processes the description in terms
of the test Systems and/or test validation. Figure 2 shows an overview of conformance testing of ISO/15938
terminals only composed of a validating parser. Figure 3 shows an overview of conformance testing of
ISO 15938 terminals only composed of a Systems decoder. Figure 4 shows an overview of conformance
testing of ISO 15938 terminals composed both of a Systems decoder and a validating parser. The
conformance testing of the terminal checks two things:
8 © ISO/IEC 2003 — All rights reserved

1) Does the test terminal provide the same results for the reconstructed XML document representation
as the reference terminal, and
2) Does the test terminal provide correct response of description validity.
In the case of an input description that is in the form of textual or binary access units, the Systems processing
must first convert the description into a textual XML form. In the case of an input description that is already in
textual XML form, the Systems processor passes the input description on for the validating parser. In either
case, the textual XML form of the description is then operated on by the validating parser, which checks the
description for well-formedness and validity. The validating parser takes as input the schema composed from
the MDS, visual, audio, and other parts in order to allow the checking of the syntax of the textual XML
description against the specifications of ISO/IEC 15938 Parts 1-5.

Reference
DDL
Validity /
Validating
PSV Infoset
parser
Schema
Description Compare
Test DDL
Validating
Validity /
parser
PSV Infoset
Figure 2 — Overview of conformance testing of validating terminals

Reference
Systems Reconstructed
Decoder Description
Description stream
Compare
(access units)
Test
Reconstructed
Systems
Description
Decoder
Figure 3 — Overview of conformance testing of systems based terminals

© ISO/IEC 2003 — All rights reserved 9

Validation
Systems
Reference
DDL
Validity /
Validating
Reference PSV Infoset
parser
Reconstructed
Systems
Description
Decoder
Description stream
Schema
Compare
Compare
(access units)
Test
Reconstructed
Systems
Test DDL
Description
Validity /
Decoder
Validating
PSV Infoset
parser
Figure 4 — Overview of conformance testing of systems based validating terminals
4.3 Interoperability points
Given the conformance testing procedures described above, the interoperability point in the standard
corresponds to the reconstruction of a canonical XML representation of the description at the terminal. This
allows for different possible implementations at the terminal in which different internal representations are
used as long as the terminal is able to produce a conforming canonical XML representation of the description.
5 Conformance testing with respect to Systems processing
5.1 Introduction
This clause describes conformance testing with respect to Systems processing.
NOTE The reference software implementation used for conformance testing with respect to Systems processing is
equivalent to ISO/IEC 15938-6.
5.2 Systems processing
The Systems processing involves operating on descriptions in binary or textual access unit form and
producing an XML description output. The objective of Systems processing is to allow the unambiguous
exchange of descriptions in binary or textual access unit form such that a reconstructed description is the
same for all conformant terminals. The conformance and test procedures for Systems are defined for both
textual and binary forms of descriptions. As a result, this conformance and testing applies for Textual and BIM
bitstreams in access unit form as well as Textual and BIM decoders, respectively, as will be described in this
clause.
5.3 Systems interfaces
The Systems processing of descriptions involves the two interfaces for processing descriptions in textual
access unit form and binary access unit form, respectively, as shown in Figure 5.
10 © ISO/IEC 2003 — All rights reserved

Textual
Description stream
Systems Systems
Textual
Textual
encoder decoder
Textual
Access Units
Description
Description
Binary
Access Units
Systems Systems
Binary Binary
encoder decoder
Binary
Description stream
Figure 5 — Systems interfaces for descriptions in textual access unit form and binary access unit
form
The Systems components illustrated in Figure 5, are defined as follows.
 Description: Textual XML form of description with syntax conforming to ISO/IEC 15938 Parts 1-5.
 Systems Textual Encoder: Transforms the textual XML form description to textual access unit form as
described in ISO/IEC 15938 Part 1.
 Systems Textual Decoder: Transforms the textual access unit form of the description to textual XML
form as described in ISO/IEC 15938 Part 1.
 Systems Binary (BiM) Encoder: Transforms the textual XML form description to binary access unit form
as described in ISO/IEC 15938 Part 1.
 Systems Binary (BiM) Decoder: Transforms the binary access unit form of the description to textual
XML form as described in ISO/IEC 15938 Part 1.
 Textual Format interface: Describes the format of the textual access units.
 Binary Format Interface: Describes the format of the binary access units.
Conformance with respect to Systems processing is defined with respect to the Systems textual decoder and
Systems binary decoder. The conformance testing of the Systems decoders involves checking the output of
decoders compared to Systems reference decoders. Conformance with respect to Systems encoders is not
provided in order to allow different possible implementations of the Systems encoders. Instead the bitstreams
in access unit form are tested for conformance. This is done by feeding the bitstream under test to the textual
and binary reference decoders, respectively, and verifying the decodability and the correct output.
5.4 Systems Textual Encoder
The Systems Textual Encoder consumes a textual XML description and produces a description in textual
access unit form. Conformance testing of the Systems Textual Encoder is not provided.
5.5 Systems Textual Bitstream in Access Unit Form
The textual bitstream in access unit form (together with its associated textual DecoderInit) is fed to the textual
reference systems decoders. The decoded information is used to reconstruct a description after each access
unit. Each resulting description is tested for validity against the schema declared in the associated textual
DecoderInit.
© ISO/IEC 2003 — All rights reserved 11

The following conditions must be fulfilled as a necessary condition for each textual bitstream in access unit
form.
1) The syntax of each textual access unit as well as the syntax of the textual DecoderInit must be valid
against the TeM schema defined in clause 6 of ISO/IEC 15938-1.
2) Decoding the description fragment conveyed in the textual InitialDescription together with the
description fragment conveyed in the first textual access unit must result in a description that is valid
against the schema declared in the textual DecoderInit.
3) After the decoding of each textual access unit the decoded description must be valid against the
schema declared in the textual DecoderInit.
4) Each textual fragment update context must point to an instantiated node in the current description
tree.
5) Each decoded textual fragment payload must be wellformed XML

Textual
description stream
Reference Systems
Decoded description
Textual Decoder
Textual
decoder init
Validation
Schema
Figure 6 — Conformance testing of Systems Textual Bitstream in Access Unit Form
5.6 Systems Textual Decoder
5.6.1 Overview
The Systems Textual Decoder consumes a description in textual access unit form and produces a textual
XML description as described in ISO/IEC 15938-1. Conformance testing of the Systems Textual Decoder
involves checking whether the output of the Systems Textual Decoder is equivalent to that produced by a
reference Systems Textual Decoder, as shown in Figure 7. The Test Systems Textual Decoder is said to be
compliant if it produces a textual XML description output that is equivalent to that produced by a Reference
Systems Textual Decoder.
12 © ISO/IEC 2003 — All rights reserved

Reference
Textual
Decoded
Systems
Description
Decoder
Description stream
Compare
(access units in
textual form)
Test
Decoded
Textual
Description
Systems
Decoder
Figure 7 — Conformance testing of Systems Textual Decoder
5.6.2 Definition of Reference Textual Access Unit Form Descriptions
The reference textual access unit descriptions are designed to test the following features:
 DecoderInit: Single and multiple SchemaReferences with and without locationHint;
 DecoderInit with and without InitialDescription;
 Access Units with single and multiple FUUs;
 FU commands: addNode, updateNode, deleteNode, reset;
 FU context: relative and absolute Xpath in combination with the FU commands above;
 FU context: addressing elements and attributes;
 FU payload: with and without deferred nodes.
5.7 Systems Binary (BiM) Encoder
The Systems Binary (BiM) Encoder consumes a textual XML description and produces a description in binary
access unit form. Conformance testing of the Systems Binary (BiM) Encoder is not provided.
5.8 Systems Binary (BiM) Bitstream in Access Unit Form
The binary bitstream in access unit form (together with its associated binary DecoderInit) is fed to the binary
reference systems decoders. The decoded information is used to reconstruct a description after each access
unit. Each resulting description is tested for validity against the schema declared in the associated binary
DecoderInit.
The following conditions must be fulfilled as a necessary condition for each binary bitstream in access unit
form:
1) The syntax of each binary access unit as well as the syntax of the binary DecoderInit must have
correct syntax wrt. the BiM syntax as defined in Clauses 7 and 8 of ISO/IEC 15938-1.
© ISO/IEC 2003 — All rights reserved 13

2) Decoding the description fragment conveyed in the binary InitialDescription together with the
description fragment conveyed in the first binary access unit must result in a description that is valid
against the schema declared in the binary DecoderInit.
3) After each binary access unit the decoded description must be valid against the schema declared in
the binary DecoderInit
4) In any FUU, when the FU command is “add” then the FU context must not point to an instantiated
node in the current description tree.
5) In any FUU, when the FU command is “update” or “delete” then the FU context must point to an
instantiated node in the current description tree.

Binary
description stream
Reference Systems
Decoded description
Binary Decoder
Binary
decoder init
Validation
Schema
Figure 8 — Conformance testing of Systems Binary Bitstream in Access Unit Form
5.9 Systems Binary (BiM) Decoder
5.9.1 Overview
The Systems Binary (BiM) Decoder consumes a description in binary access unit form and produces a textual
XML description description as described in ISO/IEC 15938-1. Conformance testing of the Systems Binary
Decoder involves checking whether the output of the Systems Binary Decoder is equivalent to that produced
by a reference Systems Binary Decoder, as shown in Figure 7. The Test Systems Binary Decoder is said to
be compliant if it produces a textual XML description output that is equivalent to that produced by a Reference
Systems Binary Decoder.
14 © ISO/IEC 2003 — All rights reserved

Reference
Binary
Decoded
Systems
Description
Decoder
Description stream
Compare
(access units in binary
form)
Test
Decoded
Binary
Description
Systems
Decoder
Figure 9 — Conformance testing of Systems Binary Decoder
5.9.2 Definition of Reference Binary Access Unit Form Descriptions
The reference binary access unit descriptions are designed to test the following features:
 DecoderInit: Single and multiple SchemaReferences with and without locationHint;
 DecoderInit with and without InitialDescription;
 Access Units with single and multiple FUUs;
 FU commands: addContent, updateContent, deleteContent, reset;
 FU context: relative and absolute context path in combination with the FU commands above;
 FU context: multiple payload mode;
 FU context: addressing elements and attributes;
 FU context: using “User Data Extension Code”;
 FU context: use schemas including a variety of type definitions including SEQ, CHOICE, ALL content
models (also in hierarchical definitions of SEQ and CHOICE) as well as simple content in a complex type;
 FU context: using type codes as well as substitution codes;
 FU context: using MPCs, no PC, SPCs as well
...