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AXMEDIS - Automating Production of Cross Media Content for Multi-channel Distribution
The AXMEDIS project aimed to meet the challenges of the market demand by: (i) reducing costs for content production and management for content composition, representation (format), protection and workflow; (ii) reducing distribution and aggregation costs in order to increase accessibility with a P2P at B2B level, which can integrate content management systems and workflows; (iii) providing new methods and tools for innovative and flexible Digital Rights Management (DRM), including the exploitation of MPEG-21 and overcoming its limitations, and supporting different business and transactions models and multi-channel distribution.
Impact
AXMEDIS has employed basic enabling technology research to solve the above mentioned problems and limitations. AXMEDIS framework offered digital content producers, aggregators and distributors access to a wide range of innovative technologies, creating new markets and distribution openings. AXMEDIS technologies have allowed interoperable multi-channel distribution and protection, reducing the costs of digital content production, distribution and protection.
Main innovation
The AXMEDIS digital content and content components (in the following, AXMEDIS content in general) have a specific format capable of integration inside any kind of cross-media formats (e.g. video, image, animation, text, audio, etc.), adding metadata, identification, classification, categorisation, indexing, descriptors, annotation, relationships and play activities and protection aspects. The AXMEDIS format permits the combination of content components, their secure distribution and others, in the respect of the copyright laws, supporting a large variety of DRM rules and models according to concepts of interoperability among DRM models (mainly, but not only, based on MPEG-21, with both binary and XML low level formats). Within the AXMEDIS content, any type of cross media content can be included; from simple multimedia files to games, software components, for leisure and entertainment, infotainment, and so on.
Highlights of the AXMEDIS general architecture:
- production of AXMEDIS objects and content components with:
- AXMEDIS authoring tools, license producers, metadata editors and mappers, visual and behaviour definition, protection tools for DRM, etc.;
- AXMEDIS content processing GRID supporting DRM, for massive and adaptive composition, formatting, protection, processing, adaptation, fingerprinting, reduction, transcoding, packaging, metadata processing, license production and processing, etc.
- protection of AXMEDIS objects with:
- Protection tools for enforcing DRM;
- Authentication and certification tools;
- AXMEDIS Certifier and Supervisor to control and track the activities related to rights. That can be connected to the Collection Societies as well as to each Content Providers and Distributors providing reporting and statistics;
- distribution of AXMEDIS objects with:
- AXMEDIS P2P tool (AXEPTool) for B2B distribution supporting DRM
- Distributors connected to the AXEPTool may access to a large collection of AXMEDIS objects from content providers, integrators, publishers, etc.;
- AXMEDIS P2P for C2C;
- AXMEDIS players and viewers for different platforms.
The distribution channel may present single or multiple distribution paths for each type of content, and often, multiple proprietary systems of representation for the same content. The definition of distribution channel editorial formats would provide one way, unified and robust content format for multipurpose applications. Alternative solutions support the multi-channel distribution by using an XML model of content into the Content Management Systems of the content provider that also include multiple transcoding engines for transforming the XML model of content into the format suitable for the channel.
Technical notes on:
- AXMEDIS P2P: for a legal, flexible and controllable P2P (PDF, 809KB)
- AXMEDIS Multichannel Digital Rights Management (PDF, 623KB)
Results
The consortium has produced and published a set of documents that have been used in many forums:
- Brochures and press cutting
- Reports:
- Requirements
- Use Cases and Test Cases
- AXMEDIS Framework Specification
- AXMEDIS reports on basic enabling technologies
- Content Model and Managing, MPEG-21, authoring, etc.
- Content indexing and querying
- Content processing, Composition and formatting, workflow
- Content Protection and Supervision
- Content Sharing and Distribution via P2P
- Content Distribution via Internet
- Content Distribution via Mobile
- Content Distribution via Satellite data broadcast
- Usability issues
AXMEDIS will offer assistance and technical support to companies interested in using the AXMEDIS platform and adopting the AXMEDIS solutions. This support action will be provided through activities such as training, tutorial, consultancy, workshop, meetings, assessment and evaluation, dissemination and demonstration at conferences and fairs. Furthermore, the AXMEDIS consortium will grant the sum of 1 million Euro to companies and research institutions interested in developing real solutions by exploiting AXMEDIS technologies. This is referred to as take up actions.
It is easy and beneficial for all to gain access to the AXMEDIS technologies. Some tutorial/demonstrative events will be organised to provide better understanding of the AXMEDIS technologies with further information on the functionalities and potentialities of AXMEDIS. Business delegates may attend these events, to understand the project and to bring AXMEDIS technologies to their companies. Special training sessions and courses will be held for managers, content managers, content producers and integrators, and digital content distributors. Workshops and courses will be organised in several venues in Europe.
More details
- ICT Results feature: Removing user constraints from digital rights management (10 December 2008)
- Brochure 2006 (PDF, 6.519KB)
- Annual Report 2007 (PDF, 1.390KB)
From this report you can find a long list of links to download video, slides, reports, tutorial video, CD/DVDs, technical notes, white papers etc. - Annual Report 2006 (PDF, 640KB)
- Annual Report 2005 (PDF, 286KB)
- Presentation (PDF, 5.799KB)
- AXMEDIS Website
Administrative Details
- AXMEDIS (IST-2-511299) is an Integrated Project of the European Union's 6th Framework Programme Thematic Priority 2 (Information Society Technologies). It was submitted to the second call of the programme under the strategic objective on "Cross-media Content for Leisure and Entertainment".
- AXMEDIS started on 1 September 2004 and finished on 31 August 2008.
- The overall funding is 8.4 Million Euro. For an effective total budget of about 14 Million Euro.
- 20 partners from 7 European countries were involved in the project in different roles.
List of Participants
- Project Coordinator - Dipartimento di Sistemi e Informatica, Università Degli Studi di Firenze, Disit Lab. (DSI), Italy
- Second Major Department: Dipartimento di Italianistica, Università Degli Studi di Firenze (DIPITA), Italy
- Associazione dei Fonografici Italiani (AFI), Italy
- Fondazione Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (ANSC), Italy
- Comverse Ltd (COMVERSE), Israel
- Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland
- Eutelsat S.A. (EUTELSAT), France
- Fraunhofer Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der Angewandten Forschung E.V. (FHGIGD), Germany
- Giunti Interactive Labs S.R.L. (ILABS), Italy
- Hewlett Packard Italiana S.R.L. (HP), Italy
- On Demand Distribution Ltd (OD2), UK
- Tiscali S.P.A. (TISCALI), Italy
- Fundacio Universitat Pompeu Fabra (FUPF), Spain
- xim Ltd (XIM), UK
- Societa Consortile a Responsabilita Limitata Centro di Ricerca, Sviluppo e Studi Superiori in Sardegna (CRS4), Italy
- ACIT - Advance Concepts for Interactive Technology Gmbh (ACIT), Germany
- Sejer Representing Boards and Nathan (SEJER), France
- University of Leeds (UNIVLEEDS), UK
- The University of Reading (IRC), UK
- Consorzio Pisa Ricerche (CPR), Italy
- Exitech Srl (EXITECH), Italy
Contact Person
- Project Coordinator: Prof. Paolo Nesi, Ph.D.
- DISIT-DSI, Distributed Systems and Internet Technology Lab
- Dipartimento di Sistemi e Informatica, Università degli Studi di Firenze
- Via S. Marta, 3; 50139 Firenze, Italy
- Email: nesi AT ing.unifi.it, nesi AT dsi.unifi.it
- Web: http://www.disit.dsi.unifi.it/, http://www.dsi.unifi.it/~nesi
- Tel: +39-055-4796523 (office), +39-055-4796567 (admin)
- Fax: +39-055-4796363
- Cell: +39-335-5668674
Events in connection with AXMEDIS
- AXMEDIS 2008 - 4th International Conference on Automated Production of Cross Media Content for Multi-channel Distribution in Florence, Italy, 17-19 November 2008.
- AXMEDIS at MIPTV 2008. AXMEDIS present with a stand at the MIPTV 2008 in Cannes, France, 7-11 April 2008.
- IBC 2007 - Access to AXMEDIS Framework. AXMEDIS has been adopted and is under trial by many industrial partners, who have expressed their appreciation. According to the large demand on detailed technical information on the best product for automating content production, protection and distribution, AXMEDIS have updated and made accessible a technical note:
- AXCP platform (PDF, 355KB)
- Workshop on Cross Media Content and Sharing (Rome, Italy on 11 April 2007). This event was organised to give the possibility for industries, content providers, integrators, distributors, and cultural institutions to attend a workshop in which a presentation of AXMEDIS infrastructure and tools was given, and experts were available to discuss with the attendees their needs and requirements.