When NMIS began in 1993, the successful completion and adoption of the Header/Descriptor for video content was identified as an important component for assisting information infrastructure developers and users to realize the potential benefits, and lessen the risk of failure. The Header/Descriptor is analogous to the ISBN code used to identify books, but the Header can identify any form of digital information, e.g., movies, software programs, or electronic books. A Header creates self-identifying bit streams, which attached descriptors describe in more detail as in the following example:

Header/Descriptor Example

______________________________________________________

Video standard is _______, display options are ______,
    
intellectual property of ______, created on ______ date,

a fee of ______ will be deducted from account ______
  
if more than ______ minutes of this program are viewed.
                                         
______________________________________________________

This capability was seen as prerequisite to the emergence of networked multimedia information services markets. Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) engineers had already designed a Header kernel and a prototype was completed in late October, 1992.[11] SMPTE, in cooperation with groups at MIT/CTPID and CMU/INI, then turned to addressing Descriptor issues, such as how to identify and protect intellectual property. Early availability of the Header/Descriptor standard was expected to make interoperability of networked multimedia information services technically feasible.

Accomplishments

In collaboration with corporate research partners, MIT/CTPID conducted experiments, identified design problems and facilitated the acceptance of a SMPTE Header/Descriptor for video content which addressed intellectual property, privacy and security requirements.

MIT/CTPID cosponsored a workshop held April 2-3, 1993, on "Technological Strategies for Protecting Intellectual Property in the Networked Multimedia Environment." The workshop brought together research from a number of fields on these issues to inform decision-making on policy alternatives. This information was passed on directly to the SMPTE Header/Descriptor Standards Working Party. The full proceedings were published by the IMA, and a summary report is currently available from MIT/CTPID.

MIT/CTPID worked to reconcile the objectives of developing the Header/Descriptor with standards, practices, and even language used in different industries. They proposed design concepts for achieving a universal header to support the integration of video, audio, graphics, and text. Multiple approaches to specifying and implementing headers were considered. The research effort supported the completion, and subsequent diffusion, of the Header/Descriptor standard.[10]

John Erickson of the Dartmouth/IML demonstrated how copyright permissions could be applied and extended in a secure, hierarchical fashion to various elements and composites in a network- deployed interactive multimedia production. Unique aspects of this work included the broad application of the permissions extension concept to multimedia presentations, consisting of heterogeneous data objects, using a uniform document format; the development of a rights encapsulation kernel, LicensIt(TM), which provided integrated support for hierarchical permissions extensions in the production environment; interactive, networked rights registration and clearance based on electronic licensing templates, integrated within the production tools; and a focus on cross-platform interoperability, with particular emphasis on heterogeneous client/server configurations. This research effort was designed to bridge the gap between proposed methods for claiming rights within documents and the realities of the production environment. [9]

Future Directions

The information gained from the MIT/CAES and other testbeds helped to encourage the rapid refinement of the Header/Descriptor. This in turn provided SMPTE with the confidence to approve the Header/Descriptor standard. In the future, independent tests should take place in other network environments, e.g., terrestrial High Definition Television broadcasting and compressed digital video distributed by cable and satellite networks.