OBJECT MODEL FOR HYPERMEDIA APPLICATIONS

To illustrate how hypermedia applications are developed, details of a multimedia document architecture are first introduced, including the p hysical and logical structures of hypermedia, and its temporal require ments. The MH object classes of the Multimedia and Hypermedia informat ion coding Expert Group (MHEG), an ISO standard, are then introduced i n view of the heterogeneity of applications and platforms available. W ith reference to the latter, and an augmented Petri net model, we pres ent a formal definition of the Multimedia Hypermedia Petri-Net model ( MHPN). Through this proposed model, issues of authoring, rendering and the interaction of multimedia information (i.e. spatial-temporal rela tionships, stoppage, reverse display of a dynamic representation, and others, such as coauthoring and networking) can all be implemented. Mo reover, based on the MHPN model. we describe an experimental object-or iented multimedia information system, called the Petri net Object Info rmation System (POIS). We believe this offers considerable potential f or the development of distributed hypermedia applications.