Development of a Higher-Level Multimedia Scripting Language

The Higher-Level Multimedia Scripting Language (MSL) was created to obtain a very efficient man-machine interface using real time multimedia personalized presentations. Firstly, the trends of scripting languages and needs for this kind of man-machine communication were analyzed. Then, creation of the language through several steps is described: specification of the language, creation of its syntax and semantics, creation of an interpreter, and testing. The results showed that MSL code of a presentation was significantly simplified while the time of code creation and its presentation satisfies real-time needs. These features of the language were obtained applying the abstraction of some very general functions of multimedia presentation. The created MSL code could be run on different platforms like stand alone computers (Lingo scripting language) as well as Web based applications (XML language). Testing of the prototype system proved that the language could be an efficient part of the real time multimedia systems that generate personalized multimedia presentation according to the context, available multimedia data and profile of a user.