ISO/IEC 23005-4:2011

INTERNATIONAL ISO/IEC
STANDARD 23005-4
First edition
2011-08-01
Information technology — Media context
and control —
Part 4:
Virtual world object characteristics
Technologies de l'information — Contrôle et contexte de supports —
Partie 4: Caractéristiques d'objet du monde virtuel

Reference number
©
ISO/IEC 2011
©  ISO/IEC 2011
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means,
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Published in Switzerland
ii © ISO/IEC 2011 – All rights reserved

Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction.v
1 Scope.1
2 Normative references.2
3 Terms, definitions, symbols, and abbreviated terms .2
3.1 Terms and definitions .2
3.2 Symbols and abbreviated terms .3
4 Virtual world object metadata .3
4.1 Introduction.3
4.2 Root element and top-level tools.4
4.3 Virtual world object base type .6
4.4 Virtual world object common data types .18
5 Avatar metadata.30
5.1 Introduction.30
5.2 AvatarType .31
6 Virtual object metadata.72
6.1 Introduction.72
6.2 VirtualObjectType.72
Annex A (normative) Classification Schemes .76
Annex B (informative) Virtual World Object Characteristics Schema .125
Annex C (informative) Possible usage of ISO/IEC 23005-4.126
Annex D (informative) The information on ISO 639.127
Annex E (informative) Patent statements .128
Bibliography.129

© ISO/IEC 2011 – 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 national bodies casting a vote.
ISO/IEC 23005-4 was prepared by Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology,
Subcommittee SC 29, Coding of audio, picture, multimedia and hypermedia information.
ISO/IEC 23005 consists of the following parts, under the general title Information technology — Media context
and control:
⎯ Part 1: Architecture
⎯ Part 2: Control information
⎯ Part 3: Sensory information
⎯ Part 4: Virtual world object characteristics
⎯ Part 5: Data formats for interaction devices
⎯ Part 6: Common types and tools
⎯ Part 7: Conformance and reference software
iv © ISO/IEC 2011 – All rights reserved

Introduction
ISO/IEC 23005 (MPEG-V) provides an architecture and specifies associated information representations to
enable interoperability between virtual worlds, e.g. digital content provider of a virtual world, gaming (serious),
simulation, DVD, and the real world, e.g. sensors, actuators, vision and rendering, robotics (e.g. for
revalidation), (support for) independent living social and welfare systems, banking, insurance, travel, real
estate, rights management and many others.
Virtual worlds (often referred to as 3D3C for 3D visualization and navigation and the 3Cs of Community,
Creation and Commerce) integrate existing and emerging media technologies (e.g. instant messaging, video,
3D, VR, AI, chat, voice, etc.) that allow for the support of existing and the development of new kinds of social
networks. The emergence of virtual worlds as platforms for social networking is recognized by businesses as
an important issue for at least two reasons:
1) it offers the power to reshape the way companies interact with their environments (markets, customers,
suppliers, creators, stakeholders, etc.) in a fashion comparable to the Internet;
2) it allows for the development of new (breakthrough) business models, services, applications and devices.
Each virtual world, however, has a different culture and audience making use of these specific worlds for a
variety of reasons. These differences permit users to have unique experiences.
Although realistic experiences have been achieved via devices such as 3D audio/visual devices, it is hard to
realize sensory effects only with presentation of audiovisual contents. The addition of sensory effects leads to
even more realistic experiences in the consumption of audiovisual contents. This will lead to the application of
new media for enhanced experiences of users in a more realistic sense.
Such new media will benefit from the standardization of control and sensory information which includes
sensory effect metadata, sensory device capabilities/commands, user sensory preferences, and various
delivery formats. The MPEG-V architecture can be applicable for various business models for which
audiovisual contents can be associated with sensory effects that need to be rendered on appropriate sensory
devices.
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission
(IEC) draw attention to the fact that it is claimed that compliance with this document may involve the use of
patents.
ISO and the IEC take no position concerning the evidence, validity and scope of these patent rights.
The holders of these patent rights have assured ISO and the IEC that they are willing to negotiate licences
under reasonable and non-discriminatory terms and conditions with applicants throughout the world. In this
respect, the statements of the holders of these patent rights are registered with ISO and the IEC. Information
may be obtained from the companies listed in Annex E.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent
rights other than those identified in Annex E. ISO and the IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any
or all such patent rights.
© ISO/IEC 2011 – All rights reserved v

INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO/IEC 23005-4:2011(E)

Information technology — Media context and control —
Part 4:
Virtual world object characteristics
1 Scope
This part of ISO/IEC 23005 specifies syntax and semantics of description schemes and descriptors used to
characterize a virtual world object related metadata, making it possible to migrate a virtual world object (or
only its characteristics) from one virtual world to another and/or to control a virtual world object in a virtual
world by real world devices.
The system architecture is depicted in Figure 1 and the scope of this part of ISO/IEC 23005 is highlighted.
That is, only the information representation that acts as an input to the possible Adaptation VV and Adaptation
RV/VR, as defined in ISO/IEC 23005-1, is specified in this part of ISO/IEC 23005.
NOTE The actual Adaptation VV and Adaptation RV/VR are deliberately informative and left open for industry
competition.
Figure 1 – System Architecture
© ISO/IEC 2011 – All rights reserved 1

2 Normative references
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the specification 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/IEC 15938-5, Information technology — Multimedia content description interface — Part 5: Multimedia
description schemes
ISO/IEC 21000-5, Information technology — Multimedia framework (MPEG-21) — Part 5: Rights Expression
Language
ISO/IEC 23005-6, Information technology — Media context and control — Part 6: Common types and tools
3 Terms, definitions, symbols, and abbreviated terms
3.1 Terms and definitions
For the purpose of this document, the terms and definitions given in ISO/IEC 23005-6 and the following apply.
3.1.1
avatar
entity that can be used as a (visual) representation of the user inside the virtual environments
EXAMPLE A player's representation in the video game and human or fantastic representations of a person's self in
non-gaming online worlds.
3.1.2
avatar metadata
defines the description schemes and descriptors to represent avatars (3.1.1)
3.1.3
Extensible Markup Language
set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form
3.1.4
Rights expression language
machine-readable language that declares rights and permissions
3.1.5
Uniform Resource Identifier
compact string of characters for identifying an abstract or physical resource
3.1.6
Uniform Resource Locator
compact string representation for a resource available via the Internet
3.1.7
virtual object
entity that is any (visual) object except for avatars in the virtual environment
3.1.8
virtual object metadata
defines the description schemes and descriptors to represent virtual objects (3.1.7)
2 © ISO/IEC 2011 – All rights reserved

3.1.9
virtual world object
entity that includes avatars and virtual objects in the virtual world
3.1.10
virtual world object metadata
defines the description schemes and descriptors to represent virtual world objects (3.1.9)
3.2 Symbols and abbreviated terms
For the purposes of this document, the following symbols and abbreviated terms apply.
MPEG-21: multimedia framework (ISO/IEC 21000-5)
MPEG-7: multimedia content description interface (ISO/IEC 15938)
REL: rights expression language
URI: Uniform Resource Identifier
URL: Uniform Resource Locator
XML: Extensible Markup Language
4 Virtual world object metadata
4.1 Introduction
A specificity of Virtual Environments (VEs) with respect to other multimedia applications consists in the
representation of virtual world objects inside the environment. The "virtual world object” can be classified into
two types: avatars and virtual objects. An avatar can be used as a (visual) representation of the user inside
the environment. These virtual world objects serve different purposes:
- characterize various kinds of objects within the VE,
- provide an interaction with the VE.
In general, creating an object is a time consuming task. Even though some components of the object may be
related to the virtual environment (e.g. the avatar wearing a medieval suite in a contemporary style VE may be
inappropriate), there is a real need of being able to create the object once and import/use it in different VEs. In
addition, it should be possible to control the object from external applications (e.g. the emotions one avatar
exposes in the VE can be obtained by processing the associated user's physiological sensors).
The current standard proposes an XML Schema, called Virtual World Object Characteristics XSD, for
describing an object by considering three main requirements:
- it should be possible to easily create importers/exporters from various VEs implementations,
- it should be easy to control an object within an VE,
- it should be possible to modify a proprietary template (specific to the virtual world) of the object by
using data contained in Virtual World Object Characteristics file.
The proposed schema deals only with metadata and does not include representation of the geometry, sound,
scent, animation or texture. To represent the latter, references to media resources are used.
There is a base type of attributes and characteristics of the virtual world objects which is shared by both
avatars and the virtual objects.
© ISO/IEC 2011 – All rights reserved 3

The base type of the virtual world object characteristics is composed of following type of data:
- Identity: contains an identification descriptors,
- Sound: contains sound resources and the related properties,
- Scent: contains scent resources and the related properties,
- Control: contains a set of descriptors for controlling motion features of an object such as translation,
orientation and scaling.
- Event: contains a set of descriptors providing input events from a mouse, keyboard and etc.,
- Behaviour Model: contains a set of descriptors defining the behavior information of the object
according to input events.
- id: contains a unique identifier for identifying individual virtual world object information.,
The virtual world object base type is inherited to both avatar metadata and virtual object metadata to extend
the specific aspects of each of metadata.
4.2 Root element and top-level tools
4.2.1 Introduction
This Subclause specifies the root element and the top-level tools which can follow root element in virtual world
object characteristics information. The root element is the only element which can appear as the topmost
element when the world object characteristics information specified in this Part of ISO/IEC 23005 is
instantiated. The top-level tools are defined as the elements which are allowed to appear as the topmost
element within the root element.
4.2.2 Syntax








minOccurs="0"/>









maxOccurs="unbounded"/>


4 © ISO/IEC 2011 – All rights reserved

4.2.3 Semantics
Name Description
VWOCInfo The root element that serves as the topmost element in the virtual world
object characteristics description.
VWOCInfoType
The root type provides basic structure that the virtual world object
characteristics information description should follow through the root
element.
AvatarList
Optional wrapper element that serves as the placeholder for the list of
avatar characteristics information.
VirtualObjectList Optional wrapper element that serves as the placeholder for the list of
virtual object characteristics information.
AvatarListType
Wrapper element type which allows multiple occurrences of avatar
characteristics information.
Avatar Specifies the description of avatar characteristics information.
AvatarBaseType AvatarBaseType is a type providing a characteristic description of an
individual avatar.
VirtualObjectList Wrapper element type which allows multiple occurrences of virtual object
Type
characteristics information.
VirtualObject
Specifies the description of virtual object characteristics information.
VirtualObjectBaseT
VirtualObjectBaseType is a type providing a characteristic description
ype
of an individual virtual object.

4.2.4 Examples
The following shows two use cases of VWOCInfo element, which are for listing avatar characteristics
information and for listing virtual object characteristics information.
The first example shows the case when the VWOCInfo is used for AvatarList.



. . .



The second example shows the case when the VWOCInfo is used for VirtualObjectList.



. . .



Note that these examples are only showing a part of the complete XML description to show the use of the root
element, VWOCInfo, with the AvatarList and the VirtualObjectList.

© ISO/IEC 2011 – All rights reserved 5

4.3 Virtual world object base type
4.3.1 Introduction
This Subclause defines a complex type of VWOBaseType, which the avatar characteristics information and
virtual object characteristics information should inherit.
4.3.2 Syntax
Diagram

Source























6 © ISO/IEC 2011 – All rights reserved



Source












4.3.5.2 Semantics
Name Definition
IdentificationType Describes the identification of a virtual world object.
UserID Contains the user identification associated to the virtual world object
Ownership Describes the ownership of the virtual world object which shall be based
on the type “AgentType” defined in subclause 7.4.2 of
ISO/IEC 15938-5:2003.
Rights Describes the rights of the virtual world object which shall be based on
the type “License” defined in ISO/IEC 21000-5:2004.
Credits Describes the contributors of the virtual object in chronological order
which shall be based on the type “AgentType” defined in subclause 7.4.2
of ISO/IEC 15938-5:2003.
st
Note: The 1 listed credit describes an original author of a virtual world
object. The subsequent credits represent the list of the contributors of
the virtual world object chronologically.
name Describes the name of the virtual world object.
family Describes the relationship with other virtual world objects.

4.3.6 VWOSoundListType
4.3.6.1 Syntax
Diagram

Source







4.3.6.2 Semantics
Name Definition
VWOSoundListType Wrapper element type which allows multiple occurrences of sound effects
associated to the virtual world object.
Sound Describes a sound effect associated to the virtual world object.

© ISO/IEC 2011 – All rights reserved 9

4.3.7 VWOScentListType
4.3.7.1 Syntax
Diagram

Source







4.3.7.2 Semantics
Name Definition
VWOScentListType Wrapper element type which allows multiple occurrences of sound effects
associated to the virtual world object.
Scent Describes a scent effect associated to the virtual world object.

4.3.8 VWOControlListType
4.3.8.1 Syntax
Diagram

Source







4.3.8.2 Semantics
Name Definition
VWOControlListType Wrapper element type which allows multiple occurrences of the controls
associated to the virtual world object.
Control Describes a control associated to the virtual world object.

10 © ISO/IEC 2011 – All rights reserved

4.3.9 VWOEventListType
4.3.9.1 Syntax
Diagram

Source







4.3.9.2 Semantics
Name Definition
VWOEventListType Wrapper element type which allows multiple occurrences of the input events
associated to the virtual world object.
Event Describes an input event associated to the virtual world object.

4.3.10 VWOBehaviorModelListType
4.3.10.1 Syntax
Diagram

Source







4.3.10.2 Semantics
Name Definition
VWOBehaviorMode Wrapper element type which allows multiple occurrences of the behavior
lListType models associated to the virtual world object.
BehaviorModel Describes a behavior model associated to the virtual world object.

© ISO/IEC 2011 – All rights reserved 11

4.3.11 VWOSoundType
4.3.11.1 Syntax
Diagram

Source









use="optional"/>


4.3.11.2 Semantics
Name Definition
VWOSoundType A type that contains the descriptions of a sound effect associated to the
virtual world object.
SoundResources Element that contains a link to sound file, usually MP4 file.
URL
soundID A unique identifier of the object sound.
intensity The strength(volume) of the sound
duration The length of time that the sound lasts.
loop A playing option to describe the number of repetition (default value: 1, 0:
indefinite repetition, 1:once, 2: twice, …, n: n times)
name The name of the sound.
4.3.11.3 Examples
This example shows the description of the sound information associated to an object with the following semantics. The
sound resource whose name is “BigAlarm” is saved at “http://sounddb.com/alarmsound_0001.wav” and the value of
soundID, its identifier is “SoundID3” The length of the sound is 30 seconds. The sound shall be played with the volume of
intensity = “50 %” repeatedly.
name="BigAlarm">
http://sounddb.com/alarmsound_0001.wav

12 © ISO/IEC 2011 – All rights reserved

4.3.12 VWOScentType
4.3.12.1 Syntax
Diagram

source












4.3.12.2 Semantics
Name Definition
VWOScentType A type that contains the descriptions of a scent effect associated to the virtual world
object.
ScentResources Element that contains a link to a scent file.
URL
scentID A unique identifier of the object scent.
intensity The strength of the scent
duration The length of time that the scent lasts.
loop A playing option to describe the number of repetition (default value: 1, 0: indefinite
repetition, 1:once, 2: twice, …, n: n times)
name The name of the scent.
4.3.12.3 Examples
This example shows the description of the scent information associated to the object. The scent resource whose name is
“rose” is saved at “http://scentdb.com/flower_0001.sct” and the value of scentID, its identifier is “ScentID5” The intensity
shall be 20 % with duration of 20 seconds.

http://scentdb.com/flower_0001.sct

© ISO/IEC 2011 – All rights reserved 13

4.3.13 VWOControlType
4.3.13.1 Syntax
Diagram

source


















4.3.13.2 Semantics
Name Definition
VWOControlType A type that contains the descriptions of a control associated to the virtual world
object.
MotionFeatureControl Set of elements that control position, orientation and scale of the virtual object.
Element Information
MotionFeatureControlType A type that provides three types of controls such as
position control, orientation control, and scaling
control.
Position The position of the object in the scene with 3D
floating point vector (x, y, z).
Orientation The orientation of the object in the scene with 3D
floating point vector as an Euler angle (yaw, pitch,
roll).
ScaleFactor The scale of the object in the scene expressed as
3D floating point vector (Sx, Sy, Sz).

controlID A unique identifier of the control.

14 © ISO/IEC 2011 – All rights reserved

NOTE 1 If two controllers are associated to the same object but on different parts of the object and if these parts exist
hierarchical structures (parent and children relationship) then the controllers does perform the relative motion of the
children. If the controllers are associated with the same part, the controller does the scaling or similar effects for the entire
object.
NOTE 2 The reference coordinate system of this part is the right handed coordinate system.
4.3.13.3 Examples
This example shows the description of object control information with the following semantics. The motion feature control
of changing a position is given and its value of controlID, its identifier is “CtrlID7” The object shall be positioned at
X=”122.0”, Y=”150.0” and Z=”40.0”.



122.0
150.0
40.0



4.3.14 VWOEventType
4.3.14.1 Syntax
Diagram

Source




maxOccurs="unbounded"/>









© ISO/IEC 2011 – All rights reserved 15










4.3.14.2 Semantics
Name Definition
VWOEventType A type that contains the descriptions of an input event associated to the virtual
world object.
Mouse Describes a mouse event as a reference to a classification scheme (CS) term. A
CS that may be used for this purpose is the MouseEventCS defined in A.2.1.1 in
this part.
Keyboard Describes a keyboard event defined by a key code and its related event.
keyCode Describes the corresponding key code (0-255) of each key.
event Describes the keyboard event (pressed, clicked, or released).
UserDefinedInput Describes an input event defined by user.
eventID A unique identifier of the event.

4.3.14.3 Examples
EXAMPLE 1 This example shows the description of an input event with the following semantics. The mouse as an
input device produces new input value, “click.” For identifying this input, the value of eventID is “EventID1.”


urn:mpeg:mpeg-v:01-VWOC-MouseEventCS-NS:Click


EXAMPLE 2 This example shows the description of an input event with the following semantics. The Keyboard as an
input device produces a new input value which is pressing the key code of “65”. For identifying this input, the value of
eventID is “EventID2.”





EXAMPLE 3 This example shows the description of an input event with the following semantics. The Keyboard
produces a new input event of pressing the two keys “shift” + “a”. One of the keyboard events is the pressing event,
“pressed”, of the “shift” key whose code is “16”, and the other one is the pressing event, “pressed”, of the “a” key whose
code is “65”. For identifying this input, the value of eventID is “EventID3.”






16 © ISO/IEC 2011 – All rights reserved

4.3.15 VWOBehaviourModelType
4.3.15.1 Syntax
Diagram

Source























4.3.15.2 Semantics
Name Description
VWOBehaviorModelType A type that describes a container of an input event and the associated output object
behaviors.
BehaviorInput An input event to make an object behavior.
BehaviorInputType Refers to an input event ID
Element Information
eventIDRef Input event ID
BehaviorOutput Object behavior output according to an input event
© ISO/IEC 2011 – All rights reserved 17

BehaviorOutputType Refers to a list of object behavioral outputs.
Element Information
soundIDRefs It refers soundIDs to provide sound effects of the object.
scentIDRefs It refers scentIDs to provide scent effects of the object.
animationIDRefs It refers animationIDs to provide animation clips of the
object.
controlIDRefs It refers controlIDs to provide controls of the object.

4.3.15.3 Examples
This example shows the description of a VWO behavior model with the following semantics. If eventID =”EventID1” is
given as BehaviorInput, then BehaviorOutput shall be executed related to soundID=”SoID5” and animationID=”AniID4”




4.4 Virtual world object common data types
This Subclause specifies syntax and semantics of the common datatypes for avatar and virtual object
metadata. To be specific, basic data types which are used as basic building blocks, such as haptic properties,
animation description, and other simple data types.
4.4.1 VWOHapticPropertyType
4.4.1.1 Syntax
Diagram

Source










18 © ISO/IEC 2011 – All rights reserved

4.4.1.2 Semantics
Name Description
VWOHapticPropertyType A type that contains the descriptions of a haptic property associated to the virtual
world object.
MaterialProperty This type contains parameters characterizing material properties.
DynamicForceEffect This type contains parameters characterizing force effects.
TactileProperty This type contains parameters characterizing tactile properties.
hapticID A unique identifier of the haptic property.

4.4.1.3 MaterialPropertyType
4.4.1.3.1 Syntax
Diagram

Source


...