Overview
ISO/IEC 12087-3:1995/Amd 1:1996 is an amendment to the IPI Part 3 specification (Image Interchange Facility, IIF). It extends and revises the original IIF functional specification by adding new clauses, redefining wording, and introducing detailed mechanisms for type definition, scoping, and logical views used when interchanging image and image‑related data. The amendment builds on ASN.1-based syntax to structure image content and metadata for interoperable exchange.
Key topics and technical requirements
- Segmented data stream model: The amendment defines an IIF data stream as a hierarchy of segments - each with a prolog (entity 901), body (010) and epilog (902) - enabling persistent grouping and named handles for processing.
- Attribute inheritance and management: Segments carry segment attributes (e.g., image data 301, image attributes 401, annotations 501, basic types 602, segment attributes 903) that are inherited by child segments unless explicitly overridden. Attribute types are expressed as context‑sensitive ASN.1 tag hierarchies and governed by an AttributeOccurrence mechanism (entity 912).
- Segment type constraints: A SegmentTypeDefn (entity 910) allows topology and attribute constraints (orderings, occurrences, and attribute presence/propagation rules), enabling typed segment structures and classes of segment types.
- Symbolic references and naming: The amendment formalizes NamedItems (entity 904) and a name/address space for symbolic references to definitions (image structures, types). It recommends using addressing techniques such as ISO/IEC 10031 (DOAM/DOR) to generate unique identifiers across streams and repositories.
- Logical views of image data: Segments can reference image structures (entity 201 ReferenceUnit) to create logical views that reorder or point to remote physical data without duplicating content. Reference paths must be acyclic to resolve correctly.
- Information integration and access support: The specification supports embedding or referencing external data (ASN.1 or non‑ASN.1) via EntityHandle (entity 917) and defines mechanisms (ContentsHeader, Profile, SegmentEpilog) to aid random access, paging, and profile‑based navigation.
- Extended syntax entities: The amendment expands the IIF-DF syntax entity list (images, pixel representation, attributes, annotations, basic objects), clarifying the grammar and semantics for interchange.
Applications and users
This amendment is relevant for:
- Software implementers and vendors building IPI/IIF-compliant image interchange tools, libraries, and viewers.
- Digital archives, imaging laboratories, and content management systems needing robust metadata inheritance, typed segment structures, and logical views for large image data sets.
- Standards architects and integrators combining image data across repositories (external references, DOAM addressing).
- Developers working with ASN.1-based image interchange formats who require clear semantics for segmentation, referencing, and access optimization.
Related standards
- ISO/IEC 12087-3 (IPI Part 3) - base specification for Image Interchange Facility
- ISO/IEC 12087 (IPI parts 1–2) - functional specifications referenced for semantics
- ISO/IEC 10031 (DOAM / Distinguished Object Reference) - recommended addressing for unique identifiers
Keywords: ISO/IEC 12087-3:1995/Amd 1:1996, Image Interchange Facility, IIF, IPI, ASN.1, segmentation, logical views, image metadata, segment type, image interchange.