Mrml: towards an Extensible Standard for Multimedia Querying and Benchmarking Draft Proposal

In this technical report we introduce and describe the MultimediaRetrievalMarkup Language (MRML). This XML-based markup language is the basis for an open communication protocol for content-based image retrieval systems (CBIRSs). MRML was initially designed as a means of separating CBIR engines from their user interfaces. It is, however, also extensible as the basis for standardized performance evaluation procedures. Such a tool is essential for the formulation and implementation of common benchmarks for CBIR. A common protocol can also bring new dynamics to the CBIR eld|it makes the development of new systems faster and more e cient, and opens the door of the CBIR research eld to other disciplines such as Human-Computer Interaction. The MRML speci cations, as well as the rst MRML-compliant applications, are freely available and are introduced in this technical report.