Industry Standardization
May 24, 2006
Agenda
eBook Technology Inc. Introduction
eBook World View
Unified OEBPS Container Format Working Group
OEBPS Working Group
Demonstration
Q&A
2
Technology Genesis
Founded in 1996:
In 2000, acquired by:
Formed in 2004 to take technology forward:
3
Technology Genesis
ETI Founders
Garth Conboy, President
VP Software Engineering, SoftBook Press
General Manager, Gemstar eBook Group Limited
John Rivlin, CEO
VP Server Systems, SoftBook Press
CTO, Gemstar - TV Guide International
4
eBook Technology Overview
High-level System Architecture
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eBook World View
An industry-generic definition:
“An eBook is a book in an electronic form.”
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eBook World View
Is this an eBook?
Moby Dick
Chapter 1
loomings
Call me Ishmael. Some years
ago – never mind how long
precisely – having little or
no money in my purse, and
nothing particular to interest
me on shore, I thought I
would sail a little and see the
watery part of the world. It is
a way I have of driving off
the spleen, and regulating
the circulation.
7
eBook World View
The experience of an eBook extends
beyond the image on the screen.
The same attributes that
generate an immersive
reading experience also
produce a high-
productivity learning
It’s how you hold it device.
It’s where you read it
It’s ease of operation
It’s the entire aesthetic experience of reading
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eBook World View
What are eBooks?
Easy to read screens
Ergonomic design
Light weight
Long battery life
100% optimized for reading and data display
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eBook World View
US Air Force
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eBook World View
K-12 Textbook
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eBook World View
Quiz
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IDPF Industry Survey
97% rated eBook cost as very important or important
92% rated ability to move content between reading as
very important or important
84% rated content breath as very important
“We need to get the various DRMs into a universal
format. I want to be able to use my eBooks on any
device I choose and we should have limited ability to
lend them to friends.”
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Common OEBPS Container WG
Current Industry Problems
1. Purveyors of eBook content generate multiple eBook
formats when providing content to multiple eBook
platforms or through multiple channels (e.g. MS Reader,
eReader.com, MobiPocket, ETI).
2. OEBPS Reading Systems generally start with similar
"source" documents (the OEBPS package and document
files) but require platform-specific processing and/or
DRM-wrapping before delivery.
3. Content flow to eBook platforms is negatively impacted
due to time and expense.
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Common OEBPS Container WG
Current Industry Problems (cont.)
4. Sparse choices or content drive down consumer interest.
5. Content-consumers receive/purchase platform-targeted
eBooks, which limits their ability to move the content from
one Reading System to another
6. Consumer perception is negatively impacted due to lack
of malleability and fear of platform death.
Container effort should help address 1 - 6
Further aided by OEBPS effort
Subsequent DRM effort needed to fully solve 5 & 6
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Common OEBPS Container WG
Unified OEBPS Container Format Working Group
Mission
Standardize a unified (across Reading Systems) Open
eBook Publication Structure (OEBPS) container format.
Scope
Limited to the adoption/creation of the OEBPS unified
container format standard and sample implementations
thereof.
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Common OEBPS Container WG
Solutions
Standardize a unified OEBPS container format.
Publishers and other content creators will produce
only this format for entry into the distribution and/or
sales channels.
As publishers gain confidence they will allow sale
of content (perhaps after platform-targeting and/or
DRM-wrapping) into Reading Systems that are
generally believed to render OEBPS with “viable”
fidelity.
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Common OEBPS Container WG
Solutions (Cont.)
Communication of DRM requirements can be accomplished
via various mechanisms (note that the standardization of
such mechanisms is not within scope):
Contractually, as defined between publisher and
distributors/resellers
Electronically, but separately from the content container, as
defined between publishers and distributors/resellers
Included in the container in an agreed-upon rights language
The latter of these may be a laudable goal, but would be
time consuming (effort, agreement, lawyers) to accomplish
– the initial container effort should assume one of the first
two, but should do nothing to prevent future use of
container resident DRM.
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Common OEBPS Container WG
Solutions (Cont.)
Participants in the distribution and/or sales channel will be
responsible for required platform targeting and/or DRM
wrapping, if any.
Interchange of device-targeted or DRM-wrapped versions
of eBook content produced from the unified container is not
within scope.
Content that is not secured may be exchanged between
Reading Systems that natively support the Container
format.
Content interoperability between Reading Systems is a
high-level goal. Exchange of non-secured content between
Reading Systems is a step toward this goal.
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Common OEBPS Container WG
OCF: OEBPS Container Format
OCF is a general container technology that can be used
for other content types, not just OEBPS.
OCF is upwardly compatible with the container
technology used in OASIS’ ODF 1.0.
Future versions of ODF may adopt OCF.
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Common OEBPS Container WG
OEBPS Publication in File System
Great Expectations.opf
cover.html
chapters/
chapter01.html
chapter02.html
… HTML and other files for the
remaining chapters …
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Common OEBPS Container WG
OEBPS Publication in OCF Abstract Container
META-INF/
container.xml
[manifest.xml]
[metadata.xml]
[signatures.xml]
[encryption.xml]
[rights.xml]
OEBPS/
Great Expectations.opf
cover.html
chapters/
chapter01.html
chapter02.html
… HTML and other files for the
remaining chapters …
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Common OEBPS Container WG
OEBPS Publication in ZIP Container
mimetype
META-INF/
container.xml
[manifest.xml]
[metadata.xml]
[signatures.xml]
[encryption.xml]
[rights.xml]
OEBPS/
Great Expectations.opf
cover.html
chapters/
chapter01.html
chapter02.html
… HTML and other files for the
remaining chapters … 23
Common OEBPS Container WG
Possible container.xml
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Common OEBPS Container WG
OEBPS Publication in ZIP Container With Alternate
PDF Rendition
mimetype
META-INF/
container.xml
[manifest.xml]
[metadata.xml]
[signatures.xml]
[encryption.xml]
[rights.xml]
OEBPS/
Great Expectations.opf
… same as in previous version …
PDF/
Great Expectations.pdf
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Common OEBPS Container WG
Possible container.xml With Alternate Rendition
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Common OEBPS Container WG
Working Group Status
Working Group chartered November 7, 2005
Requirements document published February 22, 2006
Version 0.6 Working Draft published April 25, 2006
Version 0.91 of Draft Specification being reviewed now
Version 1.0 of Draft Specification expected to enter
approval process in June 2006
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Common OEBPS Container WG
Working Group Contributors & Supporters
Random House Simon & Schuster
iRex Technologies Dolphin Computer Access
Ball State University Apex Publishing
Mobipocket Follett
Benetech/Bookshare.org Houghton Mifflin
Adobe Systems OpenReader Consortium
eBook Technologies OverDrive
Hachette Book Group USA Codemantra
WGBH Harlequin
TriWorks Asia John Wiley & Sons
Motricity, eReader.com Osoft.com
DAISY Consortium ContentGuard
NetLibrary Lightning Source
Publishing Dimensions Cambridge University Press
HarperCollins Green Point Technology Services
Houghton Mifflin
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OEBPS Working Group
Current Industry Problems
1. Publishers and other creators of eBook content currently
use OEBPS as a “source” document (OEBPS package
and document files) and then conduct platform-specific
processing and/or DRM-wrapping before the content is in
a format that is displayed to an end user.
2. Since OEBPS 1.2 was developed on technologies
available at the time of its publication in August 2002, the
options for the structure and presentation of their
electronic books are now somewhat dated. This is both
limiting adoption of the specification and causing reading
system-specific modifications to be made to publication
source files.
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OEBPS Working Group
Current Industry Problems (cont.)
3. Lack of a final publication delivery format. While the
current OEBPS specification offers the ability for an
electronic book to be directly rendered by devices and
software, this does not widely occur in the industry.
Consumers therefore receive platform-targeted eBooks.
4. Insufficient control of content presentation fidelity exists in
OEBPS 1.2 to optimally and consistently render complex
or detailed content.
5. Lack of a “declarative table of contents” in OEBPS 1.2.
This both limits the accessibility and navigational
robustness of OEBPS content.
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OEBPS Working Group
OEBPS Working Group
Mission
Update OEBPS 1.2 to improve the adoption and viability of
the standard as both a cross-reading system interchange and
production format as well as a final publication delivery
format.
Scope
Limited to the adoption/creation of the next version of the
OEBPS specification and sample implementations thereof.
Produce a tightly constrained next version of OEBPS.
Align with the expected OEBPS Unified Container Format
Standard.
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OEBPS Working Group
Solution Directions & Requirements
Update the underlying specifications used by OEBPS (e.g.
XML, namespaces, CSS, XHTML).
Support embedded outline fonts.
Support vector graphics content.
Enhance OEBPS navigation support (i.e. declarative TOC).
Enhance international content support.
Maximize compatibility with prior versions of OEBPS.
Don’t “boil the ocean.”
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OEBPS Working Group
Solution Directions & Requirements (cont.)
Align with other standards organizations where possible
(e.g. W3C, OASIS, OpenReader, NewsML, TEI, Daisy).
Prefer adoption of existing standards over creation of new
ones.
Continue accessibility focus. Explore alignment with
DTBook, NIMAS, and CAST.
Retain open and patent-unencumbered status of OEBPS.
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OEBPS Working Group
Working Group Status
Working Group chartered March 27, 2006
Requirements document to be published in June 2006
1st Face-to-face meeting June 20-21 in NYC
Version 1.0 of Specification targeted for December 2006
It’s Still Early – Join the Working Group!
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OEBPS Working Group
Working Group Contributors & Supporters
Motricity/eReader.com OpenReader Consortium
iRex Technologies DAISY Consortium
Somatic Digital Codemantra
Treasures Media Harlequin
Benetech Osoft.com
eBook Technologies Cambridge University Press
Time Warner Book Group Green Point Technology Services
Random House
NCAM/WGBH
Publishing Dimensions
Simon & Schuster
Prime View International
Adobe Systems, Inc.
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Demonstration
OCF Demonstration
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