Software Requirements Specification

vyasa
Prepared by Fred Eaker
2006 November
Table of Contents
Revision History..............................................................................................................................4
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................5
1.1 Purpose..................................................................................................................................5
1.2 Document Conventions.........................................................................................................5
1.3 Intended Audience and Reading Suggestions.......................................................................5
1.4 Project Scope.........................................................................................................................5
2. Overall Description......................................................................................................................5
2.1 Product Perspective...............................................................................................................5
2.2 Product Features....................................................................................................................6
2.3 Operating Environment.........................................................................................................6
2.4 Design and Implementation Constraints...............................................................................6
2.5 User Documentation..............................................................................................................6
3.0 System Features.........................................................................................................................7
3.1 Digital Asset Loading (DAL)................................................................................................7
3.1.1 Description and Priority................................................................................................7
3.1.2 Stimulus/Response Sequences.......................................................................................7
3.1.3 Functional Requirements...............................................................................................7
3.2 Digital Asset Analysis (DAA)..............................................................................................7
3.2.1 Description and Priority................................................................................................7
3.1.2 Stimulus/Response Sequence........................................................................................7
3.1.3 Functional Requirements...............................................................................................8
3.3 Digital Asset Repository (DAR)...........................................................................................8
3.3.1 Description and Priority................................................................................................8
3.3.2 Stimulus/Response Sequence........................................................................................9
3.3.3 Functional Requirements...............................................................................................9
4.0 External Interface Requirements................................................................................................9
4.1 User Interfaces......................................................................................................................9
4.2 Hardware Interfaces..............................................................................................................9
4.3 Software Interfaces................................................................................................................9
4.4 Communications Interfaces.................................................................................................10
5. Other Nonfunctional Requirements...........................................................................................10
5.1 Performance Requirements.................................................................................................10
5.2 Safety Requirements...........................................................................................................10
5.3 Security Requirements........................................................................................................10
5.4 Software Quality Attributes................................................................................................10
5.4.1 Understandability........................................................................................................10
5.4.2 Completeness...............................................................................................................10
5.4.3 Conciseness, Consistency and Efficiency...................................................................10
5.4.4 Portability....................................................................................................................11
5.4.5 Maintainability............................................................................................................11
5.4.6 Reliability....................................................................................................................11
5.4.7 Security........................................................................................................................11
6. Other Requirements...................................................................................................................11
6.1 Internationalization.............................................................................................................11
Appendix A: Glossary....................................................................................................................11
Appendix B: Analysis Models.......................................................................................................12
Data Flow Diagram (DFD).......................................................................................................12
Class Diagrams..........................................................................................................................13
Appendix C: Issues List.................................................................................................................14
Revision History
Name Date Reason for Change Version

Fred Eaker
October 2006 Creation 1.0
[email protected]

Fred Eaker
November 2006 JSR-170 1.1.0
[email protected]

Fred Eaker
December 2006 Open-source Java 1.1.1
[email protected]

vyasa Software Requirements Specification: Revision History 4

1. Introduction

1.1 Purpose

This document specifies the software requirements for the vyasa digital library application.

1.2 Document Conventions

The vyasa digital library application is frequently referred to as “the system.”

Metadex refers to the combination of metadata and indexes generated by digital asset analysis
(see section 3.2).

1.3 Intended Audience and Reading Suggestions

This document describe the project scope for software developers. Readers should also be
familiar with the JSR-170 (Java Content Repository) API specification1.

1.4 Project Scope

vyasa is a digital library application that incorporates the functions of digital asset and
document management systems. Its primary purpose is to facilitate information retrieval and
knowledge discovery by providing comprehensive, automatic metadata generation through
ontological reasoning and semantic analysis.
Versioning, workflow management, transactions, locking and digital rights management are
currently beyond the scope of this project.

2. Overall Description

2.1 Product Perspective

vyasa leverages the features of a variety of asset management functions to create a

comprehensive digital library solution. The strength of the project lies in the implementation and
cohesion between its individual parts. These parts work together to create a flexible knowledge
discovery tool that reveals the latent knowledge contained in a collection of digital assets.

1 http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=170

vyasa Software Requirements Specification: 2. Overall Description 5

2.2 Product Features

The features of the system fall into 4 main divisions: loading, retrieval, search and analysis.
The system loads any type of digital asset to analyze it and automatically generate metadex.
Analysis results are confirmed by the user, and once complete, the original digital asset as well
as its associated metadex are stored in a repository. Metadex supports search and retrieval
through the JSR-170 API (Level 2).
The system conforms to JSR-170 Level 2 but does not provide the following optional features:
transactions, locking and versioning.

2.3 Operating Environment

The system is developed in the Java programming language. It runs on any hardware and
operating system supported by the latest Java Virtual Machines.
Sun Microsystems open-sourced the Java platform in November 2006.2 Wikipedia currently lists
6 implementations of Java.3 Developers should identify any possible incompatibilities across
these implementations and Apple's implementation for OS X.

2.4 Design and Implementation Constraints

vyasa is an open source project and will be licensed under an Open Source Initiative approved
“protective” license4. The exact open source license to be used by the system is not known at this
time. According to the Free Software Foundation, an application that uses many different open
source components under different licenses requires an analysis of those components and their
respective licenses.5 Developers should ensure that the licenses of open source components are
compatible6 to make this analysis easier (see section 5.4.2).

2.5 User Documentation

User documentation is delivered as a PDF manual and in-application contextual help.

2 http://www.sun.com/smi/Press/sunflash/2006-11/sunflash.20061113.1.xml
3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_%28programming_language%29#Java_Implementations
4 As defined by Mark Webbink in his article “Understanding Open Source Software”
http://www.nswscl.org.au/journal/51/Mark_H_Webbink.html
5 http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#ManyDifferentLicenses
6 http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#WhatIsCompatible

vyasa Software Requirements Specification: 2. Overall Description 6

3.0 System Features

3.1 Digital Asset Loading (DAL)

3.1.1 Description and Priority

DAL functions handle the process of loading multiple types of digital assets prior to
analysis.
Priority Level: Low
3.1.2 Stimulus/Response Sequences
1. User signals the system that they would like to load a digital asset into the
repository.
2. System responds by presenting the user with an interface for loading a single
digital asset.
3. User selects a local or remote digital asset to be loaded.
4. System informs the user if the digital asset is unreadable.
5. System passes the readable digital asset to the digital asset analysis (DAA)
process.
3.1.3 Functional Requirements
DAL-1: Provide the user with an interface to point to a local or remote digital asset.
DAL-2: Verify the existence and readability of the asset. Inform user if digital asset is
unreadable.
DAL-3: Save the asset in a temporary storage location and create a programmatic
reference to its location.
DAL-4: Pass the asset to the digital asset analysis process.

3.2 Digital Asset Analysis (DAA)

3.2.1 Description and Priority

DAA functions handle the analysis of digital assets and the generation of their metadex.
Priority Level: High

vyasa Software Requirements Specification: 3.0 System Features 7

 3.1.2 Stimulus/Response Sequence
1. Receive a digital asset that needs analysis.
2. Determine the type of digital asset that is being analyzed (document, image,
audio, video).
3. Based on the asset type, perform an analysis to determine: 1) its contents and
properties, 2) relationships to assets already in the repository and 3) updates to the
metadex of the assets already in the repository reflecting the existence of the new
asset.
4. Present the results of analysis to the user for confirmation and provides methods
for manually entering metadex information not found during analysis.
5. Send the digital asset and its metadex to the digital asset repository along with ay
updates to existing assets to reflect the existence of the new asset.
3.1.3 Functional Requirements
DAA-1: Determine the type of digital asset that is begin analyzed (document, image,
audio, or video) using Magic DB.7
DAA-2: Based on asset type, perform an analysis of the asset's contents and properties.

Asset Type Index Metadata

document full-text, semantic Dublin Core, taxonomy

image Dublin Core, EXIF, TIFF, folksonomy

audio Dublin Core, ID3, APE, Vorbis, folksonomy

video Dublin Core, folksonomy

other full-text, semantic Dublin Core, folksonomy

(if possible)

DAA-3: Provide the user with an interface to 1) verify the accuracy of the automatically
generated metadex and 2) manually enter or upload data into the metadex.
DAS-4: Pass the asset and its metadex to the digital asset repository.

7 http://magicdb.org/

vyasa Software Requirements Specification: 3.0 System Features 8

3.3 Digital Asset Repository (DAR)

3.3.1 Description and Priority

DAR provides storage, retrieval and query functions for digital assets and associated
metadex.
Priority Level: High
3.3.2 Stimulus/Response Sequence
1. Store, retrieve, update and query digital assets and metadex.
3.3.3 Functional Requirements
DAR-1: Store digital assets and associated metadex in the repository.
DAR-2: Provide methods to search across metadex.
DAR-3: Allow updates to be made to digital assets and their metadex (versioning is
beyond scope).

4.0 External Interface Requirements

4.1 User Interfaces

Detailed user interface requirements have been purposefully omitted from this document.
A separate user interface specification for the system's default GUI will be created.
The system's user interface is intended to be customizable by any designer or developer
that chooses to do so. This flexibility is accomplished by ensuring that content and
presentation remain completely separate through the model-view-controller (MVC)
design pattern. Product branding will also be supported with the use of custom graphics.

4.2 Hardware Interfaces

All hardware interfaces are handled by the Java Virtual Machine.

4.3 Software Interfaces

Conformance to Level 2 of JSR-170.

vyasa Software Requirements Specification: 4.0 External Interface Requirements 9

4.4 Communications Interfaces

The JSR-API will be the sole interface for with the repository. Providing an additional
web service communication layer is currently beyond scope.

5. Other Nonfunctional Requirements

5.1 Performance Requirements

The performance of digital asset indexing and searching is measured by response time and
precision. Performance in document retrieval is measured by several formulas specific to the
science of information retrieval.8
The performance of browsing and displaying is measured by response time and is heavily
influenced by user perception.
There are currently no benchmarks available for response time or precision. See Appendix C.

5.2 Safety Requirements

There are no safety requirements.

5.3 Security Requirements

Security of the copyright-protected content that may be stored in the system, known as digital
rights management, is currently beyond the scope of this project.

5.4 Software Quality Attributes

5.4.1 Understandability
Application code and comments should be written descriptively. The names of classes,
methods and variables should be self-descriptive. Methods and classes will be
commented to detail their purpose.
5.4.2 Completeness
All external libraries including their respective licenses should be documented.
5.4.3 Conciseness, Consistency and Efficiency

8 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_retrieval#Performance_measures

vyasa Software Requirements Specification: 5. Other Nonfunctional Requirements 10

 Application code will be reviewed regularly to remove redundancy, reduce complexity
and increase efficiency.
5.4.4 Portability
Testing across multiple platforms (Windows, OS X, Linux) and implementations of the
Java platform should ensure that code and external libraries are not platform or
implementation-dependent.
5.4.5 Maintainability
Application code will be cohesive and have easily recognizable functionality. Classes
will be abstract enough to facilitate changes in data structures. Class and function
modularity should be implemented to avoid the need for major refactoring.
5.4.6 Reliability
Checked exception handling is highly recommend. Extensive testing is also required.
5.4.7 Security
See section 5.3.

6. Other Requirements

6.1 Internationalization

Digital assets and their metadex, especially text documents, may originate from any location in
the world. Internationalized analysis, search and display will be supported through the use of
Unicode and through the separation of content and presentation. More research needs to be done
on this requirement to ensure that the application is designed appropriately. See Appendix C.

Appendix A: Glossary
DAA—digital asset analysis; a function that involves collection of data about the digital asset
(metadata) and, if the asset is a text document, various indexes that identify its contents (full-text,
semantic, ontological).
DAL—digital asset loading; a function that facilitates the selection and loading of digital assets.
DAR—digital asset repository; stores digital assets along with their metadex.

vyasa Software Requirements Specification: Appendix A: Glossary 11

digital asset—any form of text and/or media that have been formatted as a binary source.9
metadex—a combination of metadata and indexes used to identify and search digital assets.
repository—a central place where data is stored and maintained; it can be either remote or local
to the user or system.

Appendix B: Analysis Models

Data Flow Diagram (DFD)

The following data flow diagram represents the entire system. The scope of this document is
represented by the light red box encompassing processes 1-5. The user interface DFD
(represented by a light blue box) is included to give a broader view of the system until a formal
user interface specification is created.

9 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_asset

vyasa Software Requirements Specification: Appendix B: Analysis Models 12

Class Diagrams

A DigitalAsset object is composed of a set of Format

objects and a set of Metadata objects.
The Metadata object is composed of a
MetadataField object and its corresponding value.
MetadataField objects consist of a URI and label.
The Format object represents multiple presentations of a
digital asset. For example, a digital asset could be
represented as XML or XHTML, WAV or MP3 as well as
TIFF or JPG. Formats not only share the metadata of their
parent digital asset, but also have their own specific
metadata. For example, a digital asset that has dc:type =
Image could have multiple formats where dc:format =
tiff (original) and dc:format = jpeg (thumbnail).

This class model is mapped and implemented into the following

relational database model:
These models demonstrates the follow attributes:
 A particular metadata URI and label does not change
between digital assets or formats, only the actual
metadata values.
 A digital asset or format can be assigned multiple values
of the same metadata (i.e., multiple authors, languages,
etc).
The models described above are represented below in a tree-
structure as required by JSR-170:

vyasa Software Requirements Specification: Appendix B: Analysis Models 13

In this model, digital assets are child nodes of the root node. The metadata of the digital asset is
represented as multi-value properties. Formats are child nodes of the digital asset and their
metadata are multi-value properties. The value property of a format node is not multi-value
(format as a same-name sibling handles the possibility of multiple formats).

Appendix C: Issues List

Issue Name Description Priority
Research options for accommodating multiple languages in
Internationalization High
indexing, searching and user input.
Maintain a list of all external libraries and their respective licenses.
Contact the Free Software Foundation and/or the Open Source
Software license Middle
Initiative to determine what licenses are compatible and what
license would work for this project.
A study of usability and an evaluation of the user interfaces of other
User interface specification Middle
document management systems will be useful.
Research the various implementations of the Java platform to
Java implementation research Middle
determine what discrepancies need to be considered.
Evaluate other document management systems to determine their
Performance requirements Low
level of performance and what can be expected of this project.

vyasa Software Requirements Specification: Appendix C: Issues List 14