Overview
ISO/IEC 23093-2:2025 defines the Discovery and Communication Application Programming Interface (API) for the Internet of Media Things (IoMT). It specifies the abstract class of a media thing (MThing) and the core APIs needed to discover other MThings on a network, establish and release connections, and support transactions (payments) between MThings using media tokens. The standard is part of the ISO/IEC 23093 series that provides an overall architecture and data formats for media sensors, actuators, storages and analysers.
Key topics
- MThing abstract class and APIs: Core operations for discovering MThings, connecting/disconnecting, capability checks and capability reservation. Example operations described include discoverMThingByCapability(), isCapabilityAvailable(), disconnectMThing(), sendBackMThingInfo() and alertDisconnection().
- Discovery and capability-based matching: Locate MThings by supported capabilities or token types and exchange MThingInfo (referenced data format in ISO/IEC 23093-3).
- Communication and resource reservation: Mechanisms to reserve exclusive access to capabilities (e.g., SENSOR_CAPTURE_AUDIO) and to release or alert about capability availability changes.
- Transaction support with media tokens: APIs to query costs (e.g., getVideoURL_CostPerMinute()), request wallet addresses, check transaction completion (checkTransactionCompletion(tid)) and obtain service URLs (getVideoURL(), setVideoURL()).
- Resilient payment models: Guidance and examples for on-chain and off-chain approaches such as state channel methods to support real‑time micropayments and to handle interruptions without complex refunds.
- Return types and capability descriptions: Specified return classes such as MThingInfoType and references to MPEG-21 terminal capability types for hardware/terminal descriptions.
Applications
- Developers and platform architects building interoperable IoMT ecosystems (smart cameras, displays, sensors, actuators).
- IoT device manufacturers implementing discoverable media-capable devices and capability reservation semantics.
- App, DApp and web developers integrating pay-per-use media services (streaming, sensing, actuation) with token-based payments.
- Systems integrators designing resilient media service workflows using blockchain or state-channel payment models.
- Researchers and standards implementers requiring a formal API model for media thing discovery, connection management and transactional interactions.
Related standards
ISO/IEC 23093-2 is essential for implementing interoperable, secure and token-enabled discovery and communication in IoMT systems, enabling practical use cases such as pay-per-view camera streams, paid sensing services and media-driven device orchestration.
Open preview (PDF)Information technology — Internet of media things — Part 2: Discovery and communication application programming interface (API)
