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Capitalised Terms have the meaning defined in Table 1. Lowercase Terms have the meaning commonly defined for the context in which they are used. For instance, Table 1 defines Object and Scene but does not define object and scene.
A dash “-” preceding a Term in Table 1 indicates the following readings according to the font:
- Normal font: the Term in the table without a dash and preceding the one with a dash should be read before that Term. For example, “Avatar” and “- Model” will yield “Avatar Model.”
- Italic font: the Term in the table without a dash and preceding the one with a dash should be read after that Term. For example, “Avatar” and “- Portable” will yield “Portable Avatar.”
All MPAI-defined Terms are accessible online.
Table 1 – General MPAI-AIF terms
| Term | Definition |
| Access | Static or slowly changing data that the AIMs of a Module read and do not write, such as domain knowledge, data models and knowledge bases, organised in Sources written by a Provider or by the User. |
| Artificial Intelligence | (AI) |
| – Framework | (AIF) The environment where Modules are executed. |
| – Module | (AIM) A processing element receiving AIM-specific Inputs and producing AIM-specific Outputs according to its Function. An AIM that is an aggregation of AIMs is called composite AIM. AIMs operate in the Trusted Zone. |
| Attestation Service | A capability provided by an AIF Implementation to provide digitally signed Security tokens. |
| Authentication Service | A capability provided by an AIF Implementation to verify the identity of a user, device, or application. |
| Metadata | Data associated to Data. |
| – AIF | The data set describing the capabilities of an AIF as set by the AIF Implementer. |
| – AIM | The description of an AIM: as a Standard specifies it, AIM Metadata; as an Implementation implements it, AIM Instance Metadata (Metadata). |
| Channel | A physical or logical connection between an output Port of an AIM and an input Port of an AIM. The term “connection” is also used as synonymous. Channels are part of the Trusted Zone. |
| Communication | The infrastructure that implements message passing between AIMs. Communication operates in the Trusted Zone. |
| Component | One of the 9 elements of the AIF Reference Model: User Agent, Module, Controller, Communication, Private Storage, Shared Storage, Access, MPAI Store and Trust. |
| Composite AIM | An AIM aggregating more than one AIM. |
| Controller | A Component that runs a Module and controls its AIMs, so that they execute in the correct order and at the time when they are needed. The Controller operates in the Trusted Zone. |
| Cypher | A system for encrypting and decrypting data. |
| Data Type | An instance of the Data Types defined by 6.1.1. |
| Device | A hardware and/or software entity running at least one instance of an AIF. |
| Encryption | The conversion of data to a format that is intelligible only if appropriate keys are known. |
| – Asymmetric | An encryption method that uses two different keys – public key and private key – for data encryption and decryption, respectively. |
| – Symmetric | An encryption method of where data encryption and decryption uses the same key. |
| Group Element | An AIF in a proximity-based scenario. |
| Hashing | The conversion of data of any size into a usually fixed-length string of characters for data authentication, security, etc. |
| Key management | Operations on cryptographic keys, such as generation, exchange, and storage, to ensure the security of encrypted data. |
| Knowledge Base | Structured and/or unstructured information made accessible to AIMs via MPAI-specified interfaces. |
| Message | A sequence of Records. |
| Module | The AIM a Controller runs at the top of the AIM hierarchy, Basic or Composite. |
| MPAI | Moving Picture, Audio, and Data Coding by Artificial Intelligence. |
| – Ontology | An MPAI-managed dynamic collection of terms with a defined semantics. |
| – Store | The repository of AIM Metadata, AIM Instance Metadata and approved AIM Implementations specified in MPAI Store. |
| Port | A physical or logical communication interface of an AIM. |
| – External | An input or output Port of an AIM providing communication with an external Controller. |
| – Remote | A Port associated with a specific remote AIM. |
| Provider | A third party holding the rights to data it provides through a Source of Access, of which it is the only Writer. |
| Record | Data with a specified Format. |
| Resource policy | The set of conditions under which specific actions may be applied. |
| Security Abstraction Layer | (SAL) The set of Trusted Services that provide security functionalities to AIF. |
| Shared Storage | A Component to store data shared among AIMs. The Shared Storage is part of the Trusted Zone. |
| Signature | A specific pattern added to data, enabling cybersecurity technologies to recognise threats. |
| Source | A set of items of Access, each identified by a Key, with a Version and one Writer. |
| Status | The set of parameters characterising a Component. |
| Storage | |
| – Private | A Component storing the data of an AIM or of a Module. Only that AIM, or the AIMs of that Module, may access it. |
| – Secure | A Component to store data securely. |
| Structure | A composition of Records. |
| Time Base | The protocol specifying how Components can access timing information. The Time Base is part of the Trusted Zone. |
| Topology | The set of Channels connecting the AIMs of a Composite AIM or of a Module. |
| Trusted Zone | An environment that contains only trusted objects, i.e., object that do not require further authentication. |
| User Agent | The Component interfacing the user with an AIF through the Controller. |
| Zero Trust | A cybersecurity model primarily focused on data and service protection that assumes no implicit trust [28]. |
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