17. The temporal formatting method of claim 16 further including obtaining from memory, for each media item included in the multimedia document, a first data item indicating whether occurrence of the media item in the multimedia document is predictable or unpredictable, and a second data item indicating whether the media item duration is predictable or unpredictable; and wherein the step of assigning document presentation time values to media items includes identifying media items having predictable behavior, wherein predictable behavior is defined as having a predictable occurrence and a predictable duration, using the first and second data items; and solving the function for media items having predictable behavior.
16. The temporal formatting method of claim 15 wherein the optimum duration specified for a respective media item indicates a durational time value that produces a preferred presentation quality for the respective media item when the respective media item is presented by a media presentation device for the optimum duration; wherein the flexibility metric data associating a measurement with each of selected durations within the range of durations is cost data indicating a quality of presentation cost associated with deviating from the optimum duration by shortening or lengthening the optimum duration of a respective media item; wherein the group of constraints to which the function is subject includes the cost data; and wherein the function is solved to optimize an overall quality of presentation associated with shortening or lengthening the optimum duration of respective media items while still satisfying the temporal constraint data specified between pairs of media items.