Parametric G n blending of curves and surfaces

We introduce a simple blending method for parametric curves and surfaces that produces families of parametrically defined, G ⁿ –continuous blending curves and surfaces. The method depends essentially on the parameterizations of the curves/surfaces to be blended. Hence, the flexibility of the method relies on the existence of suitable parameter transformations of the given curves/surfaces. The feasibility of the blending method is shown by several examples. The shape of the blend curve/surface can be changed in a predictable way with the aid of two design parameters (thumb weight and balance).     

Defect detection in textured surfaces using color ring-projection correlation

In this paper, we present a correlation scheme that incorporates a color ring-projection representation for the automatic inspection of defects in textured surfaces. The proposed color ring projection transforms a 2-D color image into a 1-D color pattern as a function of radius. For a search window of width W, data dimensionality is reduced from in the 2-D image to O(W) in the 1-D ring-projection space. The complexity of computing a correlation function is significantly reduced accordingly. Since the color ring-projection representation is invariant to rotation, the proposed method can be applied for both isotropic and oriented textures at arbitrary orientations. Experiments on regular textured surfaces have shown the efficacy of the proposed method. Received: 30 March 2000 / Accepted: 24 July 2001 Correspondence to: D.-M. Tsai (e-mail: iedmtsai@saturn.yzu.edu.tw)     

Higher-level techniques for hardware description and synthesis

The FLaSH (Functional Languages for Synthesising Hardware) system allows a designer to map a high-level functional language, SAFL, and its more expressive extension, SAFL+, into hardware. The system has two phases: first we perform architectural exploration by applying a series of semantics-preserving transformations to SAFL specifications; then the resulting specification is compiled into hardware in a resource-aware manner – that is, we map separate functions to separate hardware functional units (functions which are called multiple times become shared functional units). This article introduces the SAFL language and shows how program transformations on it can explore area-time trade-offs. We then show how the FLaSH compiler compiles SAFL to synchronous hardware and how SAFL transformations can also express hardware/software co-design. As a case study we demonstrate how SAFL transformations allow us to refine a simple specification of a MIPS-style processor into pipelined and superscalar implementations. The superset language SAFL+ (adding process calculi features but retaining many of the design aims) is then described and given semantics both as hardware and as a programming language. Published online: 17 December 2002     

A Quasi-Experimental Model of Complex Human–Machine System Validation

Complex systems, such as power plants and commercial aircraft, are designed to operate safely under normal and disturbance conditions. Integrated-system validation is one means to evaluate whether safety and productivity goals can be achieved prior to actual operation. While some types of systems can be tested in an actual operational environment, validation is especially difficult when safety or economic considerations preclude testing in the disturbance conditions they are designed to handle. This paper proposes a conceptual model for integrated-system validation based on an integration of current approaches to design validation and concepts adopted from quasi-experimental research methodology. The model identifies important validation principles and the methodological considerations needed to support a logical and defensible inference to be made from validation tests to system performance under actual operating conditions. Central to the model are four general forms of validity: system representation, performance representation, test design and statistical conclusion validity. Threats to the inference process and weakness of the model are also discussed.     

Embodiments, avatars, clones and agents for multi-user, multi-sensory virtual worlds

This paper explores the issue of user embodiment within collaborative virtual environments. By user embodiment we mean the provision of users with appropriate body images so as to represent them to others and also to themselves. By collaborative virtual environments we mean multi-user virtual reality systems which explicitly support cooperative work (although we argue that the results of our exploration may also be applied to other kinds of collaborative system). The main part of the paper identifies a list of embodiment design issues grouped by the general themes of personal representation, conveying activity, embodiment in heterogeneous systems, embodiment of agents, and ethical issues. These issues are illustrated with examples from our own DIVE and MASSIVE collaborative virtual environments. The paper also uses this set of issues as an analytical framework for comparing a number of other communication technologies.     

Volume-based three-dimensional metamorphosis using sphere-guided region correspondence

surface metamorphosis extends this paradigm by interpolating between discrete volume representations of the surfaces. The insensitivity of the established techniques to the surface topology enables morphing between completely different surfaces: however it can also lead to intermediate surfaces which have different topology from the originals. We present a method which improves on this situation by ensuring that no part of each surface remains disconnected during the morph. The morph is guided by region correspondence, derived automatically from a sphere representation of each surface: this can be combined with manual correspondence to retain user control over the morph. What emerges is a fast and flexible method for morphing surfaces, as demonstrated on several examples. Published online: 19 July 2001     

Speeding up construction of PMR quadtree-based spatial indexes

Spatial indexes, such as those based on the quadtree, are important in spatial databases for efficient execution of queries involving spatial constraints, especially when the queries involve spatial joins. In this paper we present a number of techniques for speeding up the construction of quadtree-based spatial indexes, specifically the PMR quadtree, which can index arbitrary spatial data. We assume a quadtree implementation using the “linear quadtree”, a disk-resident representation that stores objects contained in the leaf nodes of the quadtree in a linear index (e.g., a B-tree) ordered based on a space-filling curve. We present two complementary techniques: an improved insertion algorithm and a bulk-loading method. The bulk-loading method can be extended to handle bulk-insertions into an existing PMR quadtree. We make some analytical observations about the I/O cost and CPU cost of our PMR quadtree bulk-loading algorithm, and conduct an extensive empirical study of the techniques presented in the paper. Our techniques are found to yield significant speedup compared to traditional quadtree building methods, even when the size of a main memory buffer is very small compared to the size of the resulting quadtrees. Edited by R. Sacks-Davis. Received: July 10, 2001 / Accepted: March 25, 2002 Published online: September 25, 2002     

Extending the Unified Modeling Language for ontology development

There is rapidly growing momentum for web enabled agents that reason about and dynamically integrate the appropriate knowledge and services at run-time. The dynamic integration of knowledge and services depends on the existence of explicit declarative semantic models (ontologies). We have been building tools for ontology development based on the Unified Modeling Language (UML). This allows the many mature UML tools, models and expertise to be applied to knowledge representation systems, not only for visualizing complex ontologies but also for managing the ontology development process. UML has many features, such as profiles, global modularity and extension mechanisms that are not generally available in most ontology languages. However, ontology languages have some features that UML does not support. Our paper identifies the similarities and differences (with examples) between UML and the ontology languages RDF and DAML+OIL. To reconcile these differences, we propose a modification to the UML metamodel to address some of the most problematic differences. One of these is the ontological concept variously called a property, relation or predicate. This notion corresponds to the UML concepts of association and attribute. In ontology languages properties are first-class modeling elements, but UML associations and attributes are not first-class. Our proposal is backward-compatible with existing UML models while enhancing its viability for ontology modeling. While we have focused on RDF and DAML+OIL in our research and development activities, the same issues apply to many of the knowledge representation languages. This is especially the case for semantic network and concept graph approaches to knowledge representations. Initial sbmission: 16 February 2002 / Revised submission: 15 October 2002 Published online: 2 December 2002     

A Taxi Ride to Late Capitalism: Hypercapitalism, Imagination and Artificial Intelligence

Through analogy this paper draws attention to hypercapitalism, that is, the profitability of the processes of economic recirculation that are independent of a materialist reality. Since neither materialist ideology nor perception are any longer at stake in hypercapitalism this opens the way for other realities to be revisited. In particular, this paper suggests that this radical shift in the logic of the economy resonates with the values of the Mediaeval period. The paper concludes by suggesting that the study of human consciousness may benefit from a new relationship with reason, particularly as we consider such terms as artificial and intelligent. Correspondence and offprint requests to: Michael Punt, Editor in Chief, Leonardo Digital Reviews, 26 Bridge Street, Chepstow, Monmouthshire NP16 5EZ, UK. Email: mpunt@easynet.co.uk     

A local method for contour matching and its parallel implementation

This paper presents a local approach for matching contour segments in an image sequence. This study has been primarily motivated by work concerned with the recovery of 3D structure using active vision. The method to recover the 3D structure of the scene requires to track in real-time contour segments in an image sequence. Here, we propose an original and robust approach that is ideally suited for this problem. It is also of more general interest and can be used in any context requiring matching of line boundaries over time. This method only involves local modeling and computation of moving edges dealing “virtually” with a contour segment primitive representation. Such an approach brings robustness to contour segmentation instability and to occlusion, and easiness for implementation. Parallelism has also been investigated using an SIMD-based real-time image-processing system. This method has been validated with experiments on several real-image sequences. Our results show quite satisfactory performance and the algorithm runs in a few milliseconds. Received: 11 December 1996 / Accepted: 8 August 1997     

Robust and efficient map-to-image registration with line segments

This work investigates map-to-image registration for planar scenes in the context of robust parameter estimation. Registration is posed as the problem of estimating a projective transformation which optimally aligns transformed model line segments from a map with data line segments extracted from an image. Matching and parameter estimation is solved simultaneously by optimizing an objective function which is based on M-estimators, and depends on overlap and the weighted orthogonal distance between transformed model segments and data segments. An extensive series of registration experiments was conducted to test the performance of the proposed parameter estimation algorithm. More than 200 000 registration experiments were run with different objective functions for 12 aerial images and randomly corrupted maps distorted by randomly selected projective transformations. Received: 10 August 2000 / Accepted: 29 January 2001     

Linguistic Problems with Requirements and Knowledge Elicitation

Human and conversational aspects of requirements and knowledge identification are employed to show that requirements ‘engineering’ is not the same as civil engineering or scientific problem solving. Not only can requirements not be made fully explicit at the start of a project, they cannot be made fully explicit at all. A need is identified to enhance computer-based information systems (CBIS) development methods to accommodate: plurality of incommensurable perspectives, languages and agendas; dynamic representations of system features that can be experienced rather than abstracted and forced into an abstract paper-based representation; recognition that CBIS development is in general a continuous process where users changing their minds is a natural and necessary indication or organisational vitality.  It is suggested that prototyping and rapid application development go some way to addressing these requirements but that they require further development in the light of the theoretical light thrown on the nature of the problem.     

Universal Access in the Information Society: Methods, Tools, and Interaction Technologies

Accessibility and high quality of interaction with products, applications, and services by anyone, anywhere, and at any time are fundamental requirements for universal access in the emerging Information Society. This paper discusses these requirements, and their relation to the concept of automated adaptation of user interfaces. An example application is presented, showing how adaptation can be used to accommodate the requirements of different user categories and contexts of use. This application is then used as a vehicle for discussing a new engineering paradigm appropriate for the development of adaptation-based user interfaces. Finally, the paper investigates issues concerning the interaction technologies required for universal access. Published online: 23 May 2001     

User diversity and design representation: Towards increased effectiveness in Design for All

This paper addresses user modelling for “Design for All” in a model-based approach to Human-Computer Interaction, paying particular attention to placing user models within organisational role- and task-related contexts. After reviewing a variety of user modelling approaches, and deriving requirements for user modelling related to Design for All, the paper proposes a role-driven individualised approach. Such an approach is based on a model-based representation schema and a unifying notation that keeps the user’s models and the contextual information transparent and consistent. Individualisation is achieved by coupling symbolic model specifications with neural networking on synchronisation links between symbolic representation elements. As a result, user modelling for Design for All is achieved not by stereotypical user properties and functional roles, but by accommodating the actual users’ behaviour. Published online: 18 May 2001     

NeTra: A toolbox for navigating large image databases

We present here an implementation of NeTra, a prototype image retrieval system that uses color, texture, shape and spatial location information in segmented image regions to search and retrieve similar regions from the database. A distinguishing aspect of this system is its incorporation of a robust automated image segmentation algorithm that allows object- or region-based search. Image segmentation significantly improves the quality of image retrieval when images contain multiple complex objects. Images are segmented into homogeneous regions at the time of ingest into the database, and image attributes that represent each of these regions are computed. In addition to image segmentation, other important components of the system include an efficient color representation, and indexing of color, texture, and shape features for fast search and retrieval. This representation allows the user to compose interesting queries such as “retrieve all images that contain regions that have the color of object A, texture of object B, shape of object C, and lie in the upper of the image”, where the individual objects could be regions belonging to different images. A Java-based web implementation of NeTra is available at http://vivaldi.ece.ucsb.edu/Netra.     

An experimental analysis of digital video library servers

Much work on video servers has concentrated on movies on demand, in which a relatively small number of titles are viewed and users are given basic VCR-style controls. This paper concentrates on analyzing video server performance for non-linear access applications. In particular, we study two non-linear video applications: video libraries, in which users select from a large collection of videos and may be interested in viewing only a small part of the title; and video walk-throughs, in which users can move through an image-mapped representation of a space. We present a characterization of the workloads of these applications. Our simulation studies show that video server architectures developed for movies on demand can be adapted to video library usage, though caching is less effective and the server can support a smaller user population for non-linear video applications. We also show that video walk-throughs require extremely large amounts of RAM buffering to provide adequate performance for even a small number of users.     

A hierarchical representation of form documents for identification and retrieval

In this paper, we present a logical representation for form documents to be used for identification and retrieval. A hierarchical structure is proposed to represent the structure of a form by using lines and the XY-tree approach. The approach is top-down and no domain knowledge such as the preprinted data or filled-in data is used. Geometrical modifications and slight variations are handled by this representation. Logically identical forms are associated to the same or similar hierarchical structure. Identification and the retrieval of similar forms are performed by computing the edit distances between the generated trees. Received: August 21, 2001 / Accepted: November 5, 2001     

Range image segmentation using local approximation of scan lines with application to CAD model acquisition

Abstract. Automatic acquisition of CAD models from existing objects requires accurate extraction of geometric and topological information from the input data. This paper presents a range image segmentation method based on local approximation of scan lines. The method employs edge models that are capable of detecting noise pixels as well as position and orientation discontinuities of varying strengths. Region-based techniques are then used to achieve a complete segmentation. Finally, a geometric representation of the scene, in the form of a surface CAD model, is produced. Experimental results on a large number of real range images acquired by different range sensors demonstrate the efficiency and robustness of the method. Received: 1 August 2000 / Accepted: 23 January 2002 Correspondence to: I. Khalifa