Intrigue: Personalized recommendation of tourist attractions for desktop and hand held devices

This paper presents INTRIGUE, a prototype tourist-information server that presents information about the area around Turin City, Italy, on desktop and hand held devices.This system recommends sightseeing destinations and itineraries by taking into account the preferences of heterogeneous tourist groups (such as families with children or the elderly) and explains the recommendations by addressing the group members' requirements. Moreover, the system provides an interactive agenda for scheduling the tour. The services offered by INTRIGUE rely on user modeling and adaptive hypermedia techniques; furthermore, XML-based technologies support the generation of the user interface and its adaptation to Web browsers and WAP minibrowsers.     

Speech-as-data technologies for personal information devices

 For small, portable devices, speech input has the advantages of low-cost and small hardware, can be used on the move or whilst the eyes & hands are busy, and is natural and quick. Rather than rely on imperfect speech recognition we propose that information entered as speech is kept as speech and suitable tools are provided to allow quick and easy access to the speech-as-data records. This paper summarises our work on the technologies needed for these tools – for organising, browsing, searching and compressing the stored speech. These technologies go a long way towards giving stored speech the characteristics of text without the associated input problems. Received: 5 March 2002 / Accepted: 1 September 2002 Nick Haddock Consultant Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the whole HP Labs Gryphon team for their valuable contributions to this work - Mike Collins for the hierarchical chunking algorithm, Erik Geelhoed and David Frohlich for the users perspective, Richard Hull for starting off the compression work, Steve Loughran for productisation, and Dave Reynolds for his consistent advice and support. We would also like to thank our partners at Cambridge University, Steve Young and Tony Robinson, whose expertise and technology formed the foundation for this work, as well as the efforts of Kate Knill on wordspotting, Carl Seymour on compression, James Christie on recognition, and Robin Valenza whose brief excursion into the world of speech technology helped develop a simple and effective summarisation technique. Finally we would like to thank the reviewers for their many helpful comments.     

基于VIVI的嵌入式便携播放器设计与实现

嵌入式便携播放器集播放Office文档、图像文件、声音文件、视频文件于一体,是未来多媒体便携设备的必然发展趋势。以三星的S3C2440处理器作为系统的硬件开发平台,提出了一套满足项目需求的嵌入式便携播放器的应用解决方案,具有很强的实用价值。并在此基础上设计并移植了适用于播放器硬件平台的Bootloader,它以VIVI为原型,通过分析其源码结构,添加了USB升级软件的功能。     

Dynamic Bayesian approach for detecting cheats in multi-player online games

Massively multi-player games hold a huge market in the digital entertainment industry. Companies invest heavily in game developments since a successful online game can attract millions of users, and this translates to a huge investment payoff. However, multi-player online games are also subjected to various forms of “hacks” and “cheats”. Hackers can alter the graphic rendering to reveal information otherwise be hidden in a normal game, or cheaters can use software robots to play the game automatically and thus gain an unfair advantage. To overcome these problems, some popular online games release software patches constantly to block “known” hacks or incorporate anti-cheating software to detect “known” cheats. This not only creates deployment difficulty but new cheats will still be able to breach the normal game logic until software patches or updates of the anti-cheating software are available. Moreover, the anti-cheating software themselves are also vulnerable to hacks. In this paper, we propose a “scalable” and “efficient” method to detect whether a player is cheating or not. The methodology is based on the dynamic Bayesian network approach. The detection framework relies solely on the game states and runs in the game server only. Therefore, it is invulnerable to hacks and it is a much more deployable solution. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, we have implemented a prototype multi-player game system to detect whether a player is using any “aiming robot” for cheating or not. Experiments show that the proposed method can effectively detect cheaters on a first-person shooter game with extremely low false positive rate. We believe the proposed methodology and the prototype system provide a first step toward a systematic study of cheating detection and security research in the area of online multi-player games.     

A service selection model for digital music service platforms using a hybrid MCDM approach

Digital music services have provided more and more digital contents and service styles. The number of people paying to download music is on the rise. Digital music files, mainly in MP3 format, have become widespread on the internet. Downloading digital products for free may harm creators and music publishers, because it is very easy to obtain free-music through peer-to-peer sharing technologies over the internet. At the same time, portable entertainment devices and mobile phones are now able to carry music files, enabling people to access music much more easily. On the other hand, with the coming of the 5G in the telecom infrastructure, the rise in downloading music using mobile devices becomes possible. People can access online-music platform services through cable/ADSL with their digital devices (e.g., Personal computer, Notebook and Smart phone) or through the telecom services accompanying their mobile devices. Therefore, a critical issue for record publishers, or digital music service providers, is how to provide services to create value and fulfill customer needs. By determining customer music service needs and intentions, this study identifies the selection criteria necessary for customers to evaluate and select digital music service platforms. A novel MCDM (Multiple Criteria Decision Making) technique is developed that integrates the Decision making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL), Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Analytical Network Procedure (ANP), and VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR). This technique ranks and improves the digital music service platforms to obtain the best win-win service selection. This paper will propose the key driving aspects of the digital music service platforms and rank them by using the model proposed. The conclusions are composed of suggestions for service providers to improve their existing functions and plan further utilities for the digital music service platforms.     

Mobile home automation: merging mobile value added services and home automation technologies

In this paper we study mobile home automation, a field that emerges from an integration of mobile application platforms and home automation technologies. We motivate our research and provide a conceptual introduction, which illustrates the need for such applications by a two-dimensional conceptual model of mobility. As a first steps towards a solution we take the user’s perspective and discuss different options of how he might access a mobile home automation service and the controlled devices. Subsequently, we suggest a general system architecture for mobile home automation services and discuss related design decision. This design has been implemented in a research prototype, which we named Remotile. This helps us to discuss typical components, such as modules that integrate various home automation devices. A previous version of this paper was presented at the Sixth International Conference on Mobile Business, 2007. “Andreas Rosendahl, J. Felix Hampe, and Goetz Botterweck, Mobile Home Automation, Merging Mobile Value Added Services and Home Automation Technologies, Proceedings, Sixth International Conference on Mobile Business, 8–11 July 2007, IEEE Computer Society, ISBN 0-7695-2803-1”.     

What are a Location’s “File” and “Edit” Menus?

The promise of mobile devices lies not in their capacity to duplicate the capabilities of desktop machines, but rather in their promise of enabling location-specific tasks. One of the challenges that must be addressed if they are to be used in this way is how intuitive interfaces for mobile devices can be designed that enable access to location-specific services usable across locations. We are developing a prototype mobile valet application that presents location-specific services organised around the tasks associated with a location. The basic elements of the interface exploits commonalties in the way we address tasks at various locations just as the familiar “file” and “edit” menus in various software applications exploit regularities in software tasks.     

Wukong: A cloud-oriented file service for mobile Internet devices

Along with the rapid growth of heterogeneous cloud services and network technologies, an increasing number of mobile devices use cloud storage services to enlarge their capacity and share data in our daily lives. We commonly use cloud service client-side software in a straightforward fashion. However, when more devices and users participate in heterogeneous services, the difficulty of managing these services efficiently and conveniently increases. In this paper, we report a novel cloud-oriented file service, Wukong, which provides a user-friendly and highly available facilitative data access method for mobile devices in cloud settings. Wukong supports mobile applications, which may access local files only, transparently accessing cloud services with a relatively high performance. To the best of our knowledge, Wukong is the first file service that supports heterogeneous cloud services for mobile devices by using the innovative storage abstraction layer. We have implemented a prototype with several plugins and evaluated it in a systematic way. We find that this easily operable file service has a high usability and extensibility. It costs about 50 to 150 lines of code to implement a new backend service support plugin. Wukong achieves an acceptable throughput of 179.11 kB/s in an ADSL environment and 80.68 kB/s under a countryside EVDO 3G network with negligible overhead.     

Integrated optical planar waveguide components

 Planar optical waveguides for applications in communication networks can be fabricated using conventional chip-manufacturing techniques. We present a planar optical waveguide technology that is based on a silicon-oxynitride (SiON) core and silicon-oxide cladding layers. In addition to more compact, conventional optical devices, it also enables enhanced optical functions such as dynamically reconfigurable planar integrated optical devices. Examples of adaptive devices realized in this technology include finite and infinite impulse response (FIR and IIR) filters. Received: 13 February 2002/Accepted: 28 February 2002 In realizing the SiON waveguide technology and the adaptive optical filter functions with the subsystem control, the dedicated work of the waveguide process technology, the photonic device technology, and the engineering services teams at IBM's Zurich Research Laboratory were instrumental and are gratefully acknowledged. For the concept-level optical-packaging work we thank Optospeed SA. This paper was presented at the Workshop “Optical MEMS and Integrated Optics” in June 2001.     

Exploring educational immersive videogames: an empirical study with a 3D multimodal interaction prototype

ABSTRACT

Gestural interaction devices emerged and originated various studies on multimodal human–computer interaction to improve user experience (UX). However, there is a knowledge gap regarding the use of these devices to enhance learning. We present an exploratory study which analysed the UX with a multimodal immersive videogame prototype, based on a Portuguese historical/cultural episode. Evaluation tests took place in high school environments and public videogaming events. Two users would be present simultaneously in the same virtual reality (VR) environment: one as the helmsman aboard Vasco da Gama’s fifteenth-century Portuguese ship and the other as the mythical Adamastor stone giant at the Cape of Good Hope. The helmsman player wore a VR headset to explore the environment, whereas the giant player used body motion to control the giant, and observed results on a screen, with no headset. This allowed a preliminary characterisation of UX, identifying challenges and potential use of these devices in multi-user virtual learning contexts. We also discuss the combined use of such devices, towards future development of similar systems, and its implications on learning improvement through multimodal human–computer interaction.     

A framework for the deployment of adaptable web service compositions

The basic paradigm of service-oriented architectures—publication, discovery, and use—can be interpreted in different ways. Current technologies assume a static and rigid approach: UDDI was conceived with the idea of a centralized repository for service publication and BPEL only supports design–time bindings between the orchestrated workflow and the external services. The trend, however, is towards more flexibility and dynamism. The single centralized repository is being substituted by dedicated repositories that cooperate and exchange information about stored services on demand. Design–time compositions are complemented by mechanisms to allow for the selection and binding of services at runtime. This paper presents the research results of our group in delivering a framework for the deployment of adaptable Web service compositions. The publication infrastructure integrates existing heterogeneous repositories and makes them cooperate for service discovery. The deployment infrastructure supports BPEL-like compositions that can select services dynamically, and also adjust their behavior in response to detected changes and unforeseen events. The framework also provides a monitoring-based validation of running compositions: we provide suitable probes to oversee the execution of deployed compositions. The various parts of the framework are exemplified on a common case study taken from the automotive domain. This research is partially supported by the European IST project SeCSE (Service Centric System Engineering) and the Italian FIRB project ARTDECO (Adaptive infRasTructures for DECentralized Organizations).     

Laser micromaching and light induced reaction injection molding as suitable process sequence for the rapid fabrication of microcomponents

 For the last years different “rapid”-technologies like Rapid Prototyping, Rapid Manufacturing or Rapid Tooling have been developed in the macro world for a fast prototype or molding tool generation in case of e.g. form visualisation or small scale production. Commercially available equipment allows smallest structural details of at least 100 μm and a position accuracy of 25 μm. Due to the poor achievable precision of the mentioned systems in comparison to the necessities in MST only a few attempts for the realisation of “micro-rapid” technologies have been investigated. In this work an approach which combines Rapid Tooling (mold insert fabrication via laser micromaching) with Rapid Prototyping (replication via light induced reaction injection molding) will be introduced and different examples for application e.g. in microfluidics will be given. Received: 30 May 2001 / Accepted: 3 August 2001     

基于P2P技术的IPTV解决方案研究与设计

传统地在Internet上提供电视广播服务是采用Client/Server架构,但随着使用人数的增加Server负载日益增大,服务供应者必须负担的成本会越来越高。而IPTV是集宽带有线电视网、因特网、多媒体通讯等多种技术于一体提供包括数字电视在内的多种交互式服务的一种崭新技术。随着Internet使用人数的增加,Client/Server架构所面临的问题日益严重,使得P2P(Peer to Peer)技术逐渐被重视。文章介绍了P2P技术的原理,将Client/ServerIPTV与P2P IPTV进行了性能上的比较,最后提出一种P2P IPTV的解决方案。     

Global web server load balancing using evolutionary computational techniques

 As user load on web servers becomes more globalised, duplicated regional mirroring is being seen as an increasingly expensive solution to meeting regional peak demand. Alternative solutions are being explored by looking at dynamic load balancing using distributed intelligent middleware to re-route traffic from busy regions to quieter ones as global load patterns change over a 24 h cycle. The techniques used can also be employed under fault and planned maintenance conditions. One such solution, providing the load balancing via reconfigurable dynamic proxy servers, is seen as `unobtrusive' in that it works with standard web browsers and web server technology. The technique employs an evolutionary algorithm to perform combinatorial optimisation against a dynamic performance predicting model. This paper describes this solution, focussing on issues such as algorithm tuning, scalabilty and reliability. A prototype system is currently being trialled within the Systems Integration Department at British Telecommunications Research Labs, Adastral Park and is the subject of several BT held patents.     

A secure framework of the surveillance video network integrating heterogeneous video formats and protocols

Recently, IT technologies are becoming focused on different traditional industries. The large scaled intelligent video surveillance system is one of them and it integrates a large number of digitalized CCTV [1] devices through the Web. However, existing video devices have been deployed for many years by different vendors as different models with different specifications. To integrate these heterogeneous devices, the centralized management server (CMS) and its clients need a specialized architecture to deal with different types of media encodings and connection protocols etc. In particular, well-defined access control mechanism is required for a large scaled surveillance video network. In this paper, we designed and implemented a server that incorporates the architecture integrating and delivering multiple video streams from different types of video devices to multiple clients and securing the access to the video streams.     

Providing advanced remote medical treatment services through pervasive environments

Advances on sensor technology, wireless environments and data mining introduce new possibilities in the healthcare sector, realizing the anytime-anywhere access to medical information. Towards this direction, integration of packet-switched networks and sensor devices can be effective in deploying assistive environments, such as home monitoring for elderly or patients. In this paper we describe a policy-based architecture that utilizes wireless sensor devices, advanced network topologies and software agents to enable remote monitoring of patients and elderly people; through the aforementioned technologies we achieve continuous monitoring of a patient’s condition and we can proceed when necessary with proper actions. We also present a software framework and network architecture that realizes the provision of remote medical services, in compliance with the imposed security and privacy requirements. A proof of concept prototype is also deployed, along with an evaluation of the overall architecture’s performance.     

Students' experiences with PDAs for reading course materials

 The availability of text reading and editing software for Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) makes it timely to consider whether PDAs are useful tools for reading learning materials. This paper describes a study that evaluated the use of PDAs for reading by students on a Masters course run by the UK Open University. The evaluation consisted of pre- and post-questionnaires, and follow-up interviews. In addition, students discussed their experiences in a computer-based conference. Findings show that while the portability of the device was welcomed by students, and the electronic format was advantageous, limitations such as the small screen size, navigation difficulties, and slow and error-prone methods for entering text, made it difficult to read and interact with documents on the PDA. The paper recommends that further research consider the value of PDAs as reading devices in the context of other potential ways that PDAs can be used as learning tools. Received: 1 March 2002 / Accepted: 24 August 2002 Acknowledgements This evaluation project was funded through the award of an Open University Teaching Fellowship in 2001 to the course and presentation team, `for innovation and excellence in global online course delivery.' We would like to say a special thank you to colleagues in the Institute of Educational Technology who gave us vital technical and logistical support throughout this project: Will Woods, Phil Downs, Helen Cottrell and Liz Burton-Pye. Thanks are also due to Gill Kirkup for providing feedback on an earlier draft of this paper and to Eileen Scanlon and Ann Jones who provided helpful advice during the project.     

An authentication protocol offering service anonymity of mobile device in ubiquitous environment

With the advent of ubiquitous era, various devices and services using wireless network are increasing. For communications in wireless network, mobile devices are used and various services are increasingly provided through mobile devices. The AAA (Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting) that authorizes and manages the mobile devices is processing the standardization for various application services for the purpose of the standardization of authentication, authorization, and accounting to provide safety and reliability of various services and protocols of both wired and wireless network. However, even if AAA exists the development of network varies vulnerabilities and attack types, and accordingly the exposure of information appears as the biggest problem. Therefore, this study suggests the safe authentication method that protects against information exposure by guaranteeing anonymity of service with temporal ID, and provides efficiency because AAA authentication server is based on the ticket given to a service server without the need of re-authentication when mobile node authorized from the AAA authentication server receives service.     

LiGA measurement and acceptance evaluation

 In support of establishing production capability of Lithographie Galvanoformung Abformung (LiGA) technology at the Honeywell Federal Manufacturing and Technologies (FM&T), also known as the Department of Energy (DOE) Kansas City Plant (KCP), measurement and acceptance techniques were evaluated on micro-miniature mechanical prototype components. Four nickel (Ni) prototype components, which were fabricated, required ±10 μm dimensional tolerance, 10 μm contours, and had to meet specific metallurgical requirements. These requirements pushed the KCP measurement and acceptances processes to their limit. The measurement techniques used to support the prototype work and the new technologies being considered from lessons learned to support future LiGA activities are described. This work was completed jointly with Sandia National Laboratories and supports future production needs for the Department of Energy. Received: 10 August 2001/Accepted: 24 September 2001 All data prepared, analyzed and presented has been developed in a specific context of work and was prepared for internal evaluation and use pursuant to that work authorized under the referenced contract. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government, any agency thereof or Honeywell International Inc. This paper was presented at the Fourth International Workshop on High Aspect Ratio Microstructrue Technology HARMST 2001 in June 2001.     

The RightPages image-based electronic library for alerting and browsing

The RightPages electronic library prototype system, which gives users full online library services, is described. The prototype takes advantage of fast hardware, multimedia workstations, and broadband networks to process scientific and technical journals for users and to offer a service that: alerts them to the arrival of new journal articles matching their interest profiles; lets them immediately examine images of pages in the alerted articles and browse through other articles in the database; and enables them to order paper copies of any articles in the database. The system runs on a local area network that connects one or more scanning stations, a centralized document database server and multiple user stations running X Windows servers. The RightPages interface runs as an X Windows application on Sun workstations or X terminals. The system's image and document processing, including noise reduction, document layout analysis, text processing, and display processing are discussed.<>