text:
Justia Patents US Patent for Integrated information processing system for geospatial media Patent (Patent # 7,107,286)
Integrated information processing system for geospatial media
An integrated information processing system for geospatial information processing. The information processing system includes a scheduling module, an acquisition module, a production module, a distribution module, a geospatial data specification, and a geospatial media recorder. Each module incorporates a common object database management system. The scheduling module is configured for processing requests for media acquisition. The acquisition module is configured for acquiring visual, audio, textual, and geospatial entity information. The production module is configured for producing integrated digital media datasets and information. The distribution module is configured for distributing integrated digital media datasets and information. The geospatial data specification includes an object class which serves to provide geospatial referencing of an entity or object. The concatenated data attribute of geospatial data serves to geospatially reference entities or object in a video segment. The geospatial media recorder serves to encode geospatial data onto video frames at the time of video acquisition.
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/626,801, filed on Jul. 26, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,681,231, and claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/145,694, filed Jul. 26, 1999, which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates generally to media information processing systems and, more particularly, to an integrated system of specialized equipment modules for media information processing.
2. Description of the Related Art
The United States Census Bureau TIGER/Line™ files are a computer readable geographic database for the United States. The original sources of the database include U.S. geological survey maps, the 1980 U.S. Census Bureau DIME files, and various other sources. While these geographic files are usable as a base for a geographic information system, they are not recommended for detailed applications which require a high degree of positional accuracy. This is because the positional accuracy of the information contained in the file is limited by the scale of the U.S. Geological Survey maps from which the files are created.
In addition, information in the TIGER/Line™ files is only as complete and accurate as the source documents used by the U.S. Census Bureau and errors often occur in compilation and translation of information from source documents. Further, the information is only as current as the year in which the source documents were compiled and translated.
Because the information contained in a geographic information system such as the TIGER/Line™ files must be continually updated to reflect the most recent changes in the information contained therein, it is desirable to provide a method for collecting and processing video and spatial position information in a manner that allows updated attribute information to be tied to previously obtained spatial positional information.
One way in which to acquire accurate spatial position information is through the use of the Global Positioning System (GPS). The Global Positioning System is a network of satellites used to determine location. Since the orbital position of each satellite is known, a GPS receiver on the surface of the earth can accurately measure the time it takes for the transmitted signal to reach the receiver's location on earth. This measurement provides the distance between the satellite and the receiver. To obtain three dimensional positioning, the GPS receiver takes this measurement from each of at least four orbiting satellites. Using geometric principles, the information gathered by the GPS receiver can be used to calculate a tetrahedonal volume defined by four satellites and the receiver, and thus calculate an accurate spatial position on earth.
While the Global Positioning System can provide accurate spatial position information, problems arise when the GPS receiver is not able to receive information from at least four orbiting satellites. This occurs when the GPS receiver is obstructed by geographic features such as canyons or bluffs as well as man-made structures. Problems also arise when a signal transmitted by an orbiting satellite is reflected from a nearby object, giving the GPS receiver one or more incorrect readings from that satellite.
A further problem with the use of the Global Positioning System to provide spatial position information is that spatial position readings are often provided by the GPS receiver at a relatively slow rate; this depends on the quality of the receiver.
Several patents illustrate state-of-the-art distributive and geographic information systems. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,709,418 issued on Nov. 24, 1987 to John R. Fox et al. describes a wideband cable network in which several wideband services, such as television or video signals, can be provided simultaneously from a central service position to a remote wideband switch, to which several customers are connected. The central position is connected to the wideband switch by one or more passively tapped optical fibers, through which fixed-time services are provided and the central service position is connected to the wideband switch though one or more dedicated optical fibers, through which a customer can request and receive "on demand" wideband services.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,371,532 issued on Dec. 6, 1994 to Alexander Gelman et al. describes a communications architecture and method for distributing information services.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,418,713 issued on May 23, 1995 to Richard Allen describes an apparatus and method for an on demand data delivery system for the preview, selection, retrieval and reproduction at a remote location of previously recorded or programmed materials.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,528,518 issued on Jun. 18, 1996 to Mark Bradshaw et al. describes a system and method for collecting data to form a geographic information system database.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,584,025 issued on Dec. 10, 1996 to Ronald D. Keithley et al. describes an apparatus and method for interactive communication for tracking and viewing data. The apparatus is used for acquiring and displaying information relating to a specific field of interest. However, the apparatus does not describe specific methods for acquiring the information residing in the database or the manner in which the information will be related.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,633,946 issued on May 27, 1997 to Theodore M. Lachinski et al. describes a method and apparatus for collecting and processing visual and spatial position information from a moving platform. Global Positioning System data is captured separately while video recorders capture moving image sequences from a vehicle mounted apparatus. The Global Positioning System and Greenwich Mean Time data are correlated to video moving images during post video processing. However, Lachinski et al. fails to capture geospatial and video dimensionalities within an image at the time of creation. Moreover, Lachinski et al. fails to provide adequate functionalities necessary for efficient data processing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,734,719 issued on Mar. 31, 1998 to James T. Tsevdos et al. describes a point-of-sale turnkey kiosk system for supplying digital content. The system employs geographically dispersed servers to provide content to the different kiosk locations. However, the system only provides information to a single computer network and is not developed for convergent delivery of various media data types and data sets to a variety of digital delivery networks.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,736,977 issued on Apr. 7, 1998 to Robert Lee Hughes describes a video real estate information service that includes regional offices that provide information over a computer network to local realty offices. The drawback of this service is that the service fails to calculate the data capacity required for providing video over a data network. Another drawback is that the lengths of the video segments are not identified and, therefore, an unknown capacity of the network must be designed. Moreover, the service only provides information to one class of user and to a single computer network. The service is not developed for convergent delivery of various media data types and datasets to varying digital delivery networks.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,852,810 issued on Dec. 22, 1998 to James P. Sotiroff et al. describes a geographic specific information search system and method. The system is configured to display a graphical map and to allow the user to narrow the geographical search area to the desired region. The system is also configured to accept a query criteria and search a database containing property listings for properties listed in the desired region meeting the entered search criteria.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,867,155 issued on Feb. 2, 1999 to Douglass Williams describes a video on demand distributed network for viewing real estate media. The patent describes distribution over large distributed data networks but never identifies the end use of the data. A drawback of this service is that it provides information to one class of user. The information is also only provided to computer networks and is not developed for convergent delivery of various media data types and datasets to varying digital delivery networks.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,893,113 issued on Apr. 6, 1999 to Timothy McGrath et al. describes a system and method for providing incremental updates of geographical data in navigation systems. However the date that an object is created or its geospatial location is not captured except for when an object is involved in a transaction. This level of geographic detail is insufficient to provide detailed geospatial information on media properties and suffers deficiencies that include lack of dimensionality and timestamping. Additionally, a distribution scheme that includes digital delivery networks is not identified.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,909,638 issued on Jun. 1, 1999 to Richard D. Allen describes a detailed network for storing and retrieving movies on demand from video retail stores or cable television systems. The network capacity cannot be accurately determined because of the different size videos that will be accessed over the network. Furthermore, no identification of the processes needed to acquire geographic media from the source has been identified. The system described does not provide information to networks for broadcasting or cablecasting and is not developed for convergent delivery of various media data types and datasets to varying digital delivery networks.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,945,985 issued on Aug. 31, 1999 to Babin et al, describes a three-dimensional, computer simulated, interactive multimedia geographic system. The system does not have a distributed delivery capability or geospatially referenced derived entities. The system does not provide information for broadcasting or cablecasting and the system is not developed for convergent delivery of various media types and datasets.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,953,722 issued on Sep. 14, 1999 to David S. Lampert et al. describes a system and method for forming and using a geographic database. The database is populated with geographic entities and these entities are described as having a unique physical location identification record or data attribute, which may be comprised of geospatial parameters. The geospatial parameters that are recommended for each entity are geographical coordinates and optionally absolute or relative altitude. The disclosure further describes a method of parcelization, representing a physical region based on geographic parameters. Although the location identification record may incorporate geographic coordinates and altitude, the system does not use concatenated geospatial parameters or timestamping data.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,968,109 issued on Oct. 19, 1999 to Vijaya S. Israni et al. describes a system and method for use and storage of geographic data on physical media. Representations of the data are based on navigational dimensional units, which expresses geographic coordinates as a derived unit of measure. As such, this system does not include temporal parameters and therefore suffers the same deficiencies as U.S. Pat. No. 5,953,722.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,988,078 issued on Nov. 23, 1999 to Michael R. Levine describes a method and apparatus to receive information over a wide-area network based on geographic location. In this apparatus the information provided is based on zip code geographic orientation. This level of geographic detail is insufficient to provide detailed geospatial information on entities and suffers deficiencies that includes lack of dimensionality and timestamping.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,999,924 issued to John Bair et al. describes a method and apparatus to produce sequenced queries that takes into account a range of values of a variable defined by a start and end point in performing the query. The start or end points are calculated if necessary and a query to collect all the start and end points may be generated, and a query is generated that produces a constant set of start and end points defining consecutive periods, such that all the data in the tables related to the original query is constant over each of these periods. These two queries are merged into the original query to produce a sequenced query capable of execution on various database software and capable of taking into account the range of values of the variable in performing the original query.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,029,173 issued to James A. Meek et al. on Feb. 22, 2000 describes a method and system for representation and use of shape information in geographic databases. Polynomial equations are used to generate control points for generating a Bezier curve for feature representation. The disclosed method is sufficient to provide detailed geospatial information on topological features but not on media entities. The lack of geographic positioning, dimensionality, and timestamping does not provide the requisite data for geospatial media management.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,038,568 issued on Mar. 14, 2000 to Timothy McGrath et al. describes a transaction method and programming for incrementally updating a geographic database. The database taxonomy fails to capture the date that the object was created or its geospacial location except when an entity is involved in a transaction. This level of geographic detail is insufficient to provide detailed geospatial information on media entities and suffers deficiencies that include lack of dimensionality and timestamping.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,047,234 issued on Apr. 4, 2000 to Kevin Cherveny et al. describes a system and method of updating, enhancing or refining a geographic database. In this system vehicles retrofitted with data collecting sensors collect data with a feedback mechanism for inclusion into a geographical database. Under this system operation geographical data is feed directly to databases on-board the vehicles. In this specification the data captured is topological data for a topological geographical database. This level of geographic detail is insufficient to provide detailed geospatial information on media entities and suffers deficiencies that include lack of dimensionality and timestamping.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,061,688 issued on May 9, 2000 to Paul E. Kilpatrick et al. describes a computer system that creates a metadata file having records connected to geographic locations on a map. Users access a "Spacial Database Engine" to match longitude and latitude. This generates a data key whereby users can query a metadata database where the key is matched to locations in a geographic database and index records, based on location, are presented. In this specification the metadata created is referenced to topological data from a topological geographical database. This level of geographic detail is insufficient to provide detailed geospatial information on media entities and suffers deficiencies that include lack of dimensionality, altitude referencing and timestamping.
Canadian Patent No. 2,112,101 issued on May 20, 2000 to David A. Wysocki et al. describes a positioning, navigation, and collision avoidance system for ships, aircraft, land vehicles and the like, which utilizes a geo-referenced digital orthophotograph database and a positioning signal to display upon a computer stereo graphics device a high visibility dynamic photographic image of the user's immediate environment, including both moving and stationary obstacles.
Canadian Patent No. 2,174,934 issued on May 20, 2000 to Ronald D. Keithley et al. describes an interactive multimedia communications system which access industry-specific information. An information processing system for acquiring and displaying information relating to a specific industry or interest.
European Patent No. 0,649,121 issued on Apr. 19, 1995 to Robert S. Barnhill et al. describes a digital data on-demand turnkey system at a customer premise wherein N number of servers provide for 100% of content distribution of remotely stored digitized information, which information may be previewed in real-time, and product incorporating selected digitized information that can be manufactured on-site and within a short response time to a customer's request at a point of sale location.
Canadian Patent No. 2,190,596 issued on May 20, 2000 to Theodore M. Lachinski et al describes a method for collecting and processing visual and spatial position information to form a geographic information database. Additionally, the information may be used to accurately determine the spatial position of an object seen in the collected visual information.
Canadian Patent No. 2,219,037 issued on May 20, 2000 to Grant S. Killey et al. describes an improved method and system that provides for a data access interface layer in a navigation system. The navigation system is of the type that includes a navigation application software program that provides navigating features to a user of the system and a geographic database stored on a computer-readable storage medium, wherein the geographical database includes information relating to the geographical region about which the navigation system provides the navigation features to the user.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.
The present invention is an integrated information processing system for geospatial media information processing. The information processing system includes a scheduling module, an acquisition module, a production module, a distribution module, a geospatial data specification, and a geospatial media recorder. Each module incorporates a common object database management system. The scheduling module is a specially configured module suitable for processing requests for media acquisition. The acquisition module is a specially configured module suitable for acquiring visual, audio, textual, and geospatial entity information. The production module is a specially configured module suitable for producing integrated digital media, datasets, and information. The distribution module is a specially configured module suitable for distributing integrated digital media metadata, datasets, and information. The geospatial data specification serves to provide geospatial referencing of an entity or object in a video segment. The geospatial media recorder serves to encode geospatial referencing elements onto video frames at the time of video acquisition.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the invention to provide an integrated information processing system for processing visual, audio, textual and geospatial data.
It is another object of the invention to provide an integrated information processing system for processing geospatial media data.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an integrated information processing system capable of convergent distribution of data to any media outlet.
Still another object of the invention is to provide an integrated information processing system capable of providing acquisition of geospatial entities, such as geospatial temporal referencing.
It is an object of the invention to provide improved elements and arrangements thereof in an apparatus for the purposes described which is inexpensive, dependable and fully effective in accomplishing its intended purposes.
FIG. 1a is a block diagram of a first portion of a preferred data network for a local operation center.
FIG. 1b is a block diagram of a second portion of the preferred data network for a local operation center.
FIG. 1c is a block diagram of a third portion of the preferred data network for a local operation center.
FIG. 1d is a block diagram of a fourth portion of the preferred data network for a local operation center.
FIG. 2a is a block diagram of a first portion of a second preferred data network for a regional operation center.
FIG. 2b is a block diagram of a second portion of the second preferred data network for a regional operation center.
FIG. 2c is a block diagram of a third portion of the second preferred data network for a regional operation center.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a preferred system for a geospatial media information processing system.
FIG. 4a is a flowchart of a first portion of a first preferred computer process for a master activity program.
FIG. 4b is a flowchart of a second portion of the first preferred computer process for a master activity program.
FIG. 5 is an illustration of a preferred scheduling module.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a second preferred computer process.
FIG. 7a is a flowchart of a first portion of a third preferred computer process for media planning scheduling activity.
FIG. 7b is a flowchart of a second portion of the third preferred computer process for media planning scheduling activity.
FIG. 8 is an illustration of an acquisition module according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a fourth preferred computer process for digital media acquisition activity.
FIG. 10 is an illustration of a production module according to the present invention.
FIG. 11a is a flowchart of a first portion of a fifth preferred computer process for digital media production activity according to the present invention.
FIG. 11b is a flowchart of a second portion of the fifth preferred computer process for digital media production activity according to the present invention.
FIG. 11c is a flowchart of a third portion of the fifth preferred computer process for digital media production activity according to the present invention.
FIG. 11d is a flowchart of a fourth portion of the fifth preferred computer process for digital media production activity according to the present invention.
FIG. 11e is a flowchart of a fifth portion of the fifth preferred computer process for digital media production activity according to the present invention.
FIG. 11f is a flowchart of a sixth portion of the fifth preferred computer process for digital media production activity according to the present invention.
FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a sixth preferred computer process for a multimedia production system according to the present invention.
FIG. 13 is a flowchart of a seventh preferred computer process for multimedia sales activity.
FIG. 14 is an illustration of a distribution module according to the present invention.
FIG. 15a is an illustration of a first portion of a preferred rotated programming format according to the present invention.
FIG. 15b is an illustration of a second portion of the preferred rotated programming format according to the present invention.
FIG. 16 is an illustration of a scheduling module according to the present invention.
FIG. 17a is a flowchart of a first portion of an eighth preferred computer process for management of customer relations activity.
FIG. 17b is a flowchart of a second portion of the eighth preferred computer process for management of customer relations activity.
FIG. 17c is a flowchart of a third portion of the eighth preferred computer process for management of customer relations activity.
FIG. 18a is a flowchart of a first portion of a ninth preferred computer process for marketing activity according to the present invention.
FIG. 18b is a flowchart of a second portion of the ninth preferred computer process for marketing activity according to the present invention.
FIG. 19a is a flowchart of a first portion of a tenth preferred computer process for market rating analysis according to the present invention.
FIG. 19b is a flowchart of a second portion of the tenth preferred computer process.
FIG. 19c is a flowchart of a third portion of the tenth preferred computer process.
FIG. 20a is a flowchart of a first portion of an eleventh preferred computer process for community advertising according to the present invention.
FIG. 20b is a flowchart of a second portion of the eleventh preferred computer process.
FIG. 20c is a flowchart of a third portion of the eleventh preferred computer process.
FIG. 20d is a flowchart of a fourth portion of the eleventh preferred computer process.
FIG. 20e is a flowchart of a fifth portion of the eleventh preferred computer process.
FIG. 20f is a flowchart of a sixth portion of the eleventh preferred computer process.
FIG. 21 is a flowchart of a twelfth preferred computer process for company advertising.
FIG. 23 is an illustration of an executive information management system module according to the present invention.
FIG. 24 is an illustration of a knowledge management module according to the present invention.
FIG. 25 is an illustration of a preferred class schema according to the present invention.
FIG. 26 is an illustration of a preferred UML Class according to the present invention.
Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the attached drawings.
The present invention is an integrated system of hardware and software modules for processing visual, audio, textual, and geospatial information. The integrated system uses a preferred process and architecture for improved data throughput, security, and scalability.
An integrated system 10 of modules according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 3. The integrated system 10 is a geospatial media information processing system (hereinafter referred to as GMIPS). GMIPS is preferably configured to include a plurality of base modules 12 for providing minimum functionalities of media information processing. The base modules 12 incorporate information processing and are developed for use in a specially designed cell-based local area network (LAN) for each operating center. The base modules 12 are preferably configured to include a scheduling module 14, an acquisition module 16, a production module 18, and a distribution module 20. Each module 12 contains an information management software application 22. The information management software application 22 is a conventional object database management system (ODBMS). The ODBMS 22 has a central application interface that provides data management and warehousing administration. An ODBMS, like Objectivity, may be used as the central ODBMS.
The Scheduling Module. The scheduling module 14 serves to process all requests for media acquisition. The scheduling module 14 also programs a daily production schedule, distribution-programming grid and data network programming. The scheduling module 14 contains three information applications to provide media acquisition scheduling-namely a shared ODBMS 22, a shared geographic information system (GIS) application 24, and an information exchange program (not shown). Each application has a proprietary management front-end. Information concerning projected production requests are entered into the ODBMS 22 and used by the programming department to schedule media acquisition. The GIS application 24 provides geographic maps and computes least-cost-routing based on identified positioning for efficient media acquisition. This information is also entered into the ODBMS 22 for use in development of the daily media acquisition schedules.
Following completion of media acquisition, a programming department also uses specialized information applications to update the daily programming grid and data network programming with newly produced digital media datasets. The programming grid automatically programs the distribution of media datasets by geographic area over distribution networks. The distribution is dependent on the type of media outlet where the datasets will be distributed. The distribution module 20 performs that actual distribution of datasets to private and public information networks. The activity UML used in the scheduling module 14 are listed in FIGS. 7a and 7b.
Acquisition Module. The acquisition module 16 consists of three sub-modules consisting of the ODBMS 22, the shared GIS application 24, and equipment 30 defined in a geographic specific Digital Media Acquisition System (DMAS) (not shown). DMAS equipment includes a Geospatial Media Recorder (GMR) 32 central receiving station on each mobile DMAS system, local receivers that receive GMR information from the GMR 32 central receiving system, and a GMR video encoder (not shown) that is retrofitted for use on all digital media acquisition camcorders. The GMR video encoder (not shown) places on each frame of video, geospatial data. The GMR video encoder (not shown) uses specialized electronic circuitry that is connected to a camcorders lens focus ratio apparatus to provide relative geographic positioning based on the camcorder's focused field of vision. This relative position of the camcorder's focused field of vision is then interpreted through the GMR video encoder (not shown) and the geospatial data of the viewed image is encoded on to each individual video frame. The encoding of geospatial data is placed on an available data track of the video frame depending on the video recorder in use. DMAS system equipment can be interchanged with other digital media acquisition equipment based on geographic area and/or technical specifications of media development. This flexibility provides for the inclusion of advanced digital video formats required when available. The activity UML used in the acquisition module is at FIG. 9.
Production Module. The production module 18 has three sub-modules that include the shared ODBMS 22, a digital media production system (hereinafter referred to as DMPS) 36, and a multimedia production system (hereinafter referred to as MMPS) 38. The third shared DMPS 36 uses native digital media editing and production equipment and MPEG generators for MPEG digital media creation. The digital media equipment can be upgraded based on new capabilities that are released in future upgrades. The MMPS 38 uses a variety of equipment and selected multimedia creation software applications. The third shared DMPS 36 and MMPS 38 submodules automatically read GMR information into the shared ODBMS 22. For media that was not acquired through the DMAS, manual entry of GMR information will be entered into the shared ODBMS 22. For media that was not acquired through the DMAS (not shown), manual entry of GMR information will be entered into the ODBMS 22. Each module has information processing applications that have proprietary enhancements and provides seamless digital media development for any media distribution venue. Shown in FIGS. 11a–f are activity UMLs used in the production module.
Distribution Module. The distribution module 20 has two central proprietary submodules 40 and six plug-in submodules 42 that are geographic or distribution system dependent. The first one of the two central proprietary submodules 40 is the shared ODBMS 22. The second one of the two central proprietary submodules 40 is a media query system (MQS) 43. The six plug-in submodules consist of a terrestrial submodule 44, a cable system (CS) submodule 46, an open video system (OVS) submodule 48, a multipoint multichannel distribution system (MMDS) submodule 50, a wireless network submodule 52, and a data network submodule 53. The two central proprietary submodules 40 consist of six software applications to include the shared ODBMS 22, information exchange application (not shown), an Internet information application (not shown), Internet site creator application (not shown), media querying application (not shown) and XML parser (not shown). The six plug-in submodules 42 provide for connectivity services to different media outlets based on geographical area or distribution system requirements.
Shown in Table 1 is a list of equipment (or applications) that are used based on connectivity required by geographic area.
Distribution Media Dataset Applications
EQUIPMENT PLATFORM TERRES. BROADCSTNG APPLICATIONS Terrestrial DSS MPEG-2 Satellite Terrestrial DTV Multichannel SDTV MPEG-2 Terrestrial Digital Multichannel DTV MPEG-1 Active-X, Datacasting Netshow, Quicktime, Real Video
Cable Television/Open Video System/MMDS
Cable System MPEG Transporter MPEG-2 OVS MPEG Transporter MPEG-2 MMDS MPEG Transporter MPEG-2
Wireless Hybrid Active-X, VFW, MPEG-1
Data Networks
VPN ATM Services MPEG-1 Cable Modem/ATM Hybrid Network MPEG-1 (DSL) Internet ATM Services Active-X, Netshow, Quicktime, Real Video
The Terrestrial Submodule. Direct connection to a company's virtual private network (VPN) will provide distribution. The terrestrial submodule 44 is not expected to be implemented until datacasting contracts have been implemented. MPEG-2 datasets will be distributed under this network architecture. To provide the widest dissemination of programming and repetitive marketing, a television-programming format may be designed based on a unique program rotation and is depicted at FIGS. 15a–b.
The CS, OVS, and MMDS Submodules. For connectivity to cable video distribution systems, like cable TV, OVS, and MMDS, to provide MPEG-2 digital media. Distribution to headends will also be available under this distribution architecture. To provide the widest dissemination of programming and repetitive marketing, a television-programming format is designed based on a unique program rotation and is depicted at FIGS. 15a–b.
Wireless Network Submodule. For connectivity to wireless networks, hybrid network equipment will provide management and monitoring over ATM LAN-WAN interconnects. Media datasets will include various viewing capabilities depending on connection speed and bandwidth.
Data Network Submodule. For connectivity to data networks, several plug-in equipment systems with specific playback applications will be provided as sub-modules. Playback applications have proprietary front-ends and additional functionalities. Distribution to a virtual private network (VPN), cable modem networks, DSL networks or any other high-bandwidth is provisioned over an ATM LAN-WAN interconnect. Hybrid network equipment will perform user management and monitoring. All content is provided over an WAN interconnect to the public Internet. Various digital media datasets will be distributed under this network architecture.
GMIPS Specialty Modules. In addition to the base modules 12, the GMIPS 10 may include a plurality of specialty modules 54 for providing overall management of the GMIPS 10. The specialty modules 54 preferably include a first submodule 56 (hereinafter referred to as the Sales & Marketing Customer Relationship Management or CRM module) specially configured for dissemination of sales and marketing information, a second submodule 58 (hereinafter referred to as the Financial Enterprise Resource Planning or FERP module) specially configured for financial planning, a third submodule 60 (hereinafter referred to as the Executive Information System or EIS module) specially configured for providing a proprietary front-end, and a fourth submodule 62 (hereinafter referred to as the Knowledge Management Information Decision Support System or KMIDSS module) for analyzation and knowledge discovery. Each one of the specialty modules 54 has a proprietary front-end for different operating centers. More specifically, the front ends include, a local operation center (not shown), a regional operation center (not shown), a regional production facility (not shown), and a central operation center (not shown). Each module has secure encrypted connectivity service to different centers by means of a VPN. Data relationships are set by level to access data by operating level. These modules are not required for implementation of the basic GMIPS system.
The (Sales and Marketing) CRM Module. The CRM module 56 serves to disseminate sales and marketing information throughout an enterprise. The CRM module 56 preferably includes the shared ODBMS module 22 and a first relational database management system (RDBMS) 66. Three relational database management systems (RDBMS) (not shown) are created from the shared ODBMS module 22 and are accessed to consolidate information for use by the marketing, sales, and central executive departments. Information concerning sales, advertising, and production information can be accessed via a company virtual private network (not shown). An Internet information application is accessible for Internet related information. A marketing research department may use a separately generated RDBMS (not shown) for statistical analysis. A statistical analysis RDBMS (not shown) may retain and analyze the following demographic information:
viewership (e.g., television, wireless, data network, etc.),
advertiser Solicitation,
monthly housing market data,
seller and buyer data,
VPN & Internet usage data,
multimedia magazine usage data,
mortgage referral data, and
real estate agency referral data.
This information may be compiled using proprietary data compilation front-ends for different operating centers. Real-time data access may provide current demographic information regarding all areas of marketing management. Financial information, is not accessible via the CRM module 56. FIGS. 17a–21 show flowcharts of preferred processes executed by UMLs.
The FERP Module. The financial enterprise resource management (FERP) module 58 provides resource planning for each operating activity of an enterprise. The FERP Module 58 incorporates the shared ODBMS 22 and a second RDBMS 70. The RDBMS 70 is created from the ODBMS 22. Access to this module is user specific and requires handshake identification to a unique workstation GUID for authentication. The FERP 58 uses secure encrypted IPsec connectivity across a virtual private network (not shown). FERP analysis is conducted via an open database connectivity (ODBC) to financial analysis applications for financial reporting and analysis.
The EIS Module. The EIS module 60 serves to provide a proprietary front-end for reporting information for each operating activity with the enterprise. Essentially, the EIS module 60 serves as an executive information management system for the enterprise. Several predefined periodic (e.g., daily, weekly, and monthly) reports are provided for each level of the enterprise. A report writer application is able to access data from all database management systems (DBMS) located anywhere in the enterprise. Access to the EIS module 60 is user specific and will require handshake identification to a unique workstation GUID for authentication. The EIS module 60 uses secure encrypted IPsec connectivity across the VPN. Financial analysis information is only made available on a user specific basis.
The KMIDSS Module. The KMIDSS module 62 serves to provide proprietary applications for analyzation and knowledge discovery based on data contained in data repositories. Selected data obtained from the CRM module 56 or the FERP module 58 is retained in separate RDBMS for use by decision support applications. The KMIDSS module 62 uses commercially available software applications. Authorized virtual private network users will be granted access the KMIDSS module 62.
Information Processing. Data concerning geospatial entities are obtained through a variety of methods including direct data acquisition, use of the GMIPS acquisition module 16 and GMR 32, secondary databases, and other information sources. Each entity acquired by the GMR 32 includes geographic coordinates (in decimal notation), altimetric position, timestamp data and coordinated Universal Time code (UTC). When geographic coordinates, altimetry, and timestamp parameters are concatenated into any sequence and are stored, referenced or used in data processing, then concatenated data constitutes GeoSpatial Entity Object Code (a.k.a., GEOCode). If geographic coordinates, altimetric position, and timestamp data are stored in a object class under UML modeling schema or are stored in a concatenated data attribute under textual, relational, or object-relational database schema, then the derived data type constitutes a GeoSpatial Entity Object Code (GEOCode). An ODBMS class schema is depicted in FIG. 25. A geospatial object class is shown in FIG. 26 in UML notation.
FIG. 26 illustrates a geospatial information processing (GEOCode) 104 in UML Class notation and 110 in an all-numeric representation, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. For exemplary purposes, the GEOCode in UML Class notation 104 and 110 in numeric representation of the GMIPS provides geospatial positional location and point identification referencing for visual and audio information of a single family house 102 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The GEOCode 110 provides a numeric representation converted from longitude and latitude in geographic degree, minutes, and seconds (DMS) coordinate alphanumeric representations or decimal equivalent geographic coordinate alphanumeric representations and altitude alphanumeric representations 106a–106e into individual discrete all-natural number geographic coordinate and measurement representations of longitude 112, latitude 114, altitude 116 and additional spatial information 118 and 120 (i.e., individual all-numeric geospatial data attributes). The GEOCode in all-numeric representation 110 concatenates 112–120 the individual discrete all-natural number geographic and measurement representations into a single discrete all-natural number geospatial coordinate measurement representation 110 for identification of a geospatial positional location and point identification at, below, or above earth's surface, in this case the geospatial positional location and point identification reference of the single family house. The single discrete all-natural number geospatial coordinate measurement representation 110 may include longitude 112, latitude 114, altitude 116, timestamp 118 including year, month, day, hour, minute, second, and UTC time zone 120 and other spatial information.
Timestamping. Under SQL-92 timestamping is defined as an object or data attribute that contains data and time. The granularity of a specified data attribute depends on a database in a different fashion. For the GMIPS 10, a timestamp is defined as an object or data attribute containing the date in YY-MM-DD format and time in hours-minutes-second format or any sequential order of these parameters. Additionally, timestamping may include a time zone based on Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) for the ODBMS 22 and an upgrade of the current version of the structured query language (SQL) called SQL-3. Preferably, timestamping includes any object or data attribute containing the date in YY-MM-DD format and time in hours-minutes-second format and UTC time zone or any sequential order of these parameters.
Preprocessing. Data obtained through customer-provided information data sheets, direct observation, metering, or other database sources are scrubbed and entered into the GMIPS 10. Each object or record is automatically updated with data obtained from public information sources, which include the following:
property ownership records
U.S. Postal Service Addresses
Property Construction Information
Mortgage Records
Primary Data Processing. Primary data processing includes data obtained and processed in the four base modules 12.
Secondary Data Processing. Secondary data processing includes data created or derived from the base modules 12. This includes data to be used for customer relationship management (CRM) and financial enterprise resource planning (FERP) modules.
Post-processing. Post processing includes data used from the GMIPS base modules 12 and specialty modules 54, which includes the CRM module 56 and FERP module 58. Detailed reporting and compendiums are generated from the EIS module 60. The KMIDSS module 62 is preferably provided in a post-processing module.
It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the sole embodiments described above, but encompass any and all embodiments within the scope of the following claims.
1. A geospatial media recorder, comprising:
converting means for converting longitude and latitude geographic degree, minutes, and seconds (DMS) coordinate alphanumeric representations or decimal equivalent geographic coordinate alphanumeric representations and altitude alphanumeric representations into individual discrete all-natural number geographic coordinate and measurement representations; and
combining means for concatenating the individual discrete all-natural number geographic coordinate and measurement representations into a single discrete all-natural number geospatial coordinate measurement representation for identification of a geospatial positional location at, below, or above earth's surface allowing user to geospatially reference entities or objects based on the identified geospatial positional location and point identification.
2. The geospatial media recorder according to claim 1, wherein the converting means further converts latitude and longitude coordinates and additional spatial information comprising date, local time, and global time into the individual discrete all-natural number geographic coordinate and measurement representations for encoding onto a data segment of a video frame at a time of media acquisition.
3. The geospatial media recorder according to claim 2, further comprising:
encoding means for encoding the single discrete all-natural number geospatial coordinate measurement representation onto the data segment of the video frame at a time of geospatial data acquisition.
capturing means having a geospatial receiver interconnected with a focus element at a first location, said capturing means for capturing information of an entity at a second location, and geospatially referencing the second location to the first location in accordance with a focus ratio of the focus element and the single discrete all-natural number geospatial coordinate measurement representation associated with the geospatial receiver.
5. The medium according to claim 1, wherein the single discrete all-natural number geospatial coordinate measurement representation is stored in an encapsulated object class and the single discrete all-natural geospatial coordinate measurement representation is written on media or encoded on a medium.
6. The geospatial media recorder according to claim 1, wherein the converting means is further configured to convert additional spatial information comprising date, local time, and global time into the individual discrete all-natural number geographic coordinate and measurement representations for encoding onto a data segment of a video frame at a time of media acquisition.
7. An acquisition module for acquiring geospatial data, said acquisition module comprising:
encoding means for encoding geospatial data onto a data segment of a video frame at a time of geospatial data acquisition;
capturing means having a geospatial receiver interconnected with a focus element at a first location, said capturing means being configured for capturing information of an entity at a second location, and geospatially referencing the second location to the first location in accordance with a focus ratio of the focus element and geospatial data associated with the geospatial receiver; and
converting means for converting latitude and longitude coordinates or decimal equivalent coordinates and additional spatial information into a concatenated single discrete all-natural numeric geospatial data format for encoding onto the data segment of the video frame at a time of media acquisition allowing a user to geospatially reference entities or objects based on the encoded concatenated single discrete all-natural numeric geospatial data format.
8. The acquisition module according to claim 7, wherein said converting means stores the concatenated single discrete all-natural numeric geospatial data format in an encapsulated object class.
9. A geospatial information processing method comprising:
converting latitude and longitude geographic degree, minutes, and seconds (DMS) coordinate alphanumeric representations or decimal equivalent geographic coordinate alphanumeric representations and altitude alphanumeric representations into individual discrete all-natural number geographic coordinate and measurement representations; and
concatenating the individual discrete all-natural number geographic coordinate and measurement representations into a single discrete all-natural number geospatial coordinate measurement representation for identification of a geospatial positional location at, below, or above earth's surface allowing a user to geospatially reference entities or objects based on the identified geospatial positional location and point identification.
10. The geospatial information processing method according to claim 9, further comprising:
encoding the single discrete all-natural number geospatial coordinate measurement representation onto a data segment of a video frame at a time of geospatial data acquisition.
providing a geospatial receiver interconnected with a focus element at a first location for capturing information of an entity at a second location; and
geospatially referencing the second location to the first location in accordance with a focus ratio of the focus element and the single discrete all-natural number geospatial coordinate measurement representation associated with the geospatial receiver.
writing the single discrete all-natural number coordinate measurement representation on media.
encoding the single discrete all-natural number geospatial coordinate measurement representation on a medium.
storing the single discrete all-natural number geospatial coordinate measurement representation in an encapsulated object class.
15. The geospatial information processing method according to claim 9, wherein the converting step further comprises converting additional spatial information comprising date, local time, and global time into the individual discrete all-natural number geographic coordinate and measurement representations for encoding onto a video frame at a time of media acquisition and the concatenating step further comprises concatenating the individual discrete all-natural number geographic coordinate and measurement representations into the single discrete all-natural number geospatial coordinate measurement representation.
16. A geospatial media recorder, comprising:
a converter configured to convert longitude and latitude geographic degree, minutes, and seconds (DMS) coordinate alphanumeric representations or decimal equivalent geographic coordinate alphanumeric representations and altitude alphanumeric representations into individual discrete all-natural number geographic coordinate and measurement representations; and
a converting unit configured to concatenate the individual discrete all-natural number geographic coordinate and measurement representations into a single discrete all-natural number geospatial coordinate measurement representation for identification of a geospatial positional location at, below, or above earth's surface allowing a user to geospatially reference entities or objects based on the identified geospatial positional location and point identification.
17. A geospatial media recorder configured to record geospatial data at a location, comprising:
a media capturing unit configured to acquire geospatial referenced visual and audio information; and
a geospatial media encoder having a geospatial receiver, the geospatial media encoder configured to capture geospatial location information of the media recorder at a first location, geospatially reference a second location to the first location in accordance with the geospatial data associated with the geospatial receiver, calculate at the first location and during media acquisition geospatial location of the objects or entities at the second location using field measurements of the objects or entities at the second location based on the geospatial data of the media recorder, and convert latitude and longitude coordinates and additional spatial information comprising date, local time, and global time into the individual discrete all-natural number geographic coordinate and measurement representations for encoding onto a video frame at a time of media acquisition allowing a user to geospatially reference entities or objects based on the encoded concatenated single discrete all-natural numeric geospatial data format.
4709148 November 24, 1987 Fox et al.
4855827 August 8, 1989 Best
5371532 December 6, 1994 Gelman
5418713 May 23, 1995 Allen
5528518 June 18, 1996 Bradshaw et al.
5584025 December 10, 1996 Keithley et al.
5633946 May 27, 1997 Lachinski et al.
5731786 March 24, 1998 Abraham et al.
5734719 March 31, 1998 Tsevdos et al.
5736977 April 7, 1998 Hughes
5845263 December 1, 1998 Camaisa et al.
5852810 December 22, 1998 Sotiroff et al.
5867155 February 2, 1999 Williams
5893113 April 6, 1999 McGrath et al.
5909638 June 1, 1999 Allen
5945985 August 31, 1999 Babin et al.
5953722 September 14, 1999 Lampert et al.
5968109 October 19, 1999 Israni et al.
5999924 December 7, 1999 Bair et al.
6020931 February 1, 2000 Bilbrey et al.
6029173 February 22, 2000 Meek et al.
6038568 March 14, 2000 McGrath et al.
6047234 April 4, 2000 Cherveny et al.
6061688 May 9, 2000 Kilpatrick et al.
6141570 October 31, 2000 O'Neill et al.
6188962 February 13, 2001 Morgan et al.
6282362 August 28, 2001 Murphy et al.
6310661 October 30, 2001 Arsenault
6317718 November 13, 2001 Fano
6421653 July 16, 2002 May
6496870 December 17, 2002 Faustini
6516090 February 4, 2003 Lennon et al.
6829430 December 7, 2004 Ashizaki et al.
2174934 May 1995 CA
2190596 November 1995 CA
2219037 April 1998 CA
2112101 August 1998 CA
"The NMEA FAQ", version 6.1, Sep. 15, 1997, http://www.kh-gps.de/nmea.faq.
C. Davis, et al., "A Means for Expressing Location Information in the Domain Name System," Jan. 1996, Network Working Group, Request for Comments: 1876, Updates: 1034, 1035, Category: Experimental, pp. 1-18.
"Standard Representation of Latitude, Longitude and Altitude for Geographical Point Locations," May 15, 1983, International Standard (ISO) 6709, First edition, pp. 1-3.
Date of Patent: Sep 12, 2006
Assignee: GeoQwest International Inc. (Columbia, MD)
Inventor: Carl M. Burnett (Silver Spring, MD)
Primary Examiner: Jack M Choules
Attorney: Squire, Sanders & Dempsey L.L.P.
Current U.S. Class: 707/104.1; Data Format (348/467); Relative Location (701/300); 707/10
International Classification: G06F 17/30 (20060101); G06F 17/10 (20060101); H04N 7/025 (20060101);


Graduated in Civil Engineering in 1973, Stefano Odorizzi started his activity as researcher in 1976 at University of Padova, where he holds the course of Solid Mechanics. CEO and co-founder of EnginSoft, multinational consultancy company engaged in Simulation Based Engineering Science, he actively promotes numerical simulation for research activity, with particular attention for manufacturing process, metallurgy, multi-disciplinary and multi-objective optimization. Since 1977, he has been Project leader of a large number of EU co-funded research projects (like COMETT, CRAFT, BRITE-EURAM, MURST, EU-RTD); he is an active member of several associations (ISOPE, ASM Europe, AICAP, AIM, ATA, NAFEMS) and he plays an important role within prestigious European Networks (MACSinet, FENET, INGENET, TECHNET). His commitment in numerical simulation dissemination is witnessed by his many initiatives as General Manager of EnginSoft, in academic research and advanced training and education.
Ford Motor Company, Global Manager of Powertrain NVH & Systems CAE Dept.
The automotive engineering community is now confronting the largest technological transformation since its inception. Recent advancements related to the electrification of powertrains for more efficient consumption and cleaner emissions, the reinvention of the battery with fast wireless charging capabilities to fully replace the current fuel driven vehicles and finally the advent of fully autonomous vehicles.
The car as we know it today will totally change! It will have a so-called "soul" and will be an extension of your personality which you can talk to, can read your face and lips, and would know your mood and feelings as it transports you from point A to point B. The whole concept of passenger transportation is being transformed into a Safer, Healthier and Smarter Environment.
The challenges ahead for automotive engineers are enormous and SIMULATION will be playing a very important role in delivering these Smart Vehicles in a very demanding Smart World.
Mr. Felice is Global Manager of Powertrain NVH CAE engineering at Ford Motor Company. He heads a large team of well over 100 CAE engineers located in North America, Europe, Australia and India.
He's responsible for all the analytical support of Ford's global powertrain development programs with the goal of delivering best NVH refinement with respect to Smoothness, Quietness and Sound Quality.
Mr. Felice has been employed with Ford Motor Company for over 40 years. During this time he's held a number of positions specializing in design and analysis of engine components and sub-systems, as well as full powertrain system.
He has published and presented at many international symposiums and conferences and earlier this year he's been elected member of the NAFEMS Council (Board of Directors). NAFEMS is the International Society for Simulation Engineering.
CNH Industrial (CNHi) is a global leader in the capital goods sector that designs, produces and sells agricultural and construction equipment, trucks, commercial vehicles, buses and specialty vehicles, in addition to a broad portfolio of powertrain applications. Specifically, in the agriculture business CNHi represents one of the major full-line manufacturer which produces, with different brands, all the following products: Tractors, Planting & Seeding, Application equipment, Harvesting machines, Tillage tools, Windrowers, Mowers and Conditioners, Forage Harvesters and Blowers, Balers, Loaders and Attachments, Utility vehicle, Advanced Farming Systems and other products.
In the last decades, the agricultural machinery market has become highly competitive and the manufacturers of agricultural equipment have been pushed to continuously innovate their products, increasing the performances, the quality and reliability of their machines. We have seen that 'digital simulation' can accelerate the process of the Agricultural Machinery Design and improve the machine performances. For this reason, at CNHi we have introduced the digital approach in all the phases of the new product development process, with the goal to simulate digitally the whole Product and its performances. Our design team, starting from the early stage of the new product design, develops the complete digital representation of the Product (Digital Mock-Up) and the Plant (Virtual Manufacturing). Another big step is to identify the vehicle mission in order to reproduce on the test bench the different manoeuvres that the test engineers perform in the field (from the field to the bench). Finally, the simulation team reproduces on computer all the vehicle missions on the computer (going from 'the bench to the math'). At this point we need to able simulate in accurate way all the range of operations and conditions that machines must perform in field. For this reason, a big area of our simulation team is dedicated to simulating the different seeds, soils and crops (in various stages of being processed), that can change their properties depending on the location and seasonal conditions. In fact, the variability of these properties can have a strong influence on the machine performances.
Having the 'complete digital model' of the new product, the Virtual Reality Centre has become the place where all the stakeholders of the product platform team executes the design reviews, analyses alternative solutions and deliberates product and process solutions. Using the immersive virtual environment (VR simulators), we can include in the design loop also members of the Brand & Marketing, Customers & Dealers that can evaluate the product features some years before the market launch of the new product.
The expected benefits of using Virtual Simulation are, therefore, the reduction of development time (it enables the concurrent engineering), the reduction of development costs (better design through virtual pre-checks, less modifications and less physical tests) and the quality increase (a product that fits perfectly with customer requirements).
Gennaro is the Simulation and Material Engineering world-wide responsible for CNH Industrial.
From 2014 to 2016 he was the Responsible of Innovation Department for all CNH Industrial Sectors and at the same time President of ALTRA SPA, Center of Excellence for the study of ALternative TRActions.
From 2008 to 2014 he covered the role of simulation director for agricultural and construction machinery at Fiat Industrial.
From 2006 to 2008 he worked at the Centro Ricerche Fiat as head of the "Intersectorial Methodology Innovation Master Plan". From March 1990 to June 2006 he worked in the area of Research & Development of the FCA (Fiat Chrysler Automobile) with increasing responsibility roles.
In 2000 he was CEO of the PRODE Consortium (Product Design) composed of ELASIS (FCA) and the University of Naples Federico II, and President of the SCIRE Consortium, composed of ELASIS and the University of Rome Tor Vergata. During the same period he held the position of Adjunct Professor of "Automobile Construction and Industrial Standardization" at the "Second University of Naples" and the "University of Naples Federico II" for about 10 years. He graduated in electronic engineering at the University of Naples Federico II.
From 2016 he is a member of the Board of Directors of the CRIT research consortium on behalf of CNH Industrial and President of the regional section of the GDF association (FIAT Director Group).
From 2017 he is in the Mentor Board of the ASTER, which is the Consortium for innovation and technology transfer of Emilia-Romagna region.
The presentation gives an overview about the challenges of the disruption from ADAS to AD and the key role of the modeling and simulation tools.
Prof. Dr. Schneider is sponsored Professor of Advanced Driver Systems and coordinator of the newly founded Master´s Course at the University of Applied Sciences Kempten.
Prof. Dr. Schneider studied Mathematic and Physic at the Technische Universität München, Germany, concluding with a diploma in 1995 and a Doctor rer.-nat., Mathematics and Computer Science in 2000. His first industry position was with Infineon Technologies AG where he worked as a development engineer in the department of Advanced Technology Software.
From 2001 – 2003, Prof. Dr. Schneider was with Axxom Software AG where he designed and developed mathematical optimization methods as a Senior System Analyst. Furthermore, he worked as Methods Engineer at BMW AG where he was concerned with Process, Method and Tool for Functional and Software Development, for Modeling Multi-domain Physical Systems, in particular with the programming language Modelica.
"Future built on Artificial intelligence From Deep Competencies built in 30 years of Research to an Innovative Vision for the AI of the Future"
FBK built the future on a new generation of Artificial Intelligence, which does not replace humans at work, in their life but collaborate with them.
FBK*AI for citizens, which makes the city more livable, enjoyable, and safe.
FBK*AI for humans who enjoy an healthy style of life.
FBK*AI that lets machines and people work together, in a more productive, safe, pleasant, enjoyable factory.
FBK*AI for humans who respect the environment and its resources.
FBK*AI that helps humans to discover the secrets of world and matter physics.
Francesco Profumo (M'88-SM'90) was born in Savona, Italy, in 1953. He is Professor of Electrical Machines and Drives at Politecnico di Torino and Adjunct Professor at University of Bologna. He was Visiting Professor at University of Wisconsin – Madison (1986-1989), at Nagasaki University (1996-1997), at Czech Technical University (1999) and University of Cordoba (2004 and 2005). Dr. Profumo was the Dean of the Engineering Faculty at the Politecnico di Torino (2003 to 2005) and the Rector of the Politecnico di Torino (2005 to 2011). He has been appointed as President of CNR (National Research Council) in July 2011 and as Italian Minister of Education, University and Research (MIUR) in November 2011. Prof. Profumo is the Chairman of Bruno Kessler Foundation, the Chairman of Fondazione Compagni di Sanpaolo, the Chairman of Turin Campus ESCP, the Chairman of SAFM.
His fields of interest are power electronics conversion, high power devices, applications of new power devices, integrated electronic/electromechanical design, high response speed servo drives, new electrical machines structures, power conditiong systems for fuel cells applications. He published more than 250 papers in International Conferences and Technical Journals. Dr. Profumo won the IEEE-IAS second prize paper in 1991(USA) and in 1997 (USA), the IEEE-IAS first prize paper in 1992 (USA) and the JIEE-IPEC first prize paper in 2005 (JAPAN). He was awarded by the Signum Aureum Facultatis Mechanicae Universitatis Miskolciensis, July 1, 2000, University of Miskolc (Hungary), by the Honorary Professorship, University of Cordoba (Argentina), August 11, 2004, by the Honorary Doctor Degree, Technical University of Riga (Latvia), October 12, 2006, by the Honorary Doctor Degree, Politechnica of Bucarest (Romania), June 15, 2007, by the Honorary Doctor Degree, University of Miskolc (Hungary), June 26, 2007, by the Honorary Professorship, Jiao Tong University, Xi An (China), September 11, 2007, by the Honorary Professorship, Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo (China), September 27, 2009, by the Honorary Doctor Degree, Politechnica of Tirana (Albania), October 1, 2009, by Honorary Professorship, Tongji University, Shanghai (Cina), June 20, 2012 and by Honorary Professorship, Luoyang Normal University, Luoyang (Cina), November 22, 2013.
Further awards: China Awards by Italy_China Foundation (2009), Certificate of Appreciation by Fulbright Commission (2009), Orden Universidad Javeriana by Javeriana University (Bogotà, Colombia) (2010), Escudo de Oro by University of Antioquia (Medellin, Colombia) (2010),Lion d'Oro by Lion International (Torino) (2008), Award Valdo Fusi (Torino) (2011), Award Guido Carli (Rome) (2011) and Award Pericle (Torre di Ruggiero) (2013). He has been the Chairman of the G8 University Summit 2009, (Torino) (2009) and the Chairman of the Columbus Association (55 European and Latin American Universities) (2006-2011). He has been the Chairman of IREN Group (2013-2016), Member of the Board of Unicredit Private Bank (2008/2010), of the Board of Il Sole 24 Ore (2007/2009), of the Board of Fidia (2007/2011), of the Board of Telecom (2011), of the Board of Pirelli (2011) and of the General Committee of Unicredit Private Banking (2011). He is Member of Academia Europaea - Physics and Engineering Section (2010) and member of the Accademia delle Scienze (2008).
Prof. John Goodacre holds a Professorship in Computer Architectures in the School of Computer Science at the University of Manchester while also being the Director of Technology and Systems in the Research Group at ARM Ltd and is co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Kaleao Limited. His career has included the realisation of the first scalable commodity telephony platform, the introduction of the first real-time collaboration tools shipped in Microsoft Exchange 2000, while more recently, was responsible for the design and introduction of the ARM MPCore multicore processor and associated technologies. His roles today extend across both academic and industrial research topic, focused around web-scale servers, exascale efficient systems and ubiquitous computing, while also driving forwards the technological vision for the Kaleao systems roadmap. This gives him a unique hardware and software background with experience from embedded to the largest of big data and HPC systems. He sits on various advisory boards at both national and European level and is a frequent conference speaker.
Global megatrends such as artificial intelligence, advanced data analytics, simulation, and the Internet of Things will inevitably have a massive impact on the manufacturing industry. This will be realized through rapid shifting from an experience and physical product-based industry to businesses based on a virtual, data-driven model of the product and the whole production ecosystem. In terms of the ever-increasing need for tailoring and case-specific optimization of products to improve overall performance, using a virtual environment for as long as possible can be extremely beneficial. However, converting these fine-tuned digital models into real, physical products can be problematic due to the increased amount of customization and complexity, which is further translated into increased costs and lead times.
Additive Manufacturing (AM, also 3D printing), thanks to the design freedom it provides, can be effectively utilized to fulfil the requirements of modern industry. Custom-made tooling can be produced on-demand for a fraction of the costs of conventionally manufactured tools, and the potential for high-performance end-use parts is endless – both in metal and polymer materials. Being an inherently different manufacturing process to conventional subtractive methods, however, a significant investment in knowledge must be made in order to unlock all the potential that Additive Manufacturing makes available. This speech will shed some light on Wärtsilä's insights into the current and near-future potential of Additive Manufacturing, and how to implement it in a smart way, illustrated with concrete business case examples from the real-life factory-floor level.
Juho Raukola is an Innovation Expert in Wärtsilä Corporation, and is the main specialist in the area of Additive Manufacturing within the company. He is responsible of forming and implementing utilization strategy for AM technologies in company, and building up global AM ecosystem for supporting current businesses and creating completely new value chains in Marine & Energy sectors enabled by AM. Raukola did his Master's thesis "Characteristics and applications of metal additive manufacturing in 4-stroke engine manufacturing process" in Wärtsilä's Vaasa site in Finland during 2017, and in January 2018 was then appointed as the first Additive Manufacturing Engineer in the history of this 18 000-people company. In June, he was promoted into his current position in Wärtsilä's Global Smart Manufacturing organization, working on recognizing and developing feasible applications for additive manufacturing both in end-use components and the manufacturing processes of the company's products, and fostering new kind thinking the smart approach for Additive Manufacturing requires.
Resilience of modern societies is largely determined by and dependent on resilience of their critical infrastructures such as energy grids, transportation systems, governmental bodies and water supply. This is clearly recognized by the European Union in its policies and research agenda, such as the DRS (Disaster-Resilience) actions and projects safeguarding and securing society, including adapting to climate change. In this context, the issue of "measuring resilience" has an important place and it is tackled primarily by means of indicators, within the DRS-14 line of calls. The overall goal of the current research agenda is to improve current approaches by providing an innovative "holistic" methodology for assessing resilience of critical infrastructure. The EU research project SmartResilience propose a common methodology across all critical infrastructures and all types of hazards or threats based on resilience indicators. Generally, indicators come from a variety of sources including existing standards, public documents, company practices, literature, and similar, but are also largely defined within the project. The resilience indicators are stored in a common database. The results of the resilience assessment can be used in various ways. One is to compare with previous assessment, i.e. providing a trend showing how the level of resilience is progressing. Since the calculation is performed on all levels of the model (indicator, issue, phase, threat, critical infrastructures and area/city level), it is also possible to "drill down" and identify the reason for an increase or decrease in resilience compared to the previous assessment. Another use is to compare with other cities, areas or critical infrastructures, i.e. to benchmark against others, which provides the opportunity to learn from others. The resilience of a city/area or a critical infrastructure can also be assessed by imposing a set of threats (including defined challenges such as interactions and cascading effects), i.e. stress testing the resilience ability of the city/area/critical infrastructure, and compare the results with predefined criteria. The concept presented is practically applied with the support of new tools: the large database of indicators, tools for the assessment of the resilience level, tools for resilience monitoring, big data analysis tools and the advanced visualization tools.
A. Jovanovic has a long-year professional experience as project manager of many large international/multinational projects in the area innovation management, new technologies, advanced data analysis and data mining, and related areas. Main clients in the projects have been from the EU, national governments (Norway, Belgium, Japan…), industry, utilities, insurances companies, R&D and academia. Main topics covered by the current projects deal with risk management in industry (e.g. for insurance, power, process) and include HSSE (Health, Safety, Security, Environment), RCM (Reliability Centered Maintenance), RBI (Risk-Based Inspection), KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and RCFA (Root Cause Failure analysis) and Resilience. Sample projects managed by him include iNTeg-Risk (www.integrisk.eu-vri.eu, 19.3 million €, 80+ partners), EskomRBI (RBI for power plants in South Africa, 40,000 MWe) or SmartResilience (Resilience Indicators for critical infrastructures in Europe, www.smartresilience.eu-vri.eu).
As a "risk practitioner" A. Jovanovic has contributed to the global risk community by a number of actions, such as Convener and main author of the European standards CEN-CWA 15740 ("RBI"), EN16991:2018 ("RBIF – Risk-Based Inspection Framework") and CEN-CWA 16449:2013 ("Management on New Technologies-Related Risks"), now being developed as ISO 31050 ("Guidance for managing emerging risks for enhanced resilience"). He is a coauthor of the milestone studies/books like the "Future Global Shocks" issued by OECD (2013) of "Expert Systems in Structural Safety Assessment" (Springer, 1987), as well other 7 books and over 200 publications. He speaks fluently French, Italian, English, German and Serbian, and reads Spanish and Russian.
Unfortunately Professor Jovanovic will not be able to attend the conference, so his speech will be delivered by Mr. Svetoraz Eremić.
Svetozar Eremić is the HSE (Health, Safety, Environment) manager/director in Pančevo Oil Refinery. He has a wide experience on production processes, maintenance activities and reliability strategies and development in refinery units that he gained while working on various positions in Pančevo Oil Refinery. He is Risk Based Inspection (RBI) and Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) Certified Expert, Steinbeis University, Berlin. He was NIS leader in the FP7 project iNTeg-Risk - Early recognition, Monitoring and Integrated Management of Emerging, New Technology Related Risks , NIS leader in the EU project SmartResilience and the Chair of the End-User Advisory Group.
Involving of Materials Modelling as well as Engineering Simulation into business decision to develop and manufacture new products, perform novel multi-functional materials and systems, study and analyze the life-cycle performance and properties of engineering structures are considered as a European Science & Technology strength. Industry needs to use modelling tools and approaches for digital analyse of materials, products and manufacturing process, which allow varying some parameters to find the optimal product properties, design and characteristics. Integration of materials modelling to solve the industrial problem is the focus of European Materials Modelling Council (EMMC). The modelling and digital analysis offers unique insight into properties and in-service behaviour of materials, manufacturing process and understanding of the physics of materials, devices and processes. On the other side, modelling reduce product development time as well as costs and hardware for testing . Materials modelling as well as digital twins are important parts of the modern business decision making. However, they need far more implementation and use in manufacturing industry to reap their full economic impact. Unfortunately, it is the big issue to find the bridging between the industrial challenges and scientific/ academic innovations, needed for the realisation of the industrial tasks. How industry, especially SMEs, can find the modelling specialists or suitable modelling workflow to solve the concrete applied problem? Who can give the information regarding the costs of the modelling implementation and economic benefits from the modelling projects? The translation of industrial case into modelling solution is performed by Translators. They are primary players at the interface between industrial end-users on the one hand and software owners and modellers on the other hand. Translators support the usage of materials modelling in industrial R&D to the same level as experiments are used today.
The challenges and possibilities for wider industrial adoption of modelling and engineering simulations are discussed in the talk. The EMMC Materials Modelling Translation concept is presented and explained in details.
Dr. Natalia Konchakova is a Senior Scientist at the Magnesium Innovation Centre MagIC of the Helmholtz Zentrum Geesthacht - Centre for Materials and Costal Research, and Vice-Leader of the Working Group Translators of the European Materials Modelling Council (EMMC). She works in the field of Materials Modelling and Simulation of Lightweight Metal/ Fibre-Reinforced Polymer Composites Structures, Computation analysis of material damage and surface degradation due to corrosion and intensive mechanical loading as well as numerical prediction of crack propagation in engineering structures. Development of the European Materials Modelling Translation concept is the focus of the current activity of Dr. Konchakova.


text:
Trump Ally At Voice of America Replaced By News Executive He Recently Demoted
By David Folkenflik
Caroline Brehman
CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images
The Biden administration is ousting Trump appointees at the Voice of America and its sister networks, which together reach 350 million people worldwide each week.
The Biden administration continued its swift sweep of the leadership at the Voice of America and its parent agency on Thursday. It pushed out VOA's director, a Trump ally named Robert R. Reilly who had been appointed just last month.
According to two people with knowledge, Reilly and his deputy, former State Department official Elizabeth Robbins, were escorted from the building. Robbins has told colleagues she is on "administrative leave."
Their patron, former U.S. Agency for Global Media CEO Michael Pack, resigned Wednesday at Biden's request after a stormy seven-month term in which he said he had to "drain the swamp" at VOA and USAGM. Some of Pack's loyalists who were still at the agency were trying as late as Thursday afternoon to force out the executives and senior VOA staff that Pack targeted, according to four people with knowledge.
"The continuing, vindictive pettiness of these people still is amazing," David Seide, an attorney who represented multiple VOA whistleblowers for the nonprofit Government Accountability Project, told NPR.
The new acting director of Voice of America is Yolanda Lopez, a veteran journalist who had led VOA's News Center until last week. On Jan. 12, Lopez was stripped of all editorial oversight of the English-language news hub after one of her White House reporters posed pointed questions to then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about his remarks, made after the presidential election, about a second Trump administration.
Reporter Patsy Widakuswara, who was demoted twice in 24 hours after the incident, approached Pompeo after he made a formal address and then shared the stage with Reilly at an event held at VOA's headquarters in Washington. She then challenged Reilly over failing to ask Pompeo any questions about the siege of Congress by a pro-Trump mob. Reilly barked at Widakuswara, "You obviously don't know how to behave." It then fell to Robbins, who had previously worked for Pompeo at the State Department, to tell the reporter she was done.
Beyond her appointment, the elevation of Lopez symbolizes Biden's effort to return the U.S. Agency for Global Media and the networks it oversees to their standing before Pack. The acting CEO of U.S. Agency for Global Media is Kelu Chao, a former top VOA news executive who had surfaced as a named whistleblower in a civil lawsuit against the agency.
Pack had instigated investigations against top USAGM executives and also against reporters within VOA for perceived anti-Trump bias. Chao said the investigations, led by political appointees of the parent agency, had made VOA's journalists "excessively cautious, slow to produce stories, and afraid to run down important stories and leads — particularly about politically sensitive topics, no matter how important."
"This has impacted Voice of America's coverage at a time when it is most needed," Chao said in a sworn court statement. "Particularly during a presidential election year."
The judge in the case ruled that Pack had broken the law and violated constitutional safeguards of free speech by interfering in independent news judgments.
VOA and its sister networks — which include Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting — reach more than 350 million people overseas each week. Their aim is to present rigorous news coverage in countries that do not have robust news organizations or that crack down on a free press. They are also supposed to embody American values by modeling what a free press looks like, through fair coverage of U.S. society and political debate.
Pack's pick as head of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, Jeff Shapiro, also resigned. And according to five people with knowledge, the Biden administration also intends to replace the newly appointed heads of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and the Middle Eastern networks. Those broadcasters are technically not-for-profit companies funded by the U.S. government.
Disclosure: This story was reported by NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik and edited by Emily Kopp, NPR tech and media editor. Because of NPR CEO John Lansing's prior role as CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, no senior news executive or corporate executive at NPR reviewed this story before it was published.
Politics Voice of AmericaDonald TrumpjournalismJoe Biden
David Folkenflik
David Folkenflik was described by Geraldo Rivera of Fox News as "a really weak-kneed, backstabbing, sweaty-palmed reporter." Others have been kinder. The Columbia Journalism Review, for example, once gave him a "laurel" for reporting that immediately led the U.S. military to institute safety measures for journalists in Baghdad.
See stories by David Folkenflik
KOSU seeks Scripps Howard intern for summer 2023
Meta allows Donald Trump back on Facebook and Instagram
The number of journalist deaths worldwide rose nearly 50% in 2022 from previous year
Journalist Victor S. Navasky has died. For years, he led The Nation.
Biden's offshore wind plan could create thousands of jobs, but challenges remain

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Look no further, tennis fans, mail.com is on hand to bring you the latest news and features, with up-to-date tennis news articles.
Stefanos Tsitsipas earned more than $100,000 in prize money for winning his third-round match at the Australian Open.
Aliaksandra Sasnovich advanced to the Sydney International semifinals by beating Timea Bacsinszky 6-3, 6-3 on Thursday.
For those who are passionate about tennis, it's important to keep up-to-date with all the recent tournament news, as well as tracking the progress of the world's top players. mail.com's tennis news articles provide comprehensive coverage of all forms of the game to ensure you don't fall behind on the latest developments. Even if you're not at home, daily tennis news is accessible on the move thanks to mail.com's mobile and tablet-friendly site.
The wonderful sport of tennis is diverse and engaging to watch since each tournament brings something unique to the contest. Some prefer the lawn tennis format of Wimbledon to the clay surfaces more often found in other competitions, for example, while others prefer the national team set-up of the Davis Cup to the individual focus of the US Open. However you enjoy the sport best, mail.com's tennis news articles offer you blow-by-blow coverage of the latest results, feedback on the performance of players, as well as wider developments in the sport of tennis itself. With content covering all major competitions and both the men's and women's games, you'll be sure to stay up-to-date with your favorite sport.
Make mail.com your go-to resource for tennis news today and delve into the coverage that matters to you most, regardless of where your personal preferences lie. For all your tennis news needs, mail.com has you covered.


Learn how to play slot machines. Adventure; Animals; Auto;. About 80 percent of first-time visitors to casinos head for the slots. When you hit a winning.
The following article will explain how to win at slots,. Accepts USA Players Win Palace Casino features 100 casino games including 75 slot machines.
Which slots to play and how to win at slots. Slot machines have a universal appeal because, unlike other casino games.
Make sure to use your card how to win at the casino slot machines use play slots for real money online earn every time you play penny slots or other casino games. Manage your money wisely. For another great page on winning at penny slots.
Find out about 3 ways to win on slot. Some will display this right as you enter the slot area in a live casino making it. How to win BIG on Slot.


WATERBURY – Mrs. Maria Alice (Fonseca) Pinto, 76, entered into the gates of heaven on Sunday, Jan. 6, 2019, at Yale New Haven Hospital surrounded by her loving family. She was the beloved wife of Henrique O. Pinto.
Alice was born in Vila do Mato, Portugal, on Oct. 18 1942, daughter of the late Ernesto and Isilda (Morais) Fonseca. She settled to Waterbury from Portugal in 1966. She worked at Waterbury Buckle and ITW more than 20 years until her retirement in 2004.
She was a communicant of Our Lady of Fatima Church. She enjoyed spending time with her family, close friends and her grandchildren.
Besides her husband Henrique of 50 years, she leaves a son, Antonio "Paulo" Pinto of Plano, Texas; a daughter, Lisa Silva and her husband Americo, of Naugatuck; three brothers, Antonio Fonseca and his wife Ilda, and Hamilton Fonseca and his wife Maria da Cruz, all of Portugal, and Jaime Fonseca and his wife Maria Alice, of Waterbury; three sisters-in-law, Ercilia Lourenco and her husband Mario, of Portugal, Maria do Carma Alves and her husband Jose Alves, of Waterbury, and Manuela Marques and her husband Valdemar, of South Windsor; two grandchildren, Ethan Silva and Ava Silva, both of Naugatuck; and many nieces and nephews.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Friday at 10 a.m. at Our Lady of Fatima Church in Waterbury. Everyone is asked to meet directly at the church. Burial will follow in All Saints Cemetery in Waterbury. There are no calling hours. Chase Parkway Memorial/The Albini Family Funeral Home, 430 Chase Parkway, Waterbury, has been entrusted with the arrangements.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made in Alice's memory to: Our Lady of Fatima Church, 2071 Baldwin St., Waterbury, CT 06706.
For more info or to send e-condolences, visit chaseparkwaymemorial.com.


text:
Creative Writing Services
Creative Writing Pedagogy
I live at the edge
of the universe,
like everybody else.
'Milky Way Bar' by Bill Manhire
Pinklight
buy bookpdf sample
Lost and Gone Away
A search always starts at the Point Last Seen. That is what they say in the search and rescue business.
I am surprised and a bit embarrassed to say that I have had more than one experience of someone seeming to disappear on my watch. Once I called the Police. That time our kitchen was the Point Last Seen.
More than a year ago a friend, who speaks five languages and reads several more, told me it would not be possible to write about the Holocaust from New Zealand. There's so little to say here, she said. Europe is the Point Last Seen.
But this is where I am, I said. That is the problem. This is where I am from, this is who I am, and this is where I am. So this is where I start….
I am surprised and a bit embarrassed to say that I have had more than one experience of someone seeming to disappear on my watch. Once I called the Police. That time our kitchen was the Point Last Seen. More than a year ago a friend, who speaks five languages and reads several more, told me it would not be possible to write about the Holocaust from New Zealand. There's so little to say here, she said. Europe is the Point Last Seen.
I looked for the owner of a wooden container of ashes from Auschwitz. Someone knew someone who knew someone who knew the man. Then I heard him tell his story.
I found Bruno Schulz in a film, Sigmund Freud in a book and Kurt Vonnegut in a box car. I found the Warsaw Ghetto in New Plymouth, Holocaust survivors in Wellington, Poland in the Wellington Botanic Gardens and a Holocaust museum in the shape of a tree in my street in Raumati South.
Susanna Andrew, Books Editor of Metro Magazine, chose Lost and Gone Away as one of the best books of 2015. In the December 2015 issue she says,
'Many write about loss,but few with such skill as New Zealand writer Lynn Jenner in Lost and Gone Away. A collection of pieces centred on loss, absence and things mislaid and gone,it spans different cities and centuries and evolves into a profound,philosophical and wholly original inquiry into the nature of the Holocaust.'
Mary McCallum, publisher (Maakaro Press), author (Blue) and blogger (Oh Audacious Book), reviews Lost and Gone Away on Jessie Mulligan's show on Radio New Zealand
May 9 2016. Mary, you read The Muttering Poem beautifully!
Louise O'Brien, co-editor of New Zealand Books, reviews Lost and Gone Away on Radio New Zealand
David Herkt reviews Lost and Gone Away in the Sunday Star Times
Pip Adam briefly reviews Lost and Gone Away on Radio NZ
Dear Sweet Harry
Certain historical figures seem to me to emit pink light. This can take the form of a soft glow with no discernible moment of beginning. It can also be loud and vulgar, accompanied by fairground music, like a pinball machine.
Houdini first began to light up for me when he ended his upside down straight jacket escape with 'Then I am entirely free'… (from Dear Sweet Harry)
'Teasing, funny, mysterious, impressionistic, utterly impossible to classify or to characterise by quotation or analogy – it is simply exhilarating to read, and I can't wait to see what Jenner does next. This is poetry that is pushing at the boundaries of what we think poetry can be, or do; poetry that is unafraid to tackle difficult and important issues.' Hugh Roberts, University of California Irvine, NZ Listener 2010.
Houdini first began to light up for me when he ended his upside down straight jacket escape with 'Then I am entirely free'…
When Houdini hired seven men to sit outside a left bank café in Paris, each with one letter painted on his bald head
HOUDINI noggins
at the Trocadero
more lights came on. . .
(from Dear Sweet Harry)
Dear Sweet Harry, a collection of poems, prose, found text and images showing the activities of Harry Houdini, Mata Hari and Lynn's grandfather Harry, won the NZ Society of Authors Jessie MacKay Prize for Best First Book
of Poetry in 2010.
lynn@pinklight.nz
C/o Auckland University Press, The University of Auckland
Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand