Alan Pearmain | Queen Mary, University of London (original) (raw)

Papers by Alan Pearmain

Research paper thumbnail of A review of the finite-difference method for multidielectric electrostatic field problems with sharp-edged electrodes

Electric Power Systems Research, 1992

Abstract The paper is concerned with the calculation of electrostatic potential and fields for re... more Abstract The paper is concerned with the calculation of electrostatic potential and fields for realistic engineering problems, involving multidielectric materials and electrodes with sharp edges. The authors draw attention to a finite-difference algorithm for complex electrostatic problems which can be efficiently implemented on mainframe or personal computers without loss of accuracy. It is shown that data structures are easier with finite differences than with finite elements and finite-difference calculations can be carried out in complex regions to a high degree of accuracy, keeping the computational time and matrix size comparable with the requirements for finite elements. The software routines are described. The first routine is the main iterative solution scheme. A second routine recalculates potentials within a defined area of interest, with greater accuracy and greater detail. The application of the routines is illustrated by practical examples involving axisymmetric two-dimensional geometries. The accuracy of the results is tested by comparison with analytical solutions, measurements on resistance paper with silver, and finite-element solutions.

Research paper thumbnail of An Approach to be Prediction of the Lifetime of Electrical Insulations

IEEE Transactions on Electrical Insulation, 1984

The problem of predicting the lifetimes of solid electrical insulations is approached statistical... more The problem of predicting the lifetimes of solid electrical insulations is approached statistically, using a method of prediction based on the procedure developed by Englehardt and Bain. The method has been used successfully to predict the lifetimes for accelerated tests on polyethylene sheet insulation and for transformer winding insulation in service. The predicted lifetimes are consistent and close to the observed ones. The accuracy of the prediction seems to depend strongly on the number of samples.

Research paper thumbnail of Correlation of electrical breakdown of supercritical helium in short gaps with partial discharge in cable samples

Cryogenics, 1983

As part of a project to develop a superconducting power cable at Brookhaven National Laboratory (... more As part of a project to develop a superconducting power cable at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), many experiments have been conducted on short coaxial cable insulation samples lapped with various polymeric tapes. These experiments have shown the partial discharge inception voltage to be a function of a sample construction and the density of the helium impregnant. It was concluded that the partial discharge inception voltage in the butt gaps of lapped tape insulation is determined by the product of helium density and gap depth, which corresponds to the tape thickness. This means that the inception voltage obeys the similarity law. This conclusion was based on additional experiments performed to determine the breakdown voltage of helium in a short gap between both bare metal electrodes and plastic insulation coated electrodes. The effects of the condition of the electrode surfaces and the area of the electrodes were essential in determining the breakdown voltage in a short gap of high density cryogenic helium.

Research paper thumbnail of Discharge energy/material damage considerations in a solid/liquid insulating system

Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Conduction and Breakdown in Solid Dielectrics

The correlation between the discharge parameters and the corresponding material damage was invest... more The correlation between the discharge parameters and the corresponding material damage was investigated for small insulating systems (arranged in butt gap formations) of UOPE- (uniaxially oriented polyethylene-) tape/oil systems under both electrical and thermal stresses. These systems were investigated with the aid of a point/plane electrode arrangement. The tests showed that there is a strong correlation between the total surface

Research paper thumbnail of Study of movement and stability of an injected air bubble in a uniaxially oriented polyethylene /oil insulation system under electric stress

1984 IEEE International Conference on Electrical Insulation, 1984

A uniaxilly oriented polythylene (UOPE) tape has been developed by Brookhaven National Laboratory... more A uniaxilly oriented polythylene (UOPE) tape has been developed by Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) in association with Batelle Columbus Laboratories. This tape is compatible with conventional cable oils and has good mechanical properties. Tests have been made on samples consisting of layers of this tape impregnated with dodecyl benzene oil with air bubbles injected into the insulation. The bubbles divided at the partial discharge inception stress and subdivided again when the stress was increased further, until they disappeared. The rate of disappearance depended on the electric stress applied and on the rate-of-rise of the stress.

Research paper thumbnail of Surface flashover in N<inf>2</inf> and SF<inf>6</inf> at high pressures

1980 IEEE International Conference on Electrical Insulation, 1980

The d.c. flashover voltage of polyte tr afluoro — ethylene (PTFE), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA)... more The d.c. flashover voltage of polyte tr afluoro — ethylene (PTFE), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), nylon and Tufnol cylindrical disc spacers was measured in N2 gas under uniform field conditions over the pressure range 138 kPa to 965 kPa. The flashover voltage of cylindrical disc and annular PTFE, PMMA and nylon spacers in SF6 was also measured under uniform field conditions over the pressure range 138 kPa to 827 kPa. Spacer efficiencies were less than unity for all the disc spacers, without any significant differences between different spacer materials or between the two gases, except that the efficiency of Tufnol spacers was distinctly lower than that of the other materials. At 138 kPa in SF6 a PTFE annular spacer had an efficiency of 1.15, but other annular spacer efficiencies were also less than unity. When the same spacer was tested several times, its flashover voltage increased, suggesting a conditioning effect. The difference in results between apparently identical spacers was greater than that between spacers made from different materials. This suggests that small variations in the surface profile of a spacer are very important for surface flashover.

Research paper thumbnail of EURASIP Journal on Applied Signal Processing 2004: 4, 572–585 c○ 2004 Hindawi Publishing Corporation Gait Recognition Using Image Self-Similarity

Gait is one of the few biometrics that can be measured at a distance, and is hence useful for pas... more Gait is one of the few biometrics that can be measured at a distance, and is hence useful for passive surveillance as well as biometric applications. Gait recognition research is still at its infancy, however, and we have yet to solve the fundamental issue of finding gait features which at ...

Research paper thumbnail of Using HMMs to Classify Video Sequences

European Workshop on the Integration of Knowledge, Semantic and Digital Media Technologies, 2004

Research paper thumbnail of Mobile Audio–Visual Terminal: System Design and Subjective Testing in DECT and UMTS Networks

Abstract—It is anticipated that there will shortly be a requirement for multimedia terminals that... more Abstract—It is anticipated that there will shortly be a requirement for multimedia terminals that operate via mobile communications systems. This paper presents a functional specification for such a terminal operating at 32 kb/s in a digital European cordless telecommunications (DECT) and universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) radio network. A terminal has been built, based on a PC with digital signal processor (DSP) boards for audio and video coding and decoding. Speech coding is by a phonetically driven code-excited linear prediction (CELP) speech coder and video coding by a block-oriented hybrid discrete cosine transform (DCT) coder. Separate channel coding is provided for the audio and video data. The paper describes the techniques used for audio and video coding, channel coding, and synchronization. Methods of subjective testing in a DECT network and in a UMTS network are also described. These consisted of subjective tests of first impressions of the mobile audio–vis...

Research paper thumbnail of Searching Annotated Broadcast Content on Mobile and Stationary Devices

This paper describes, within the framework of the European IST SAVANT project, the development of... more This paper describes, within the framework of the European IST SAVANT project, the development of a search engine that supports transparent access to annotated broadcast content from different types of user devices. For this purpose, the search engine makes use of emerging standards such as MPEG-7, TV-Anytime and MPEG-21.

Research paper thumbnail of EURASIP Journal on Applied Signal Processing 2002:4, 354–361 c © 2002 Hindawi Publishing Corporation UsingMPEG-7 at the Consumer Terminal in Broadcasting

studio production and multimedia terminal system to integrate broadcast data and Internet data. T... more studio production and multimedia terminal system to integrate broadcast data and Internet data. This involves using data delivery over multiple paths and the use of a back channel for interaction. MPEG-7 is being used to identify programme content and to construct queries to allow users to identify and retrieve interesting related content. Searching for content is being carried out using the HySpirit search engine. The paper deals with terminal design issues, the use of MPEG-7 for broadcasting applications and using a consumer broadcasting terminal for searching for material related to a broadcast.

Research paper thumbnail of cThe Design and Evaluation of the SAVANT Content

Television is changing from a passive viewing model to an interactive experience. In doing so vie... more Television is changing from a passive viewing model to an interactive experience. In doing so viewers are becoming users of an increasingly complex river of audiovisual content. In this paper we detail 1) the design and 2) the evaluation of the personalized interactive TV system developed in the SAVANT European research project. The personalization engine developed in the project monitors viewers ’ interactions in order to develop a user model of their preferences which are then used to filter content and generate recommendations. We developed a rapid evaluative methodology to evaluate the appropriateness of the recommendations made by the personalization engine which requires small amounts of evaluation time and video content. The results of applying our methodology to SAVANT’s personalized interactive TV system indicate that it is able to make recommendations which viewers rated as significantly more appropriate than the baseline we used in the evaluation.

Research paper thumbnail of Scalable and Personalised broadcast service

An aspect of the European IST SAVANT (Synchronised and Scalable Audio Visual content Across NeTwo... more An aspect of the European IST SAVANT (Synchronised and Scalable Audio Visual content Across NeTworks) project is the personalisation of interactive TV systems combining broadcast programmes with additional content transmitted via the Internet. This paper describes scalability by selection of service components within the available services according to user preferences. This service adaptation is based on a developed metadata model. The personalisation techniques used in the first SAVANT prototype were demonstrated at IFA 2003 in Berlin, based on a news scenario. This demonstration showed content scalability by using a TV, a tablet PC and a PDA as display devices in addition to recommendations and personalisation by the selection of appropriate service components.

Research paper thumbnail of Using Metadata to Provide Synchronised and Scalable Broadcast and Internet Content and Services

This paper describes two scenarios demonstrating the application of the scalable content and serv... more This paper describes two scenarios demonstrating the application of the scalable content and services, and provides an overview of the SAVANT system, in particular, the terminal where users access these services. Finally, a number of metadata standards and their suitability in providing synchronised and scalable broadcast and Internet content and services within SAVANT are discussed

Research paper thumbnail of Customized Television: Standards Compliant Advanced Digital Television

Abstract—This correspondence describes a European Union supported collaborative project called Cu... more Abstract—This correspondence describes a European Union supported collaborative project called CustomTV based on the premise that future TV sets will provide all sorts of multimedia information and interactivity, as well as manage all such services according to each user’s or group of user’s preferences/profiles. We have demonstrated the potential of recent standards (MPEG-4 and MPEG-7) to implement such a scenario by building the following services: an advanced EPG, Weather Forecasting, and Stock Exchange/Flight Information. Index Terms—Digital TV, image coding, interactive TV, TV equipment.

Research paper thumbnail of Integrating internet and digital video broadcast data 1

The form, and means of delivery, of digital multimedia content are developing rapidly. This paper... more The form, and means of delivery, of digital multimedia content are developing rapidly. This paper outlines our approach to exploiting these developments through the integration of broadcast and internet technology. We discuss the technological developments which underpin the convergence of broadcast and internet, the novel services and applications it enables and the challenges it presents for user-interface design.

Research paper thumbnail of Sambits: Using MPEG-7 for Programme Navigation and Searching

The IST SAMBITS (System for Advanced Multimedia Broadcast and IT Services) project is using Digit... more The IST SAMBITS (System for Advanced Multimedia Broadcast and IT Services) project is using Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB), MPEG-4 and MPEG-7 in a studio production and multimedia terminal system to integrate enhanced broadcast data and Internet data. This involves using data delivery over multiple paths and the use of a back channel for interaction. This paper presents an overview of the SAMBITS system and focuses on the use of MPEG-7 descriptions of the broadcast data at the multimedia terminal for user interaction with the content, navigation, retrieval of additional related information, and search for material of interest available elsewhere.

Research paper thumbnail of Sambits : Using MPEG-7 for Programme Navigation and Searching

The IST SAMBITS (System for Advanced Multimedia Broadcast and IT Services) project is using Digit... more The IST SAMBITS (System for Advanced Multimedia Broadcast and IT Services) project is using Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB), MPEG-4 and MPEG-7 in a studio production and multimedia terminal system to integrate enhanced broadcast data and Internet data. This involves using data delivery over multiple paths and the use of a back channel for interaction. This paper presents an overview of the SAMBITS system and focuses on the use of MPEG-7 descriptions of the broadcast data at the multimedia terminal for user interaction with the content, navigation, retrieval of additional related information, and search for material of interest available elsewhere.

Research paper thumbnail of A Collective Director for Highly Interactive Viewing of Live Sports Events

New forms of personalised and interactive viewing experiences are being developed that enable spe... more New forms of personalised and interactive viewing experiences are being developed that enable spectators to act as directors of their own customised live sports videos. Scalability concerns for such systems dictate that group-based streaming rather than individual streaming can be realized in practice. In this positional paper, the application of the group personalisation model to enable social groups of possibly distributed individuals to collectively direct and share a common viewing experience of a live sports event is proposed. The design of this platform, developed as part of the as part of the My-e-Director 2012 project, is described and a discussion of a prototype system is given.

Research paper thumbnail of Mesh Connectivity Compression for Progressive-to-Lossless Transmission

A progressive mesh connectivity compression technique is proposed in this paper. Our method is ba... more A progressive mesh connectivity compression technique is proposed in this paper. Our method is based on the edge collapse and vertex splitting technique for progressive mesh compressiondecompression. This is an efficient and reversible method that can be used for progressive-to-lossless transmission. We derive a theoretical upper bound for the lossless connectivity compression bit rate, when the isolated vertices are ignored. Our experiments show that all the meshes we have used can be compressed better than the derived bit rate upper bound. Furthermore, our method can ensure that less than 10% of the vertices generate accidental code. According to our analysis, the optimal bound for triangular mesh coding can be 3, smaller than some of the reported results in recent literature.

Research paper thumbnail of A review of the finite-difference method for multidielectric electrostatic field problems with sharp-edged electrodes

Electric Power Systems Research, 1992

Abstract The paper is concerned with the calculation of electrostatic potential and fields for re... more Abstract The paper is concerned with the calculation of electrostatic potential and fields for realistic engineering problems, involving multidielectric materials and electrodes with sharp edges. The authors draw attention to a finite-difference algorithm for complex electrostatic problems which can be efficiently implemented on mainframe or personal computers without loss of accuracy. It is shown that data structures are easier with finite differences than with finite elements and finite-difference calculations can be carried out in complex regions to a high degree of accuracy, keeping the computational time and matrix size comparable with the requirements for finite elements. The software routines are described. The first routine is the main iterative solution scheme. A second routine recalculates potentials within a defined area of interest, with greater accuracy and greater detail. The application of the routines is illustrated by practical examples involving axisymmetric two-dimensional geometries. The accuracy of the results is tested by comparison with analytical solutions, measurements on resistance paper with silver, and finite-element solutions.

Research paper thumbnail of An Approach to be Prediction of the Lifetime of Electrical Insulations

IEEE Transactions on Electrical Insulation, 1984

The problem of predicting the lifetimes of solid electrical insulations is approached statistical... more The problem of predicting the lifetimes of solid electrical insulations is approached statistically, using a method of prediction based on the procedure developed by Englehardt and Bain. The method has been used successfully to predict the lifetimes for accelerated tests on polyethylene sheet insulation and for transformer winding insulation in service. The predicted lifetimes are consistent and close to the observed ones. The accuracy of the prediction seems to depend strongly on the number of samples.

Research paper thumbnail of Correlation of electrical breakdown of supercritical helium in short gaps with partial discharge in cable samples

Cryogenics, 1983

As part of a project to develop a superconducting power cable at Brookhaven National Laboratory (... more As part of a project to develop a superconducting power cable at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), many experiments have been conducted on short coaxial cable insulation samples lapped with various polymeric tapes. These experiments have shown the partial discharge inception voltage to be a function of a sample construction and the density of the helium impregnant. It was concluded that the partial discharge inception voltage in the butt gaps of lapped tape insulation is determined by the product of helium density and gap depth, which corresponds to the tape thickness. This means that the inception voltage obeys the similarity law. This conclusion was based on additional experiments performed to determine the breakdown voltage of helium in a short gap between both bare metal electrodes and plastic insulation coated electrodes. The effects of the condition of the electrode surfaces and the area of the electrodes were essential in determining the breakdown voltage in a short gap of high density cryogenic helium.

Research paper thumbnail of Discharge energy/material damage considerations in a solid/liquid insulating system

Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Conduction and Breakdown in Solid Dielectrics

The correlation between the discharge parameters and the corresponding material damage was invest... more The correlation between the discharge parameters and the corresponding material damage was investigated for small insulating systems (arranged in butt gap formations) of UOPE- (uniaxially oriented polyethylene-) tape/oil systems under both electrical and thermal stresses. These systems were investigated with the aid of a point/plane electrode arrangement. The tests showed that there is a strong correlation between the total surface

Research paper thumbnail of Study of movement and stability of an injected air bubble in a uniaxially oriented polyethylene /oil insulation system under electric stress

1984 IEEE International Conference on Electrical Insulation, 1984

A uniaxilly oriented polythylene (UOPE) tape has been developed by Brookhaven National Laboratory... more A uniaxilly oriented polythylene (UOPE) tape has been developed by Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) in association with Batelle Columbus Laboratories. This tape is compatible with conventional cable oils and has good mechanical properties. Tests have been made on samples consisting of layers of this tape impregnated with dodecyl benzene oil with air bubbles injected into the insulation. The bubbles divided at the partial discharge inception stress and subdivided again when the stress was increased further, until they disappeared. The rate of disappearance depended on the electric stress applied and on the rate-of-rise of the stress.

Research paper thumbnail of Surface flashover in N<inf>2</inf> and SF<inf>6</inf> at high pressures

1980 IEEE International Conference on Electrical Insulation, 1980

The d.c. flashover voltage of polyte tr afluoro — ethylene (PTFE), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA)... more The d.c. flashover voltage of polyte tr afluoro — ethylene (PTFE), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), nylon and Tufnol cylindrical disc spacers was measured in N2 gas under uniform field conditions over the pressure range 138 kPa to 965 kPa. The flashover voltage of cylindrical disc and annular PTFE, PMMA and nylon spacers in SF6 was also measured under uniform field conditions over the pressure range 138 kPa to 827 kPa. Spacer efficiencies were less than unity for all the disc spacers, without any significant differences between different spacer materials or between the two gases, except that the efficiency of Tufnol spacers was distinctly lower than that of the other materials. At 138 kPa in SF6 a PTFE annular spacer had an efficiency of 1.15, but other annular spacer efficiencies were also less than unity. When the same spacer was tested several times, its flashover voltage increased, suggesting a conditioning effect. The difference in results between apparently identical spacers was greater than that between spacers made from different materials. This suggests that small variations in the surface profile of a spacer are very important for surface flashover.

Research paper thumbnail of EURASIP Journal on Applied Signal Processing 2004: 4, 572–585 c○ 2004 Hindawi Publishing Corporation Gait Recognition Using Image Self-Similarity

Gait is one of the few biometrics that can be measured at a distance, and is hence useful for pas... more Gait is one of the few biometrics that can be measured at a distance, and is hence useful for passive surveillance as well as biometric applications. Gait recognition research is still at its infancy, however, and we have yet to solve the fundamental issue of finding gait features which at ...

Research paper thumbnail of Using HMMs to Classify Video Sequences

European Workshop on the Integration of Knowledge, Semantic and Digital Media Technologies, 2004

Research paper thumbnail of Mobile Audio–Visual Terminal: System Design and Subjective Testing in DECT and UMTS Networks

Abstract—It is anticipated that there will shortly be a requirement for multimedia terminals that... more Abstract—It is anticipated that there will shortly be a requirement for multimedia terminals that operate via mobile communications systems. This paper presents a functional specification for such a terminal operating at 32 kb/s in a digital European cordless telecommunications (DECT) and universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) radio network. A terminal has been built, based on a PC with digital signal processor (DSP) boards for audio and video coding and decoding. Speech coding is by a phonetically driven code-excited linear prediction (CELP) speech coder and video coding by a block-oriented hybrid discrete cosine transform (DCT) coder. Separate channel coding is provided for the audio and video data. The paper describes the techniques used for audio and video coding, channel coding, and synchronization. Methods of subjective testing in a DECT network and in a UMTS network are also described. These consisted of subjective tests of first impressions of the mobile audio–vis...

Research paper thumbnail of Searching Annotated Broadcast Content on Mobile and Stationary Devices

This paper describes, within the framework of the European IST SAVANT project, the development of... more This paper describes, within the framework of the European IST SAVANT project, the development of a search engine that supports transparent access to annotated broadcast content from different types of user devices. For this purpose, the search engine makes use of emerging standards such as MPEG-7, TV-Anytime and MPEG-21.

Research paper thumbnail of EURASIP Journal on Applied Signal Processing 2002:4, 354–361 c © 2002 Hindawi Publishing Corporation UsingMPEG-7 at the Consumer Terminal in Broadcasting

studio production and multimedia terminal system to integrate broadcast data and Internet data. T... more studio production and multimedia terminal system to integrate broadcast data and Internet data. This involves using data delivery over multiple paths and the use of a back channel for interaction. MPEG-7 is being used to identify programme content and to construct queries to allow users to identify and retrieve interesting related content. Searching for content is being carried out using the HySpirit search engine. The paper deals with terminal design issues, the use of MPEG-7 for broadcasting applications and using a consumer broadcasting terminal for searching for material related to a broadcast.

Research paper thumbnail of cThe Design and Evaluation of the SAVANT Content

Television is changing from a passive viewing model to an interactive experience. In doing so vie... more Television is changing from a passive viewing model to an interactive experience. In doing so viewers are becoming users of an increasingly complex river of audiovisual content. In this paper we detail 1) the design and 2) the evaluation of the personalized interactive TV system developed in the SAVANT European research project. The personalization engine developed in the project monitors viewers ’ interactions in order to develop a user model of their preferences which are then used to filter content and generate recommendations. We developed a rapid evaluative methodology to evaluate the appropriateness of the recommendations made by the personalization engine which requires small amounts of evaluation time and video content. The results of applying our methodology to SAVANT’s personalized interactive TV system indicate that it is able to make recommendations which viewers rated as significantly more appropriate than the baseline we used in the evaluation.

Research paper thumbnail of Scalable and Personalised broadcast service

An aspect of the European IST SAVANT (Synchronised and Scalable Audio Visual content Across NeTwo... more An aspect of the European IST SAVANT (Synchronised and Scalable Audio Visual content Across NeTworks) project is the personalisation of interactive TV systems combining broadcast programmes with additional content transmitted via the Internet. This paper describes scalability by selection of service components within the available services according to user preferences. This service adaptation is based on a developed metadata model. The personalisation techniques used in the first SAVANT prototype were demonstrated at IFA 2003 in Berlin, based on a news scenario. This demonstration showed content scalability by using a TV, a tablet PC and a PDA as display devices in addition to recommendations and personalisation by the selection of appropriate service components.

Research paper thumbnail of Using Metadata to Provide Synchronised and Scalable Broadcast and Internet Content and Services

This paper describes two scenarios demonstrating the application of the scalable content and serv... more This paper describes two scenarios demonstrating the application of the scalable content and services, and provides an overview of the SAVANT system, in particular, the terminal where users access these services. Finally, a number of metadata standards and their suitability in providing synchronised and scalable broadcast and Internet content and services within SAVANT are discussed

Research paper thumbnail of Customized Television: Standards Compliant Advanced Digital Television

Abstract—This correspondence describes a European Union supported collaborative project called Cu... more Abstract—This correspondence describes a European Union supported collaborative project called CustomTV based on the premise that future TV sets will provide all sorts of multimedia information and interactivity, as well as manage all such services according to each user’s or group of user’s preferences/profiles. We have demonstrated the potential of recent standards (MPEG-4 and MPEG-7) to implement such a scenario by building the following services: an advanced EPG, Weather Forecasting, and Stock Exchange/Flight Information. Index Terms—Digital TV, image coding, interactive TV, TV equipment.

Research paper thumbnail of Integrating internet and digital video broadcast data 1

The form, and means of delivery, of digital multimedia content are developing rapidly. This paper... more The form, and means of delivery, of digital multimedia content are developing rapidly. This paper outlines our approach to exploiting these developments through the integration of broadcast and internet technology. We discuss the technological developments which underpin the convergence of broadcast and internet, the novel services and applications it enables and the challenges it presents for user-interface design.

Research paper thumbnail of Sambits: Using MPEG-7 for Programme Navigation and Searching

The IST SAMBITS (System for Advanced Multimedia Broadcast and IT Services) project is using Digit... more The IST SAMBITS (System for Advanced Multimedia Broadcast and IT Services) project is using Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB), MPEG-4 and MPEG-7 in a studio production and multimedia terminal system to integrate enhanced broadcast data and Internet data. This involves using data delivery over multiple paths and the use of a back channel for interaction. This paper presents an overview of the SAMBITS system and focuses on the use of MPEG-7 descriptions of the broadcast data at the multimedia terminal for user interaction with the content, navigation, retrieval of additional related information, and search for material of interest available elsewhere.

Research paper thumbnail of Sambits : Using MPEG-7 for Programme Navigation and Searching

The IST SAMBITS (System for Advanced Multimedia Broadcast and IT Services) project is using Digit... more The IST SAMBITS (System for Advanced Multimedia Broadcast and IT Services) project is using Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB), MPEG-4 and MPEG-7 in a studio production and multimedia terminal system to integrate enhanced broadcast data and Internet data. This involves using data delivery over multiple paths and the use of a back channel for interaction. This paper presents an overview of the SAMBITS system and focuses on the use of MPEG-7 descriptions of the broadcast data at the multimedia terminal for user interaction with the content, navigation, retrieval of additional related information, and search for material of interest available elsewhere.

Research paper thumbnail of A Collective Director for Highly Interactive Viewing of Live Sports Events

New forms of personalised and interactive viewing experiences are being developed that enable spe... more New forms of personalised and interactive viewing experiences are being developed that enable spectators to act as directors of their own customised live sports videos. Scalability concerns for such systems dictate that group-based streaming rather than individual streaming can be realized in practice. In this positional paper, the application of the group personalisation model to enable social groups of possibly distributed individuals to collectively direct and share a common viewing experience of a live sports event is proposed. The design of this platform, developed as part of the as part of the My-e-Director 2012 project, is described and a discussion of a prototype system is given.

Research paper thumbnail of Mesh Connectivity Compression for Progressive-to-Lossless Transmission

A progressive mesh connectivity compression technique is proposed in this paper. Our method is ba... more A progressive mesh connectivity compression technique is proposed in this paper. Our method is based on the edge collapse and vertex splitting technique for progressive mesh compressiondecompression. This is an efficient and reversible method that can be used for progressive-to-lossless transmission. We derive a theoretical upper bound for the lossless connectivity compression bit rate, when the isolated vertices are ignored. Our experiments show that all the meshes we have used can be compressed better than the derived bit rate upper bound. Furthermore, our method can ensure that less than 10% of the vertices generate accidental code. According to our analysis, the optimal bound for triangular mesh coding can be 3, smaller than some of the reported results in recent literature.