Abstract
(Englisch)
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ETH contributions to the MEMO project:
1. At the demo level, an offline demo for an electronic newspaper was constructed early in the project (95/96). This essentially comprised
a) a small front end to pull unstructured newspaper data from a text server (in this case the server of Bertelsmann's Berliner Zeitung)
b) customization of a B-tree structured database to store such content
c) access routines, and an HCI (Human Computer Interface)
d) integration of a Learnout and Houspie SDK into this newspaper to create a text-to-speech interface, so that integral newspaper text would be read out as an alternative to GUI exhibition.
The newspaper was completely written in the Oberon programming language and formed the basis of a number of MEMO products (e.g. an EPG, etc.). The software was quite robust and served in several demos, at the ACTS Summit in Granada (Nov. 96) and most notably in a crucial demo of MEMO functionality at CCETT, where it backed up a nonperforming module written by other partners.
In 96/97 that electronic newspaper was 'revitalized' as an advertising freesheet to show the potential of MEMO in distribut in Internet classified ad material (this time, in cooperation with Tages-Anzeiger Zürich).
In 98 the newspaper was again updated to test some novel concepts in the HCI domain involving 3-D surround sound. The resulting proof-of-concept demo was shown to MEMO partners in May 98, and to Bosch shortly thereafter, and it shows a way to more efficient HCIs for mobile electronic products.
In May 98, ETH wrote and set up another MEMO demo for the May 98 ECMAST in Berlin, this time adapting its know-how to the digital broadcast distribution of Web sites relating to electronic lotteries. The challenge there had been to find a design that would simultaneously suit a wideband channel (DAB) and a narrowband (SWIFT) supporting the same user community, i.e. with many common elements in the software, most notably in the HCI. This demos was also successful.
Finally, ETH' s demos were used in a concertation effort with Univ. Louvain at Telecom Geneva 97
2. At a more fundamental level, notable progress was made in porting the advantages of the Oberon language to other platforms, by permitting e.g. the use of Oberon plug-ins under Windows and Netscape. Such plug-ins would permit the import of almost arbitrary functionality by existing browsers, while maintaining full hardware control over the target client hardware. Such full control might be problematic in an industrial situation; however, in a reasearch setting it may enable much more efficient programming and faster implementations.
3. In a development not funded by MEMO but related, a full DAB transmission chain was installed and debugged at ETH as a platform for further research into mobile datacasting.
Web Robot
In 1998 a Webrobot was developed to automatically collect and localize images of syntactically specified Web pages, with the goal of broadcasting the resulting data via DAB (Digital Audio Broadcast) based on the Multimedia Object Transfer (MOT) protocol.
In 1999 extensions to the Webrobot were implemented. URL parsing was adjusted to accept an open ammount of requests. A feature to build an index on all first level sites was added. Inclusion and exclusion of MIME types was extended with additional file types. The structure of the user interface of the Webrobot was improved. The Webrobot was tested as a content delivery Tool for the ETH DAB Testlab.Two demos were given at ETH.
DAB Testlab
A second generation of the ETH experimental DAB client-server setup was released, where the server now feeds a fully featured DAB transmitter. The DAB sender configuration was enhanced to allow remote reconfiguration by HTML. A new Bosch PCI Receiver Card was installed and tested with different beta and final release drivers. Datacasting and reception of Web pages gathered by the Web robot was demonstrated. A second class of documents called Powerdoc was included in the broadcasting process. Powerdoc is a newly developed innovative document architecture based on syntactical description. The client site software was improved, now allowing simultaneous reception and use of documents. Specific application components aimed at palmtop clients were developed.
Powerdoc
ETH progressed with work on a new and extremely flexible document architecture called PowerDoc, designed to allow the specification of both layout and contents of a document. It is based on a concept of nested frames and on a generic notion of passive and active contents, including multimedia objects, fully functional GUI elements, 'applets', and other software components. A test suite of Powerdoc documents targeted towards Personal Digital Assistants and similar devices (such as Compaq Aero or Palm V Palmtop) was composed. Including descriptive graphics, JPEG-pictures, functional components, and active text elements, this test suite is supposed to demonstrate new ways of use of handheld devices. Along the lines of WAP / WML mobile phones but including areas beyond these standards, it will further explore the capabilities of small client devices. A key role is played by embedded 'active' Oberon objects having full access to the virtual Oberon machine on the client site. In contrast with WAP applications (and in particular with HTML, Java and multimedia players like Quicktime), Powerdoc program code is virtually wired into the document description and its syntactical structure. The processing of documents is typically 'outsourced' and distributed to client devices. In one of our planned experiments, an auctioneer will broadcast offers and documents synchronously to all participants, which otherwise would be impossible without extremely powerful servers and high transmission bandwith.
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