Intelligent Communication Systems (eBook)

Toward Constructing Human Friendly Communication Environment

Nobuyoshi Terashima (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF | EPUB

2001 | 1. Auflage
240 Seiten
Elsevier Science (Verlag)
978-0-08-051886-2 (ISBN)

Infos

This book offers a thorough review of research on intelligent communication systems, focusing on the applications of artificial intelligence to telecommunications that help realize user-friendly interfaces.

Intelligent Communication Systems presents the direct result of more than a decade of the author's experiences, research activity, and education in applying artificial intelligence to telecommunications technology. In this book, several fundamental research areas are covered. Some of the areas covered are human-friendly interfaces for telecommunication services with such concepts as Telesensation and HyperReality, computer vision, and the telecommunication description method based on state space. In artificial intelligence research state space is the set of all attainable states of a problem and the possible alternative courses of action to determine the best solution to the problem.

Inhalt

Front Cover 1
Intelligent Communication Systems 4
Copyright Page 5
Contents 6
Preface 10
Author's Note 14
Chapter 1. Information Technology 16
1.1 Information Technology Concept 17
1.2 Intelligent Network Concept 20
Chapter 2. Comunication Fundamentals 22
2.1 Connection-type Communication and Connectionless-type Communication 22
2.2 Numbering Plan 25
2.3 Protocol 26
Chapter 3. Communication Network Structure 28
3.1 Telephone Network Architecture 28
3.2 Computer Network Architecture 29
3.3 Internet Network Architecture 35
Chapter 4. Advances in Communication Networks 38
4.1 Integrated Services Digital Network 39
4.2 N-ISDN 39
4.3 B-ISDN 40
4.4 Asynchronous Transfer Mode 41
Chapter 5. A Variety of Telecommunication Systems 52
5.1 Computer Sharing 52
5.2 Facsimile Communication System 53
5.3 Videotex Communication System 53
5.4 Distance Education System 55
Chapter 6. Information Superhighways 60
6.1 The Gigabit Network Test Bed Project 61
6.2 Super-High-Speed Backbone Network Project 62
6.3 Internet 2 and the Next-Generation Internet 63
6.4 Global Information Infrastructure 63
6.5 Significance of Information Superhighways 64
Chapter 7. Newly Developed Telecommunication Services 66
7.1 Toll-Free-Phone Service 67
7.2 Caller ID Service 67
7.3 Call Forwarding Service 68
7.4 Call Waiting Service 68
7.5 Mobile Communication Service 68
7.6 The lnternet 71
7.7 Intranet 82
7.8 Continuous Acquisition and Lifelong Support 84
7.9 Electronic Money 89
Chapter 8. Intelligent Communication Systems 94
8.1 Concept of Intelligent Communication Systems 95
8.2 Functions of the Intelligent Processing Layer 95
8.3 Structure of the Knowledge-Base System 96
Chapter 9. Design Methodology for Telecommunication Services 100
9.1 State-of-the-Art Design Methodology 100
9.2 Definitions 103
9.3 Graph Theory 104
9.4 Example Description of Telecommunication Services 107
9.5 Conflicts Among Telecommunication Services 110
9.6 Conflict of Charge Policy 112
9.7 High-Level Description of Telecommunication Services 113
9.8 Requirement Specification 116
Chapter 10. Basic Technology of the Intelligent Communication System 118
10.1 Application of Production Rules to Telecommunications 119
10.2 Description of Telecommunication Services in a Semantic Network 123
10.3 Symbolic Logic 125
10.4 Predicate Logic 129
Chapter 11. Telesensation 142
11.1 Virtual Reality Concept 142
11.2 History of Virtual Reality 144
11.3 Virtual Object Handling 145
11.4 Examples of Virtual Reality 145
11.5 Applications of Virtual Reality 146
11.6 Telesensation 147
11.7 Types of Telesensation 147
11.8 HyperReality 151
11.9 Possible Applications of HyperReality 154
11.10 Technologies for Establishing HyperReality 163
Chapter 12. Computer Vision 164
12.1 Definitions 164
12.2 Image Display 166
12.3 Image Transformation 170
12.4 Image Recognition for Telesensation 179
12.5 Application of Telesensation 192
Chapter 13. Concluding Remarks 196
13.1 The Age of the Five Senses 196
13.2 The Age of Personalization 198
13.3 Impact of the Intelligent Communication System on Industry 199
13.4 Impact of the Intelligent Communication System on Society 202
13.5 Multimedia-Based Society in the 21 st Century 203
13.6 Bridging the Gaps Between the Haves and the Have-Nots 205
13.7 Light and Shadow of Multimedia-Based Society 206
References 208
Index 212

Textauszug

1

Information Technology

In 1992 the International Conference on Global Survival was held in Stockholm, sponsored by the Institute for Future Studies of Sweden. The conference objective was to discuss global survival in the next millennium from the technical and social points of view. I was invited as a guest speaker to talk about information technology (IT) and its future prospects. I decided to talk about one of the potential fields of IT, a new concept named Telesensation.

I spoke about telesensation, a new concept that combines virtual reality (VR) with telecommunications, endowing telecommunications with realistic sensations. I coined the term to mean the integration of telecommunication and VR. Telesensation involves taking an image (for example, of a scene from a natural environment or a museum exhibit) gathered by camera from a remote place and transmitting that image over a communication network to viewers. Displaying the image on the screen stereoscopically by using VR technology, viewers can enter and walk through the virtual world. They can even touch the leaves on a tree or the wall of a museum. They can behave as if actually present in that place. Telesensation can break the bonds of time and space and contribute to reducing traffic on the road and is therefore environmentally friendly. The audience, clearly interested in the concept, posed many questions after my speech: When will it be put into practical use? What kinds of applications are developed based on the concept?

Figure 11.2 depicts a schematic of telesensation. A camera takes a picture of a street scene in Munich. The picture is then sent from Germany to Japan through a broadband integrated services digital network (ISDN). The picture is displayed stereoscopically by means of VR technology, and a viewer in Japan enters and walks through this virtual scene. He can go to the entrance of the building and walk inside. Or he can go behind the building and see what it looks like from there.

In 1996, the International Federation of Information Processing (IFIP) world congress ’96 was held in Canberra, Australia, for which I was conference chair. The theme of the conference was IT—Global Horizon. The IT topics discussed included information processing, mobile communication, and teleteaching. In this context IT meant the combination of information processing and telecommunication.

Speaking at the closing ceremony, a historian from Australia referred to three epochs in human experience, spanning the past and the future. The first epoch was the agricultural revolution. Through the invention of agriculture, humans could produce foods. The second was the industrial revolution, by which engines and automatic machines were invented. The invention of powerful machines enabled the evolution of heavy industries such as the steel and power industries. The third epoch is the IT revolution, which will come in this millennium. Through the IT revolution, new industry will emerge. Electronic commerce on the Internet, manufacturing on demand, telecommuting, virtual school and virtual university, newspaper distribution via the Internet, and desktop publishing on the Internet will arrive soon. In this chapter technologies that will further push the IT frontier are discussed.

As stated before, IT is the integration of information processing and communication technologies. Automatic telecommunication technologies began with step-by-step switching systems, followed by crossbar switching systems and then by switching systems controlled by computers with stored memory. Information processing and data processing were enhanced with the invention of computers, and then the more advanced technologies, such as AI and knowledge engineering, were developed. Communication technology and information processing technology are also based on computers with stored memory. Thus advances in computer technology have advanced both information technology and communication technology. This has led to the integration of information processing technology and telecommunication technology—in other words, information technology.

1.1 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CONCEPT

With the invention of new telecommunication services, telecommunication networks for the services have been developed. The conventional telecommunication services, such as telephone and facsimile services, have been provided via the public telephone network. Video conferencing service has been provided by using the public network or dedicated lines. Data communication service has been provided by the public network or high-speed dedicated lines. Generally speaking, each service is provided by constructing a network suitable for the service. It takes a lot of money to construct, enhance, and maintain each of these networks. To overcome this problem, the integrated service digital network has been constructed to accommodate all of these services.

Recently the Internet has evolved, by which local area networks, long-distance lines, dedicated lines, and public analog/digital networks have been interconnected. Over the Internet, customers can easily access the network, send e-mail, access service providers such as Netscape Communicator and Internet Explorer, or access information providers. The number of customers on the Internet is increasing year by year. According to one forecast, the total number of users will reach 400 million by the end of 2002.

It will be very important to provide barrier-free and universal services to customers, young and old, around the globe. Users’ requests are given in a variety of ways, such as spoken language, writing, gesture, and images. Somebody says in Japanese, “I would like to buy a book on IT, in particular on voice recognition.” Or someone says in English, “I will go to Hawaii next week. Would you be kind enough to reserve two seats in business class on United Airlines.” Or two people exchange e-mail messages over the Internet, one in English and the other in Japanese. Or someone handles a virtual object by hand gesture wearing a data glove in virtual space.

In the first example, spoken language is analyzed and converted into the canonical form of the sentence by a human–machine interface module. The system understands that the user would like to purchase a book on IT and then accesses the website of the bookstore and receives the answer “yes” or “no.” This processing is done by an intelligent processing module. In the second example, the system analyzes the spoken language and understands the intention that the user would like to reserve two seats in business class on UA next week. This processing is done by a human–machine interface module. Then the system accesses the website of a travel agent and receives the answer. In the third example, the system analyzes the sentences by means of a human–machine interface module. The translation between Japanese and English is accomplished by an intelligent processing module. In the fourth example, the system analyzes a hand gesture and understands the meaning. This is done via a human–machine interface module. Then the system converts the gesture to the motion. According to the hand motion, the object is moved by an intelligent processing module.

As these examples show, human–machine interface modules and intelligent processing modules are needed to analyze, understand, and fulfill users’ requests. To achieve this, these modules have to be installed in the system, which is running on the telecommunication network. The system comprises the communication network, terminals, human–machine interface modules, and intelligent processing modules, where human–machine interface modules are installed in the client stationed in the terminal, intelligent processing modules are installed in the server, and the client and server are interconnected over the communication network.

The structure of the IT system is shown in Figure 1.1. Its characteristics are as follows.

FIGURE 1.1 Schematic of the intelligent communication system.

(1) An IT system is composed of a communication network, terminals such as workstations and graphics workstations, human–machine interface modules, and intelligent processing modules.

(2) Users can access services through the terminals.

(3) The server has intelligent processing facilities, such as media conversion translation, or natural language processing facilities.

(4) The human–machine interface modules have natural language processing, speech processing, image processing, and gesture recognition facilities and provide human-friendly services to clients.

1.2 INTELLIGENT NETWORK CONCEPT

The next-generation communication network, called the intelligent network (IN) has been studied in many countries, especially the advanced countries (Figure 1.2). The functions needed for the IN are as follows.

FIGURE 1.2 IN architecture.

(1) The network acts as a platform for information services. In concrete terms, connectivity between an information provider and a client must be fully available in the communication network. To achieve this, the network provides transmission paths that are transparent not only to information providers but also to clients with respect to the numbering plan, the fee policy, and the like.

(2) The network is...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 20.10.2001
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Mathematik / Informatik ► Informatik ► Netzwerke
• Themenwelt: Informatik ► Theorie / Studium ► Künstliche Intelligenz / Robotik
• Themenwelt: Technik ► Elektrotechnik / Energietechnik
• Themenwelt: Technik ► Nachrichtentechnik
• ISBN-10: 0-08-051886-9 / 0080518869
• ISBN-13: 978-0-08-051886-2 / 9780080518862