ConCom - a language and protocol for communication of context

With ConCom, we address the area of communication in wireless networks. We focus on heterogeneous settings with highly mobile devices carrying limited resources. ConCom present a way to express and communicate information, especially context, in a way that is similar to a naturally spoken language. ConCom uses sentences with a subject and attributes in its structure to represent and organize the transport of context and data. ConCom works connectionless and without addressing and forms an efficient way to exchange information in ubiquitous computing environments. We implemented ConCom and show applications taking advantage of it

Stay Tuned: Whether Cloud-Based Service Providers Can Have Their Copyrighted Cake and Eat It Too

Copyright owners have the exclusive right to perform their works publicly and the ability to license their work to others who want to share that right. Subsections 106(4) and (5) of the Copyright Act govern this exclusive public performance right, but neither subsection elaborates on what constitutes a performance made “to the public” versus one that remains private. This lack of clarity has made it difficult for courts to apply the Copyright Act consistently, especially in the face of changing technology. Companies like Aereo, Inc. and AereoKiller, Inc. developed novel ways to transmit content over the internet to be viewed instantly by their subscribers and declined to procure the licenses that would have been required if these transmissions were being made “to the public.” However, while these companies claimed that their activities were outside of the purview of § 106(4) and (5), their rivals, copyright owners, and the U.S. Supreme Court disagreed. Likening Aereo to a cable company for purposes of § 106(4) and (5), the Supreme Court determined that the company would need to pay for the material it streamed. Perhaps more problematic for Aereo (and other similar companies) is the fact that the Court declined to categorize Aereo as an actual cable company, such that it would qualify to pay compulsory licensing fees—the more affordable option given to cable companies under § 111—to copyright holders. This Comment shows that, while the Court correctly ruled that companies like Aereo and AereoKiller should pay for the content transmitted, its failure to address whether Aereo is a cable company could frustrate innovation to the detriment of the public. It suggests, therefore, that these companies should be required to pay for the content that they transmit in the same way that cable companies do until Congress develops another system

Agricultural information dissemination using ICTs: a review and analysis of information dissemination models in China

Open Access funded by China Agricultural UniversityOver the last three decades, China’s agriculture sector has been transformed from the traditional to modern practice through the effective deployment of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Information processing and dissemination have played a critical role in this transformation process. Many studies in relation to agriculture information services have been conducted in China, but few of them have attempted to provide a comprehensive review and analysis of different information dissemination models and their applications. This paper aims to review and identify the ICT based information dissemination models in China and to share the knowledge and experience in applying emerging ICTs in disseminating agriculture information to farmers and farm communities to improve productivity and economic, social and environmental sustainability. The paper reviews and analyzes the development stages of China’s agricultural information dissemination systems and different mechanisms for agricultural information service development and operations. Seven ICT-based information dissemination models are identified and discussed. Success cases are presented. The findings provide a useful direction for researchers and practitioners in developing future ICT based information dissemination systems. It is hoped that this paper will also help other developing countries to learn from China’s experience and best practice in their endeavor of applying emerging ICTs in agriculture information dissemination and knowledge transfer

Media Convergence in the Platform of Video-on-Demand: Opportunities, Challenges, and Audience Behaviour

The advancement of technology and society has led to innovations, including in the field of media. Media convergence has given birth to a novel audiovisual medium called Video-on-Demand (VOD), which combined the logics of television, film, home video, the internet, as well as technology. This conceptual research applied a literature review method to discuss the journey of the logic of watching television with a specific schedule and a particular medium to the understanding that television, after all, is just an artifact. The paper also discussed new habits that are developed due to the birth of VOD and how VOD branding worked. This research aimed to look at how the development of media convergence in the form of VOD brought new trends, especially in Indonesia. The paper concluded that many new opportunities were ready to be utilized by VOD platforms to develop their content and reach Indonesian audiences. However, it was also necessary to consider that Indonesia’s regulations still were not utterly supporting the development of VOD

The effects of different club affiliation on BTV subscription

JEL M310 - MarketingJEL- M390 - OtherSports marketing has unique characteristics that may lead their audience in behave in completely different ways compared with all the others consumer’s profiles. BTV challenged the sports viewing industry not only by spoiling their own TV rights but also by including on their target people who support others teams beyond Benfica. In spite of this strategy has been considered at an initial stage as risky, BTV only in the first year accounted 30 Million Euros of revenues. The current study aims to study the impact that all the different sports contents powered by BTV have on BTV subscription, the influence of different club affiliation on BTV subscription and, the influence of price on BTV subscription. On the first part of the study a literature review was performed in order to understand different insights that were revealed as important to justify the results achieved. This was followed by an analyze of the current situation of televised sports industry in Portugal and BTV in particular. Regarding the contents, English Premier League and Benfica games played at home are by far, the contents that arouse more interest. The results reveal that there is a huge influence of different club affiliation on BTV subscription, particularly by Sporting and Porto supporters. The price perception of BTV is also influenced by different club affiliation, where Benfica supporters have different opinion regarding BTV price, when compared in particular with Sporting and Porto supporters. Other conclusions are highlighted on the last part of the dissertation.O marketing desportivo tem características únicas que podem influenciar o público-alvo a comportar-se de forma diferente quando comparado com outros perfis de consumidores. A BTV desafiou a indústria televisiva, não só por deter os direitos do próprio clube, mas também por incluir no seu target pessoas que apoiam outros clubes. Considerada inicialmente uma estratégia de risco, a BTV atingiu, no seu primeiro ano, 30 milhões de euros em receitas. O presente estudo tem como objetivo analisar o impacto dos conteúdos televisivos na subscrição da BTV, a influência do clubismo na subscrição da BTV, e a influência do preço na subscrição da BTV. Na primeira parte do estudo foi feita uma revisão literária com o intuito de compreender as diferentes perceções de forma a poder fundamentar e legitimar os resultados obtidos. Posteriormente foi feita uma análise à indústria das transmissões desportivas em Portugal e à BTV especificamente. Relativamente aos conteúdos desportivos, a Liga Inglesa e os jogos do Benfica em casa representam, com grande destaque, os conteúdos de maior interesse. Os resultados revelaram a existência de uma grande influência do clubismo na subscrição da BTV, particularmente no caso dos apoiantes do Sporting e Porto. A perceção de preço da BTV é também influenciada pelo fator anterior, onde se observa que os apoiantes do Benfica apresentam uma opinião muito diferente daquilo que são os resultados da análise aos apoiantes de Sporting e Porto. Outras conclusões estão presentes no final da dissertação

MBMS—IP Multicast/Broadcast in 3G Networks

In this article, the Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Service (MBMS) as standardized in 3GPP is presented. With MBMS, multicast and broadcast capabilities are introduced into cellular networks. After an introduction into MBMS technology, MBMS radio bearer realizations are presented. Different MBMS bearer services like broadcast mode, enhanced broadcast mode and multicast mode are discussed. Streaming and download services over MBMS are presented and supported media codecs are listed. Service layer components as defined in Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) are introduced. For a Mobile TV use case capacity improvements achieved by MBMS are shown. Finally, evolution of MBMS as part of 3GPP standardization is presented

Digital transformation in the german sports broadcasting industry : a qualitative study on the impact of the disruptor OTT

The study investigates the impact of the OTT (over-the-top) technology for the German sports broadcasting industry. For this purpose of the study, OTT is defined as streaming technology that bypasses traditional distribution and offers content directly over the Internet anywhere at any time. All potential OTT initiatives from different stakeholders that impact the industry are examined. The incumbent technology, traditional TV, is challenged by innovative business models that provide sports content over-the-top via the Internet. Pure OTT channels such as DAZN and digital giants such as Amazon entered the sports rights market forcing old leaders to rethink their business model and to adapt to the new technology. Besides of changing consumer requirements, different market dynamics such as the digitization of sports rights, the trend towards D2C (direct-to-consumer), niche targeting and features around digital fan experiences push OTT in becoming the leading sports consumption technology. The fast-paced and vibrant market movements in the sports media industry make estimations difficult. The findings from qualitative and quantitative findings identified the consolidation of the market to a concentrated number of content aggregators operating in the premium sports right segment as most the likely scenario for the industry in 5-10 years. This trend goes along with a starting content endgame initiated by top rightsholders who implement D2C business models for secondary markets. The major change in the market will be the end of market fragmentation to a more consolidated sports rights market led by major D2C and OTT platforms.O estudo investiga o impacto da tecnologia OTT (over-the-top) para a indústria alemã de transmissão desportiva. Para este efeito do estudo, a OTT é definida como uma tecnologia de streaming que ultrapassa a distribuição tradicional e oferece conteúdos diretamente através da Internet, em qualquer lugar e a qualquer momento. A tecnologia já existente de televisão tradicional é desafiada por modelos de negócio inovadores que fornecem conteúdos desportivos através da Internet. Os canais OTT puros como o DAZN e gigantes digitais como a Amazon entraram no mercado dos direitos desportivos, obrigando os antigos líderes a repensar o seu modelo de negócio. Além da modificação das exigências dos consumidores, diferentes dinâmicas de mercado, como a digitalização dos direitos desportivos, a tendência para D2C (direct-to-consumer), a segmentação de nichos de mercado e as características em torno das experiências digitais dos adeptos, impulsionam a OTT a tornar-se a tecnologia de consumo desportivo líder. No entanto, as conclusões dos resultados qualitativos e quantitativos identificaram a consolidação do mercado para um número concentrado de agregadores de conteúdos que operam no segmento dos direitos desportivos premium como o cenário mais provável para a indústria dentro de 5-10 anos. Esta tendência vai de par com um jogo final de conteúdos iniciado pelos titulares de direitos de topo que implementam modelos de negócio D2C para os mercados secundários. A grande mudança no mercado será o fim da fragmentação do mercado para um mercado de direitos desportivos mais consolidado, liderado pelas principais plataformas D2C e OTT

Multimedia Synchronization Protocol Dedicated for Virtual Classrooms over Narrowband networks

This paper is presenting design and implementation of web based e-learning synchronization protocol. The protocol is HTTP/TCP based and specifically designed to increase the cognitive productivity of learning session conducted over the internet in analogous scheme to real classroom interaction. The presenting protocol is holding an innovative technique to enhance the performance of broadcasting whiteboards and classrooms to distributed students over narrowband networks. In narrowband networks race condition is raised between multimedia streams  in gaining network bandwidth. Throughout presented protocol; multimedia streams are packetized and synchronized in a compatible model for the cognitive natural learning mechanisms for the human being where actions drag attention and continuous interaction maintain the focus. Keywords: virtual class, WebSocket, HTML5, Servlet, HTTP, JSpeex, Whiteboard CODEC, e-learning, synchronous and Asynchronous learning