An Optimized Dynamic Scene Change Detection Algorithm for H.264/AVC Encoded Video Sequences

Scene change detection plays an important role in a number of video applications, including video indexing, semantic features extraction, and, in general, pre- and post-processing operations. This paper deals with the design and performance evaluation of a dynamic scene change detector optimized for H.264/AVC encoded video sequences. The detector is based on a dynamic threshold that adaptively tracks different features of the video sequence, to increase the whole scheme accuracy in correctly locating true scene changes. The solution has been tested on suitable video sequences resembling real-world videos thanks to a number of different motion features, and has provided good performance without requiring an increase in decoder complexity. This is a valuable issue, considering the possible application of the proposed algorithm in post-processing operations, such as error concealment for video decoding in typical error prone video transmission environments, such as wireless networks

Delivery of a Certified E-mail Service over the Digital Terrestrial Television Platform

At present, the electronic mail service is probably the most widespread and commonly used asynchronous way of exchanging information among people, thanks to its immediacy and easiness of use. Information delivered through E-mail can be sensitive or confidential: ensuring the sender’s identity and providing privacy has become a vital step in stopping spam, fraud and even more serious crimes. To this aim, public entities have adopted Certified E-mail systems to manage secure interactions with citizens. Digital Terrestrial Television introduced new facilities in the traditional broadcasting environment, and determined the transition of several Electronic based-services to Television basedservices. The availability of commercial Set Top Boxes equipped with network interfaces and smart card readers enables the provisioning of personalized interactive TV services, requiring user’s identification and authentication, that still represent open issues in the TV context. In this paper we discuss the challenges of a Certified E-mail service over Digital Terrestrial Television, and present the case study of the Italian Regione Marche, in which this service is under development to support the remote request of certificates issued by the public administration. In particular, our attention is devoted to user authentication and secure access to the administrative services, addressed through the use of a Regional Service Card, an interactive application, and a centralized authentication framework

Improved solution to monitor people with dementia and support care providers

Assistive Technologies offer the possibility to develop services aimed at improving the Quality of Life of patients and caregivers. Specifically, this work refers to the case of persons with dementia who can live in their homes but need to be assisted. This paper describes a monitoring kit that provides alarms to the caregiver in case of dangerous situations or unusual events detected by the sensors. It is composed by a set of non-intrusive sensors installed within the house, and can be configured in order to best fit with the needs of each patient. The proposed system could have the potentiality to reduce the stress that usually affects the caregivers, due to the continuous effort required and the worry about the patients’ safety. The improved system results from an existing solution that has been re-visited according to the feedbacks obtained from a pilot trial