La nueva norma UNE 153010. Una labor de consenso

La norma UNE 153010:2003 recogía requisitos para el subtitulado para personas sordas a través de teletexto. Fue el resultado de varios años de trabajo en el Subcomité 5 del Comité Técnico de Normalización (CTN) 153 de AENOR. Los cambios en los últimos años en cuanto a los medios audiovisuales llevaron a dicho Subcomité a plantearse en el año 2008 la posibilidad de actualizar los contenidos de esta norma, con el fin de adaptarse a nuevas tecnologías, como los DVD, la televisión digital o la televisión emitida a través de Internet. Inicialmente se planteó la posibilidad de realizar normas específicas de subtitulado para cada tecnología de emisión, pero finalmente se decidió desarrollar una norma general de subtitulado que fuera de aplicación general. Tras un largo periodo de trabajo, la nueva versión de la norma UNE 153010 está a punto de ver la luz, dado que se encuentra en periodo de información pública. En este artículo se narra el proceso de desarrollo de esta norma y se describe los aspectos más importantes de la misma, resultado de una intensa labor con gran voluntad de consenso por parte de las entidades implicadas

HBB4ALL: Deployment of HbbTV Services for All

Hybrid Broadcast Television for All is a European Commission co-financed project, inside the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP). The project builds on HbbTV, the European standard for broadcast and broadband multimedia converged services, and looks at how HbbTV technology may be used to enhance access services (such as subtitling, audio description or sign language) on both the production and service sides. HbbTV 1.5 devices are widely available in the market while HbbTV version 2.0 specification has been recently released. TV content can be enhanced by HbbTV applications with additional synchronised services in a personalised manner. For access services this opens an entirely new opportunity for users who may choose an access service delivered via their IP connection which seamlessly integrates with the regular broadcast programme. The presentation will describe the improvements taken on board by HBB4ALL to existing access services and ways of addressing the key technical, organisational and legal obstacles to the sustainable take-up of these services throughout Europe. HBB4ALL focuses on real pilot deployment as a first step to ensure a successful exploitation of these services in a near future. We will offer new insights, from the fields of human machine interaction and social innovation, which arise from the new interactive multimodal and multilanguage services which may be offered. This article will first describe the structure chosen for the project, with four pilots developed in parallel: subtitling, audio description, sign language and user interaction. Then it will describe the methodology and research approaches used for testing the new accessibility services

Pruebas técnicas para la emisión de contenidos audiovisuales en UHD, HEVC y DVB-T2

"Pruebas técnicas para la emisión de contenidos audiovisuales en UHD, HEVC y DVB-T2". Jornadas de Tecnología Audiovisual Bit Experience

Estudio de la accesibilidad de las interfaces gráficas en la televisión de alta definición

La televisión digital permite un incremento del número de servicios difundidos. Esto puede derivar en que la gestión de los mismos se dificulte de manera notable para el usuario con discapacidad. Así mismo, la televisión digital se caracteriza por la proliferación de interfaces gráficas, por ejemplo, menús de configuración, guías de programas y miniguías, aplicaciones interactivas... Las interfaces gráficas de usuario suponen una de las barreras más importantes que las personas ciegas y con discapacidad visual encuentran al interactuar con estos nuevos servicios. Por otra parte, teniendo en cuenta las necesidades de las personas con resto visual, también se habría de considerar la posibilidad de poder configurar por parte del usuario aquellos elementos gráficos y textuales que aparecen en su pantalla, fundamentalmente, el tamaño y color de letra, así como el adecuado contraste de ésta con el color de fondo sobre el que aparezc

Access Services Based on MHP Interactive Applications

In this paper it is described how interactive applications can be used to provide access services for people with disabilities in digital television. MHP (Multimedia Home Platform) is a standardized middleware to develop interactive applications in digital television. In this way, the interactive applications become tools for the provision of the access services. These features have been exploited in a research project to create a subtitle application for the deaf and hard of hearing people and an accessible electronic program guide for blind people

Deployment of access services based on HbbTV standard technology: Project HBB4ALL

This paper presents an overview of the European project HBB4ALL. It explains: how access services can be provided by means of HbbTV applications, why connected TV features become useful for this purpose, and how to get fully satisfying access services for the citizens

Integration of Multisensorial Stimuli and Multimodal Interaction in a Hybrid 3DTV System

This article proposes the integration of multisensorial stimuli and multimodal interaction components into a sports multimedia asset under two dimensions: immersion and interaction. The first dimension comprises a binaural audio system and a set of sensory effects synchronized with the audiovisual content, whereas the second explores interaction through the insertion of interactive 3D objects into the main screen and on-demand presentation of additional information in a second touchscreen. We present an end-to-end solution integrating these components into a hybrid (internet-broadcast) television system using current 3DTV standards. Results from an experimental study analyzing the perceived quality of these stimuli and their influence on the Quality of Experience are presented

Televisión digital en 2010: El reto de la interoperabilidad

En este artículo se plantea la situación actual de despliegue de la televisión digital en España desde el punto de vista de la necesaria interoperabilidad que debe haber entre los eslabones de la cadena de valor en un mercado horizontal, con especial atención, por una parte, a la navegación y la presentación de la información de programación y, por otra, a la accesibilidad de las personas con discapacidad. Los patentes problemas de interoperabilidad existentes se han producido a pesar de la existencia de un completo conjunto de disposiciones legales y normas técnicas, lo que sugiere la necesidad además de laboratorios de interoperabilidad que supongan un punto de encuentro entre los actores del sector, con el apoyo de las administraciones públicas (Utray 2009: 211‐225

HERMES-TDT: Herramientas de monitorización y control de servicios de accesibilidad para la TDT

Los servicios de accesibilidad a la televisión digital constituyen un medio para acceder al audio o vídeo de los programas de TV y son necesarios para un número creciente de personas

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (3rd edition)

In 2008 we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, research on this topic has continued to accelerate, and many new scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Accordingly, it is important to update these guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Various reviews have described the range of assays that have been used for this purpose. Nevertheless, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to measure autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. For example, a key point that needs to be emphasized is that there is a difference between measurements that monitor the numbers or volume of autophagic elements (e.g., autophagosomes or autolysosomes) at any stage of the autophagic process versus those that measure fl ux through the autophagy pathway (i.e., the complete process including the amount and rate of cargo sequestered and degraded). In particular, a block in macroautophagy that results in autophagosome accumulation must be differentiated from stimuli that increase autophagic activity, defi ned as increased autophagy induction coupled with increased delivery to, and degradation within, lysosomes (inmost higher eukaryotes and some protists such as Dictyostelium ) or the vacuole (in plants and fungi). In other words, it is especially important that investigators new to the fi eld understand that the appearance of more autophagosomes does not necessarily equate with more autophagy. In fact, in many cases, autophagosomes accumulate because of a block in trafficking to lysosomes without a concomitant change in autophagosome biogenesis, whereas an increase in autolysosomes may reflect a reduction in degradative activity. It is worth emphasizing here that lysosomal digestion is a stage of autophagy and evaluating its competence is a crucial part of the evaluation of autophagic flux, or complete autophagy. Here, we present a set of guidelines for the selection and interpretation of methods for use by investigators who aim to examine macroautophagy and related processes, as well as for reviewers who need to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of papers that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a formulaic set of rules, because the appropriate assays depend in part on the question being asked and the system being used. In addition, we emphasize that no individual assay is guaranteed to be the most appropriate one in every situation, and we strongly recommend the use of multiple assays to monitor autophagy. Along these lines, because of the potential for pleiotropic effects due to blocking autophagy through genetic manipulation it is imperative to delete or knock down more than one autophagy-related gene. In addition, some individual Atg proteins, or groups of proteins, are involved in other cellular pathways so not all Atg proteins can be used as a specific marker for an autophagic process. In these guidelines, we consider these various methods of assessing autophagy and what information can, or cannot, be obtained from them. Finally, by discussing the merits and limits of particular autophagy assays, we hope to encourage technical innovation in the field