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The Projects

	MultiMundus
	CAMUS
	MoMEx

MultiMundus: Multimedia-Augmented Minimundus

The MultiMundus project represents the pilot project of the M³-Systems Research Lab. Its primary goal is the development of a multimedia-augmented presentation of selected exhibited models of the Minimundus area in Klagenfurt on different mobile devices like Pocket-PCs, Smartphones, Tablet-PCs and Notebooks. Thereby, different contents like texts, graphics, maps, audio and video sequences to exhibited models are adapted to the terminal capabilities of the device (like display size and color depth) as well as to the preferences of the consumer (like language, age and interests).

In the first stage of expansion by the end of April 2005, the consumer should be able to navigate through a Minimundus map interactively to get additional information (i.e. multimedia content) to selected models on a prepared mobile device, which she/he can borrow at the Minimundus entrance. Thereby, the additional information is transferred selectively from a central server to the consumer device over a wireless network (IEEE 802.11g) by using standardized protocols. The multimedia-augmented presentations of the diverse models should be easily creatable by a Presentation Designer, as well as publishable and maintainable on the server. The server-side part of the system should enable the Minimundus operator to query the latest statistics about visited models and duration of stay of each visitor.

At the end of the second stage of expansion (by the end of April 2007 - see CAMUS project), the consumer should even get the multimedia-augmented presentations on her/his personal mobile device. Thereby, the content should be transferable over different wireless networks like Wireless LAN, Bluetooth and/or UMTS/GPRS, selectively. In this context, an implementation of moderated audio guides for travel groups is also planned. Moreover, an implementation of location-based services is also intended in this phase. The consumer should get a multimedia-augmented presentation automatically to that exhibited model, which is closest to her/him.

Briefly reviewed, the main topics of the MultiMundus project are the following:

• multimedia-augmented presentations to exhibited models on prepared or private mobile devices like Pocket-PCs, Smartphones, Tablet-PCs, and Notebooks
• automatic adaptation of presented content (texts, images, cards, audio and video sequences) to terminal capabilities of the consumer device (resolution, color depth and quality of sound) as well as to user profiles (language, age, and interests)
• latest usage statistics for the Minimundus operator
• data transfer over different wireless networks like Wireless LAN, Bluetooth and/or UMTS/GPRS
• moderated audio guides for travel groups (live chats)
• automatic detection of the consumer's physical position in the Minimundus area and presentation of the exhibited model closest to her/him
• individual and object-related flashes of advertisment as well as an online quiz to exhibited objects

CAMUS: Context-aware Multimedia Services

The CAMUS project represents the second stage of expansion of the MultiMundus project and covers the area of oriented research regarding location-based and wireless multimedia communication. Taking the results of the ADMITS project and the first stage of expansion of the MultiMundus project as basement, a framework for context-aware multimedia services in stationary and mobile environments should be developed.

Experimental results from the ADMITS project have shown that adaptation is a useful technique in networks of stationary devices, but becomes even more promising and essential in mobile environments, where the instantaneous network conditions usually show stronger fluctuations and the capabilities of the consumer devices are usually much more restricted. Due to the direction to mobile environments, the context awareness of the ADMITS and MultiMundus projects has to be extended regarding the location of the consumer device, to be able to provide location-based services like a video about the Eiffel Tower in the vincinity of the Eiffel Tower. Several technologies like Differential GPS, RFID, Tranceiver/Transponder, triangular positioning with Wireless LAN and Bluetooth should be examined for their suitability.

Finally, the major result of the CAMUS project should be a software framework for context-aware multimedia services which fully conforms to prevailing (MPEG, W3C, IETF) coding, communication and presentation standards, and which can easily be tailored to specific application areas like Minimundus.

The CAMUS project is completly funded by the national Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung (FWF) in the context of the Translational Research Program (TRP). The last TRP call for proposals of the FWF was ten times oversubscribed and the admission rate was around only 16 percent. Hence, the admission of the CAMUS project shows the importance and quality of its contents.

MoMEx: Mobile Multimedia Experience

The MoMEx project proposal is currently submitted to the austrian network for e-tourism and aims at a directed transfer of the results of the CAMUS project to specific touristic applications. In close cooperation with a partner from the industry (e.g. the Minimundus GmbH) as project partner, the scientific results of the CAMUS project should be verified in touristic applications in real business mode.

Since there is no authoritative statement about the foundation of an own anet node Kärnten yet, the financing and the starting point of this project are still uncertain.

Original banner photo by Paul Preacher