On Convergence Of Computing, Communication, Consumer Appliance, Content And Community

The convergence of 5C (computing, communication, consumer appliance, content and community) is the main development direction of information technology. Within 5C, communication and consumer appliance construct information infrastructure. Content and community mean new services and applications. Computing is the catalyzer of 5C convergence. 5C convergence will result to next-generation Internet. Content driving by computing is digital media technology (then support knowledge accessing freely). Community driving by computing is intelligent community technology (then the virtual society will emerge). As the mainstays of information society, Internet-NG, digital media and intelligent will support all of the human access any knowledge and exchange ideas each other with freedom. It is the coming information age.This report summarized the author's post-doctoral research and development works about 5C convergence. It can be divided into six parts: Data broadcasting: the technology implementing data service on broadcasting networks. Interactive TV: convergence of software, multimedia and consumer appliances. Web gateway: the content transform technology that supports TV, mobile phone to access Web. Digital media and digital library. Intelligent community: a new concept gave by the report that integrates Internet, artificial intelligence and virtual reality. It's the goal of computing-mediated communication. eLearing: the typical application of 5C convergence.Digital broadcasting will drive traditional broadcasting into information age. Data broadcasting is the key technology to extend value-adding service on digital broadcasting networks. The report compared data broadcasting standards currently. We development a file-system broadcasting system named iDCS following DVB data broadcasting standards which supports website direct broadcasting and large files download on digital broadcasting networks. iDCS is running on some broadcasting networks now.As outcome of Internet and digital TV, Interactive TV (short for iTV) is enhanced TV (short for eTV, TV enhanced by data service) that supports communication between audiences and program provider by return channel. The core of iTV technology is multimedia application environment - a kind of software interface standards. The report analyses the main iTV international standards and products. We development a set of intelligent home information system named iHIC based on DVB MHP 1.0. Web gateway which supports to transform web pages to suit for the screen of TV or mobile phone consumer appliance opens a new world to consumer appliances. Based on analysis of XML, XHTML, WAP WML, ATVEF, DASE, MHP, we development web gateway for TV conformable to XHTML 1.0 and web gateway for mobile phone conformable to WML.Digital technology accelerates media processing, storage, delivery and application. All kinks of media are blending in digital forms. The report summarizes some typical standards about digital media including MHEG MPEG DAVIC and streaming technology on Internet. Then introduces iMedia -a content-based digital media processing system development by our group. Digital library is a kind of advanced information system that stores a huge amount of structural digital resources on the Internet. The final goal of Digital Library is that all of people anywhere anytime can use any...