Showing papers on "Object (computer science) published in 2002"

Alloy: a lightweight object modelling notation

Abstract: Alloy is a little language for describing structural properties. It offers a declaration syntax compatible with graphical object models, and a set-based formula syntax powerful enough to express complex constraints and yet amenable to a fully automatic semantic analysis. Its meaning is given by translation to an even smaller (formally defined) kernel. This paper presents the language in its entirety, and explains its motivation, contributions and deficiencies.

System and method for facilitating user interaction in a browser environment

Abstract: Techniques to support various operations including drag-and-drop and stretch and data manipulation in a browser environment to allow data for an object located in one part of a document (300) to be associated with another object located in another part of the document. In one embodiment, a document includes at least one applet (310a) for at least one display window. Each applet includes at least one browser object (312) representative of an entity for an end application.

Adaptive communication application programming interface

Abstract: A method and apparatus for inter-module communication is disclosed. The method includes defining a command definition, wherein the command definition comprises commands for interfacing with a multi-channel, multi-media, communication queuing system. The command definition can include, for example, driver object commands to request media type lists and command event lists, create drivers, request service, and release drivers. The command definition can also include, for example, service object commands to release service objects, notify when handling of an event is complete, invoke commands, release work items, suspend work items, resume work items, handle queued events, and cancel queued events. The command definition can also include, for example, client object commands to start a work item, release work items, save work item contexts, restore work item contexts, serialize work items, free work item storage, begin batch processing, and end batch processing.

Method of using cache to determine the visibility to a remote database client of a plurality of database transactions

Abstract: Updates made to a central database (3), or to another partially replicated database (23-1) are selectively propagated to the partially replicated database (23-2) if the owner of the partially replicated database (23-2) is deemed to have visibility to the data being updated. Visibility is determined by use of predetermined rules stored in a rules database. Stored rules are assessed against data content of various tables that make up a logical entity, known as a docking object, that is being updated. The stored rules are assessed against data content of various tables that make up a docking object, not necessarily being the docking object that is being updated. The visibility rules of these related docking objects are recursively determined. Changes in visibility are determined to enable the central computer to direct the nodes to insert the docking object into its partially replicated database. The predetermined rules are in declarative form and specify visibility of data based upon structure of the data without reference to data content. Database objects and transactions have an associated visibility strength used to determine the visibility of a transaction to an object.

Method, apparatus, and system for implementing a framework to support a web-based application

Abstract: According to one aspect of the present invention, a system is provided to support a web-based application. The system comprising a set of server-side objects managed by an object manager (OM), the set of server-side objects including a global session object providing access to a repository, a server-side business object, and server-side business components contained in the server-side business object. The system further comprises a set of browser-side objects running on a browser, the set of browser-side objects including a browser-side application object that exists throughout a user-session to manage other browser-side objects. The system also comprises a remote procedure call (RPC) mechanism and a notification mechanism to facilitate communication and synchronization between the browser-side objects and the server-side objects.

A Framework for Generating Network-Based Moving Objects

Abstract: Benchmarking spatiotemporal database systems requires the definition of suitable datasets simulating the typical behavior of moving objects. Previous approaches for generating spatiotemporal data do not consider that moving objects often follow a given network. Therefore, benchmarks require datasets consisting of such “network-based” moving objects. In this paper, the most important properties of network-based moving objects are presented and discussed. Essential aspects are the maximum speed and the maximum capacity of connections, the influence of other moving objects on the speed and the route of an object, the adequate determination of the start and destination of an object, the influence of external events, and time-scheduled traffic. These characteristics are the basis for the specification and development of a new generator for spatiotemporal data. This generator combines real data (the network) with user-defined properties of the resulting dataset. A framework is proposed where the user can control the behavior of the generator by re-defining the functionality of selected object classes. An experimental performance investigation demonstrates that the chosen approach is suitable for generating large data sets.

Interactive video display system

Abstract: An interactive video display system. A display screen is for displaying a visual image for presentation to a user. A camera is for detecting an object in an interactive area located in front of the display screen, the camera operable to capture three-dimensional information about the object. A computer system is for directing the display screen to change the visual image in response to the object.

Real-time 3D model acquisition

Abstract: The digitization of the 3D shape of real objects is a rapidly expanding field, with applications in entertainment, design, and archaeology. We propose a new 3D model acquisition system that permits the user to rotate an object by hand and see a continuously-updated model as the object is scanned. This tight feedback loop allows the user to find and fill holes in the model in real time, and determine when the object has been completely covered. Our system is based on a 60 Hz. structured-light rangefinder, a real-time variant of ICP (iterative closest points) for alignment, and point-based merging and rendering algorithms. We demonstrate the ability of our prototype to scan objects faster and with greater ease than conventional model acquisition pipelines.

Method and apparatus for identifying objects depicted in a videostream

Abstract: The present invention relates to an apparatus for rapidly analyzing frame(s) of digitized video data which may include objects of interest randomly distributed throughout the video data and wherein said objects are susceptible to detection, classification, and ultimately identification by filtering said video data for certain differentiable characteristics of said objects. The present invention may be practiced on pre-existing sequences of image data or may be integrated into an imaging device for real-time, dynamic, object identification, classification, logging/counting, cataloging, retention (with links to stored bitmaps of said object), retrieval, and the like. The present invention readily lends itself to the problem of automatic and semi-automatic cataloging of vast numbers of objects such as traffic control signs and utility poles disposed in myriad settings. When used in conjunction with navigational or positional inputs, such as GPS, an output from the inventative systems indicates the identity of each object, calculates object location, classifies each object by type, extracts legible text appearing on a surface of the object (if any), and stores a visual representation of the object in a form dictated by the end user/operator of the system. The output lends itself to examination and extraction of scene detail, which cannot practically be successfully accomplished with just human viewers operating video equipment, although human intervention can still be used to help judge and confirm a variety of classifications of certain instances and for types of identified objects.

System, method and article of manufacture for signal constructs in a programming language capable of programming hardware architectures

Abstract: A system, method and article of manufacture are provided for using a dynamic object in a programming language. In general, an object is defined with an associated first value and second value. The first value is used in association with the object during a predetermined clock cycle. The second value is used in association with the object before or after the predetermined clock cycle.

BioMOBY: An open source biological web services proposal

Abstract: BioMOBY is an Open Source research project which aims to generate an architecture for the discovery and distribution of biological data through web services; data and services are decentralised, but the availability of these resources, and the instructions for interacting with them, are registered in a central location called MOBY Central. BioMOBY adds to the web services paradigm, as exemplified by Universal Data Discovery and Integration (UDDI), by having an object-driven registry query system with object and service ontologies. This allows users to traverse expansive and disparate data sets where each possible next step is presented based on the data object currently in-hand. Moreover, a path from the current data object to a desired final data object could be automatically discovered using the registry. Native BioMOBY objects are lightweight XML, and make up both the query and the response of a simple object access protocol (SOAP) transaction.

Vehicle occupant protection apparatus

Abstract: A vehicle occupant protection apparatus includes a collision object data detection element on a vehicle to detect data, such as the physical parameters of the estimated collision object related to a collision impact force, from an estimated collision object, a vehicle-onboard occupant protection element activated in the event of a vehicle collision, thereby protecting an occupant in a predetermined activation mode, and a protection mode control element for changing the activation mode based on the data. The vehicle occupant protection apparatus may also utilize a collision detection element for detecting an actual collision with the estimated collision object.

Digital media management apparatus and methods

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for managing, finding and displaying objects such as digital images. Objects are tagged (“associated”) with descriptive textual and numeric data (“metadata”), and stored in a relational database from which they can be selected, sorted, and found. Tags can be defined by name, tag type, and associated attributes. Objects can be tagged by dropping a tag onto the object, or relating a database record for the tag to a database record for the object. Tagged objects can be searched for and displayed according to the degree to which their metadata matches the search criteria. Visual cues can indicate whether displayed objects match all, some but not all, or none of the search criteria. Database object distributions can be displayed as histograms or scatter plots, including timelines, calendars or maps. Object distributions can be used to search for objects or to limit search results for a previous search.

Rethinking the Computer Music Language: SuperCollider

Abstract: ion Description and Purpose Variable names Provide human readable names to data addresses Function names Provide human readable names to function addresses Control structures Eliminate ‘‘spaghetti’’ code (The ‘‘goto’’ statement is no longer necessary.) Argument passing Default argument values, keyword specification of arguments, variable length argument lists, etc. Data structures Allow conceptual organization of data Data typing Binds the type of the data to the type of the variable Static Insures program correctness, sacrificing generality. Dynamic Greater generality, sacrificing guaranteed correctness. Inheritance Allows creation of families of related types and easy re-use of common functionality Message dispatch Providing one name to multiple implementations of the same concept Single dispatch Dispatching to a function based on the run-time type of one argument Multiple dispatch Dispatching to a function based on the run-time type of multiple arguments. Predicate dispatch Dispatching to a function based on run-time state of arguments Garbage collection Automated memory management Closures Allow creation, combination, and use of functions as first-class values Lexical binding Provides access to values in the defining context Dynamic binding Provides access to values in the calling context (.valueEnvir in SC) Co-routines Synchronous cooperating processes Threads Asynchronous processes Lazy evaluation Allows the order of operations not to be specified. Infinitely long processes and infinitely large data structures can be specified and used as needed. Applying Language Abstractions to Computer Music The SuperCollider language provides many of the abstractions listed above. SuperCollider is a dynamically typed, single-inheritance, single-argument dispatch, garbage-collected, object-oriented language similar to Smalltalk (www.smalltalk.org). In SuperCollider, everything is an object, including basic types like letters and numbers. Objects in SuperCollider are organized into classes. The UGen class provides the abstraction of a unit generator, and the Synth class represents a group of UGens operating as a group to generate output. An instrument is constructed functionally. That is, when one writes a sound-processing function, one is actually writing a function that creates and connects unit generators. This is different from a procedural or static object specification of a network of unit generators. Instrument functions in SuperCollider can generate the network of unit generators using the full algorithmic capability of the language. For example, the following code can easily generate multiple versions of a patch by changing the values of the variables that specify the dimensions (number of exciters, number of comb delays, number of allpass delays). In a procedural language like Csound or a ‘‘wire-up’’ environment like Max, a different patch would have to be created for different values for the dimensions of the patch.

Identity Uncertainty and Citation Matching

Abstract: Identity uncertainty is a pervasive problem in real-world data analysis. It arises whenever objects are not labeled with unique identifiers or when those identifiers may not be perceived perfectly. In such cases, two observations may or may not correspond to the same object. In this paper, we consider the problem in the context of citation matching—the problem of deciding which citations correspond to the same publication. Our approach is based on the use of a relational probability model to define a generative model for the domain, including models of author and title corruption and a probabilistic citation grammar. Identity uncertainty is handled by extending standard models to incorporate probabilities over the possible mappings between terms in the language and objects in the domain. Inference is based on Markov chain Monte Carlo, augmented with specific methods for generating efficient proposals when the domain contains many objects. Results on several citation data sets show that the method outperforms current algorithms for citation matching. The declarative, relational nature of the model also means that our algorithm can determine object characteristics such as author names by combining multiple citations of multiple papers.

Portable devices and methods employing digital watermarking

Abstract: Media objects are transformed into active, connected objects via identifiers embedded into them or their containers. In the context of a user's playback experience, a decoding process extracts the identifier from a media object and possibly additional context information and forwards it to a server. The server, in turn, maps the identifier to an action, such as returning metadata, re-directing the request to one or more other servers, requesting information from another server to identify the media object, etc. The server may return a higher fidelity version of content from which the identifier was extracted. In some applications, the higher fidelity version may be substituted for the original media object and rendered to provide higher quality output. The linking process applies to broadcast objects as well as objects transmitted over networks in streaming and compressed file formats.

Learning domain-independent string transformation weights for high accuracy object identification

Abstract: The task of object identification occurs when integrating information from multiple websites. The same data objects can exist in inconsistent text formats across sites, making it difficult to identify matching objects using exact text match. Previous methods of object identification have required manual construction of domain-specific string transformations or manual setting of general transformation parameter weights for recognizing format inconsistencies. This manual process can be time consuming and error-prone. We have developed an object identification system called Active Atlas [18], which applies a set of domain-independent string transformations to compare the objects' shared attributes in order to identify matching objects. In this paper, we discuss extensions to the Active Atlas system, which allow it to learn to tailor the weights of a set of general transformations to a specific application domain through limited user input. The experimental results demonstrate that this approach achieves higher accuracy and requires less user involvement than previous methods across various application domains.

Adoption and focus: practical linear types for imperative programming

Abstract: A type system with linearity is useful for checking software protocols andresource management at compile time. Linearity provides powerful reasoning about state changes, but at the price of restrictions on aliasing. The hard division between linear and nonlinear types forces the programmer to make a trade-off between checking a protocol on an object and aliasing the object. Most onerous is the restriction that any type with a linear component must itself be linear. Because of this, checking a protocol on an object imposes aliasing restrictions on any data structure that directly or indirectly points to the object. We propose a new type system that reduces these restrictions with the adoption and focus constructs. Adoption safely allows a programmer to alias objects on which she is checking protocols, and focus allows the reverse. A programmer can alias data structures that point to linear objects and use focus for safe access to those objects. We discuss how we implemented these ideas in the Vault programming language.

Customer relationship management system for physical locations

Abstract: A method for outputting information about a person includes identifying the person utilizing a wireless system upon entry into a physical location, and also includes locating the person within the physical structure. An engagement plan is retrieved based on the identification of the person and output. The engagement plan has information useful for interacting with the person. The engagement plan is created based at least in part on personal information of the person, the preferences of the person, and the past transactions of the person. A system for outputting information about a person, such as a customer, includes an object carried by the person, which is capable of being identified by a wireless system. A wireless interface communicates with the object. A computing device correlates the identification of the object with the person. An output device outputs information relating to the person.

Objects First with Java: A Practical Introduction Using BlueJ

Abstract: Objects First with Java: A Practical Introduction Using BlueJ, 5e, is ideal for introductory courses in Java/Introduction to Programming and Object-Oriented Programming and for beginning programmers.This is the only introductory programming textbook that uses the BlueJ integrated development environment (IDE) to teach introductory and object-oriented programming principles using Java. Its close integration with the BlueJdevelopment environment allows this book tofocus on key aspects of object-oriented software development from day one. BlueJ's clear visualization of classes and objects means that readers can immediately appreciate the differences between them, and gain a much better understanding of the nature of an object than theywould from simply reading source code. Unlike traditional textbooks, the chapters are not ordered by language features but by software development concepts. Language features are introduced as a response to the problems to be solved. A large numberof different, interesting projects are used to provide variety and avoid the monotony of a running problem. This book takes an objects first approach to teaching the traditionally difficult concepts of objects in a manipulative visual form. Throughout, the emphasis is on developing a practical approach to programming, with students encouraged to add code to existing programs rather than working with an intimidating sheet of blank paper. This textbook is printed in four-color to aid pedagogy and reader learning.

Concept-based method and system for dynamically analyzing unstructured information

Abstract: A method, operating model, system, data structure, computer program and computer program product for analyzing and categorizing unstructured information is provided such that conventional structured data access techniques can be utilized over unstructured objects A analysis and categorization engine builds a set of concept groupings, each grouping consisting of related words and phrases The concept groupings are augmented by user input A set of categories is built The analysis and categorization engine generates a vector representation of each object based on concepts and utilizes a statistical analysis to select concepts that represent each object and assign objects to categories Information about users, objects, and categories is stored in an open architecture, such as a relational database An object concept based search is provided to efficiently locate meaningful objects and to provide for updating of the object categorization based on search entries

Network-linked interactive three-dimensional composition and display of saleable objects in situ in viewer-selected scenes for purposes of object promotion and procurement, and generation of object advertisements

Abstract: A design professional such as an interior designer, furniture sales associate or advertising designer or a consumer running a program at a client computer (i) interactively selects or specifies a background scene and furnishings or other objects, (ii) interactively previews these objects in a small low-quality perspective view image of the scene, and then (iii) utilizing the world wide web transmits the scene file to a server computer, (iv) this server then renders a typically larger high-quality version of the previewed scene, utilizing high-resolution objects to replace the stand-in objects used to render the preview image on the client computer, (v) which high-quality image is returned to the client computer for viewing. 3 D models and related textures and maps are built for each object to be depicted in the virtual scenes. For transmission efficiency, the scene file transmitted to the server may contain only the name of stand-in models and textures used in the scene, rather than the actual geometry and maps, if these reside on the server. Images so produced serve to promote the sale of visually-attractive goods depicted by providing the designer and consumer with in-context visualization.

Content based retrieval of VRML objects: an iterative and interactive approach

Abstract: We examine the problem of searching a database of three-dimensional objects (given in VRML) for objects similar to a given object. We introduce an algorithm which is both iterative and interactive. Rather than base the search solely on geometric feature similarity, we propose letting the user influence future search results by marking some of the results of the current search as 'relevant' or 'irrelevant', thus indicating personal preferences. A novel approach, based on SVM, is used for the adaptation of the distance measure consistently with these markings, which brings the 'relevant' objects closer and pushes the 'irrelevant' objects farther. We show that in practice very few iterations are needed for the system to converge well on what the user "had in mind".

Method and system for remote utilizing a mobile device to share data objects

Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed that provide users of mobile handheld digital devices the opportunity to share large data objects, such as images or digital audio files, with multiple users and the opportunity to upload a data object from a data object source and transmit the uploaded data object to a remote server in order to make the uploaded data object available for sharing with multiple users. The shared data objects can be accessible via a link to the object or by means of reduced size versions of the shared data objects.

Group communication method for a wireless communication device

Abstract: A group communication method for a wireless information device, in which the method comprises the step of using an application independent object which defines or references members of a group in a way that enables communication to take place between two or more members of the group. The group object defines solely the identities of members of a group: as such, it is application (and hence also content) independent. This means that a group created in one application (e.g. a diary/agenda application could use that same group as the recipient list for an invitation to a meeting); a voice application could use that same group to allow a voice call to be conferenced across to all group members. Similarly, data specifically created for one group and in one application can be re-used in a different application and the data viewed appropriately for that different application.

Object recognition supported by user interaction for service robots

Abstract: This paper describes an interactive vision system for a robot that finds an object specified by a user and brings it to the user. The system first registers object models automatically. When the user specifies an object, the system tries to recognize the object automatically. When the recognition result is shown to the user, the user may provide additional information via speech such as pointing out mistakes, choosing the correct object from multiple candidates, or giving the relative position of the object. Based on the advice, the system tries again to recognize the object. Experiments are described using real-world refrigerator scenes.

Consistency maintenance in real-time collaborative graphics editing systems

Abstract: Real-time collaborative graphics editing systems allow a group of users to view and edit the same graphics document at the same time from geographically dispersed sites connected by communication networks Consistency maintenance in the face of concurrent accesses to shared objects is one of the core issues in the design of these types of systems In this article, we propose an object-level multiversioning approach to consistency maintenance in real-time collaborative graphic editors This approach is novel in achieving intention preservation and convergence, in preserving the work concurrently produced by multiple users in the face of conflict, and in minimizing the number of object versions for conflict resolution Major technical contributions of this work include a formal specification of a unique combined effect for an arbitrary group of conflict and compatible operations, a distributed algorithm for incremental creation of multiple object versions, a consistent object identification scheme for multiple object versions, and a convergent layering scheme for overlapping objects All algorithms and schemes presented in this article have been implemented in an Internet-based GRACE (graphics collaborative editing) system

Digital authentication with digital and analog documents

Abstract: Techniques for incorporating authentication information into digital representations of objects and using the authentication information to authenticate the objects. The authentication information may be made from information in one portion of the digital representation and incorporated into another portion of the digital representation that does not overlap the first portion. Where the digital representation is made into an analog form and that in turn is made into a digital representation and the second digital representation is verified, the two portions must further be non-overlapping in the analog form. The information from which the authentication information is made may exist at many levels: representations of physical effects produced by the object, representations of features of the object, codes that represent the object's contents, and representations of descriptions of the object. Also disclosed are a verification server and techniques for reducing errors by an OCR. The verification server verifies authenticated documents. When a document is verified, an identifier is associated with the document and the identifier is used to locate a key for the authentication information and in some cases a second copy of the authentication information. The verification process may also involve security patterns that are a physical part of the analog form. The error reduction techniques include an error code specifying characters in the object that are confusing to OCR devices, and the error code is used to correct the results of an OCR reading of an analog form.

Relational database system for storing nodes of a hierarchical index of multi-dimensional data in a first module and metadata regarding the index in a second module

Abstract: A system and method for indexing and storing multi-dimensional or multi-attribute data. Data items are recursively sorted in a selected dimension (e.g., the dimension having the greatest variance) and divided until each subdivision fits into a leaf node having a specified fanout. Intermediate nodes and a root node are constructed to complete the index. Each node of the index is stored in a database as a separate object or record and may include a node identifier of the unique, an identifier of a parent and/or a sibling node and an entry for each child of the node, which may be data items or other nodes. Each record entry for a child includes an associated bounding area encompassing descendant data items. Another database table or module may store information about the index, such as the dimensionality of the data, the index fanout and an identifier of a root of the index.

An active learning framework for content-based information retrieval

Abstract: We propose a general active learning framework for content-based information retrieval. We use this framework to guide hidden annotations in order to improve the retrieval performance. For each object in the database, we maintain a list of probabilities, each indicating the probability of this object having one of the attributes. During training, the learning algorithm samples objects in the database and presents them to the annotator to assign attributes. For each sampled object, each probability is set to be one or zero depending on whether or not the corresponding attribute is assigned by the annotator. For objects that have not been annotated, the learning algorithm estimates their probabilities with biased kernel regression. Knowledge gain is then defined to determine, among the objects that have not been annotated, which one the system is the most uncertain. The system then presents it as the next sample to the annotator to which it is assigned attributes. During retrieval, the list of probabilities works as a feature vector for us to calculate the semantic distance between two objects, or between the user query and an object in the database. The overall distance between two objects is determined by a weighted sum of the semantic distance and the low-level feature distance. The algorithm is tested on both synthetic databases and real databases of 3D models. In both cases, the retrieval performance of the system improves rapidly with the number of annotated samples. Furthermore, we show that active learning outperforms learning based on random sampling.