MRT URACOM Article English

Extrait du livre (page 151) publié par le Ministère de la Recherche et de la Technologie
DRTT Toulouse - Recherche-Technologie - Rédaction : Mme Aline LLarens Dinier
 

BETWEEN KNOW-HOW AND 'HOW TO LET OTHERS KNOW' :
COMMUNICATION & INFORMATION

From the voice to the sound image

Since the invention of the telephone in 1875, the importance of the role that mathematics plays in communication has not been underestimated.

It was mathematicians and physicists who, faced with the concrete problems of distortion, first of the voice and later of images, were able ta formulate questions which would lead ta solutions.
Sampled, then digitized, the signal is passed on ta the computer or ta a micro-computer where it can be put right by an "error corrector code".
Working out and putting iinto practise these corrector codes was possible thanks to the mathematical theory of Evariste GALOIS, a preeminent mathematician of the 19th century.

One of our foremost concerns at the end of this century is the constant enhancement of the quality of transmitted information. When Philippe DREYFUS used the ward 'informatics' for the first time in 1962, it was ta describe the automatic treatment of information.

Today, we are bombarded with every kind of infor-mation willy-nilly and everyone is obliged ta separate the wheat from the chaff. Some computer specialists have been working on methods which allow us to select and ta collect those pieces of information which are essential ta the steady progress of the most personal investigations.


BRINGING INFORMATION TOGETHER FOR A FAR-FLUNG AUDIENCE:
URACOM

I- Visiotronics or "the conviviality of the screen of tomorrow"

Out of the joining up at URACOM of the Industrial Teams of OPUS-ALCATEL, the researchers of INPT and of l'UNIVERSITÉ PAUL SABATIER and thanks ta the financial support of the Regional Council of Midi-Pyrénées, a brand new concept of Multimedia Communications was barn in 1989 :
VISIOTRONICS. It brings together the transport and the treatment of Voice Data, of fixed and animated images, which allows mainframes dealing with treatment of logic and linked ta company systems to process and route every information source whether it be numeric or analogie, of an audio or video origin.

The marketing of the multimedia systems which incorporate the 'image' services drawing on VISIOTRONICS has already caused a sensation in the !Uorld of Telecommunications.

At OPUS-ALCATEL, with the driving force of the URACOM teams, the project became a reality in February 1990 which enabled URACOM to dream up and design Systems of Exchange of Computerized Data, something of interest ta every sector.

Encouraged by this development, URACOM now plays a leading part in the activities which interpret the decisions of the Steering Committee of EDIFRANCE concerning the foreseeable evolution of Techniques and Systems which are needed to carryout EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) projects.

When Mouchi HADDAD, Director General of URACOM, was nominated to the Vice-Presidency of EDIFRANCE's Scientific & Technical Commission, the national body whose job it is to elaborate Norms for the Exchange of Computerized Data in all areas of Economie and Social life, working in collaboration with the USA and Japan in particular, URACOM could take up officiai position in these fields and so improve the deployment of its abilities at bath national and international level.


II - So that distance is no longer a by-word for absence...
multimedia communications

To hear and ta see, ta take part in an exposition, to consult documents locked away in distant "libraries", to linger over one particular page, or a plan, to use an office of a minimal size ta bring together a few hundred people...

this is a pen portrait of the work being undertaken by URACOM (Unit mixing Research at Advanced level into COmmunications through Multimedia) with the guiding force of Mouchi HADDAD, Director General.

The methodology of design of multimedia systems allows the possibility of interactive scenarios which unite systems of image gathering and image banks especially in the field of scientific disciplines (physics, chemistry, mechanics, biology, robotics), the aim being to experiment and ta make long-distance use of computerized dialecticians on site to provide a real and conti-nuous education.

lt is easy to grasp the extent to which such rebalancing of a Region, where distance from the Technopole can mean for some a severe handicap. The setting up of ISDN (Integrated Services Data Network) is a foretaste of the "revolution" of services whieh the new communication systems will bring


III - When the 'symbol' becomes the "meaning", it is called VISIONIS

The concept VISIONIS and OPUS ALCATEL'S new associated numeric telephone support system are the mainstays of the systems designed for the end-user for his interactive and multimedia communication needs.

Voice Images and computerized Systems are Organized Numerically to provide an Integration of Services.

Current R & D activities at URACOM involve :
- relations between "LEARNER- TEACHER",
- relations between "SOURCE-TERMINAL",'
- didactic information systems,
- interactivity between different media,
- electronic mai/boxes and multimedia mail services
- etc