Exploiting the Web’s XML data
The foundation of the Xyleme company in 2000 is the result of the work
carried out since 1999 by project Verso at INRIA in collaboration with
the universities of Orsay and Mannheim. These teams, from which come
the young company founders, are the first ones to place their bets on
the success of the new XML standard. XML makes it possible to index
documents semantically and create structured information sources. The
teams have developed an advanced query system capable in a way of exploiting
the web with the same richness as a database. Based on this work, Xyleme
is offering a novel service that returns the required information in
a form that is directly usable by users or processing programs. The
company is currently launching their commercial activity.
Contact:
Patrick Ferran, Xyleme Marketing and Development Director
Tel.: +33 1 39 63 56 79, Patrick.ferran@xyleme.com
http://www.xyleme.com
Poseidon’s eye: aquatic safety
The experience of project Robotvis in the field of computer vision
was instrumental in the design of the first prototype of a swimming
pool surveillance system by the Poséidon Technologies company.
The system warns lifeguards as soon as the cameras detect a body underwater
that has been still for more than 15 seconds. The cameras are located
on the pool walls and are connected to a computer. The company used
algorithms developed by Robotvis to calibrate the cameras, a difficult
operation due to the distortions induced by their wide angle and the
water. The company also called on the Robotvis team for advice on the
design of the detection system that compensates for the luminous artefacts
in water. Poséidon is one of the rare companies to work in such
a field still very close to research. It has since then designed and
developed a more efficient system.
Contact:
Rachid Deriche, project Robotvis, INRIA Sophia-Antipolis
Tél. : +33 4 92 38 78 32, Rachid.Deriche@inria.fr
http://www.poseidon-tech.com/us/index.html
Frogplugs: software for very special effects
Frogplugs is a digital image processing software for postproduction
studios. It has been marketed by Thales Optronics since February. This
product is based on the notion of 2D or 3D video object that can be
automatically or semi-automatically handled to make special effects:
changing camera angles, image formats or 3D object tracking. Frogplugs
results from research carried out in the framework of the Nemesis Esprit
program, to which INRIA and other European research institutes (HHI,
Forth) participated together with industry partners (Thales Optronics
and Mikros). Project Temics developed tools for panoramic image creation
and project Mirages developed 3D tracking algorithms not sensitive to
occlusions and lighting variations.
Contacts:
Andre Gagalowicz, project Mirages, INRIA Rocquencourt
Tel.: +33 1 39 63 54 08, andre.gagalowicz@inria.fr
Henri Nicolas, project Temics, INRIA Rennes
Tel.: +33 2 99 84 74 25, Henri.Nicolas@inria.fr
http://www.frogplugs.com
