High-Tech Shower International

Nov 26, 1997

11/26#03
STOP STRUGGLING WITH BUTTONS AND TALK TO YOUR VCR


0847

(0847) YOU MAY BE ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO LET THE DIGITAL CLOCK ON YOUR V-C-R PANEL BLINK DUE TO YOUR IMPATIENCE OR INABILITY TO RESET THE CLOCK. WELL, YOU'RE NOT ALONE. A RECENT SURVEY INDICATED THAT ONE-THIRD OF AMERICAN V-C-R OWNERS GAVE UP PROGRAMMING THEIR DEVICE BECAUSE THEY DON'T UNDERSTAND THE INSTRUCTIONS AND CONTROLS. BUT HELP IS ON THE WAY, THANKS TO A VISITING RESEARCHER AT THE SONY COMPUTER SCIENCE LAB. HE'S WORKING TO MAKE THE V-C-R AND OTHER ELECTRONIC DEVICES IN THE HOME EASIER TO OPERATE.

0919

(0919) "Record 'Jetsons' next week." "List the schedule."

0925

(0925) "What we're doing is looking at programming the VCR as being a similar kind of task as talking to your son or talking to your daughter and telling them, this is what I want to do."

0935

(0935) "Record 'Sesame Street.'" "Five." "EP."
(0944) "The VCR not only responds to voice, but it is also context aware and this is what's critical for making it a successful type of product that people can use. What I mean by context is it knows whether I'm watching right now and it knows what channel it's on and it also knows how long I've been watching a certain program. So if I'm interested in what I'm seeing right now. I can say, for instance, record this show.
(1008) And I get a list there of all the times that the show is on and if I change channels, let's say I go to the other program and I like this and I can say, record this show next week and you see then when the program is on. But if I really like what's going on, I can even say, record this show now and the VCR starts recording automatically."
1032

(1032) THERE'S NO REAL SMARTS TO THE SYSTEM. IT BASICALLY HAS SOME VERY SIMPLE NATURAL LANGUAGE RECOGNITION AND COMPREHENSION. INFORMATION IS THEN PROCESSED THE SAME WAY A SIGNAL FROM A REMOTE CONTROL IS. BUT, YOU PROBABLY WON'T WANT TO RUSH TO AKIHABARA TO BUY THIS SYSTEM.
(1048) "To run the prototype that we have going right now, we're looking at two high end work stations, vision boards, graphics output and so on, you're looking at around $50,000 worth of equipment costs. That's not feasible for most people. But in the future, in fact, in a very short time, what we're going to see are the computational capabilities required to run this available for a very low price, such that they could actually be built right into a VCR."

Copyright (C) 1996 Japan High-Tech Satellite Network Co., Ltd., NEC Corporation