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| In the search engine all captured media content is simultaneously catalogued and digitally archived |
After the search engine has been launched, its users will be able to search in real-time for key words or names in audio and video content such as that from TV and radio transmissions as well as web-TV. Through access to an integrated multimedia database, the users will be able to search not only current programmes, but previous broadcasts as well.
Availability of the several million Euros necessary for funding the plan has already been assured by investors in Qatar. artec technologies gained access to such investors through the good offices of Global Investment Bridge AG from Munich as well as the law offices of Siemund & Partners, Attorneys-at-Law from Mühldorf/Inn and long active in Qatar.
The media search engine will be launched in the autumn of this year. Starting in 2011, artec technologies then plans to introduce the offering into the consumer market. In its first stage, the novel media search engine will primarily be offered to business customers from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Initially, the service will enable users to search the programmes of around 300 TV and radio stations as well as the contents of numerous web-TV offerings. The volume of the media contents to be searched will be expanded continuously. On a long-term basis, the media search engine will be made available to all interested parties within the Arabian area. This comprises a market with around 86 million Internet users at present (source: Internet World Stats).
The service will enable users to search the programmes of around 300 TV and radio stations |
"With the media search engine projected in Qatar, users will be able to search media audio and video content as quickly and as simply as they can now search texts and websites," says Thomas Hoffmann, of artec technologies' Board of Directors. "The project is based upon technologies which are patented in Germany and have enjoyed great success worldwide. In combination with the investment policies of our committed partners from the Gulf region, we have a unique chance to create and develop a media search engine unparalleled in the world."
Qatar Science & Technology Park - "Silicon Valley at the Arabian Gulf"
The Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP) is a thriving knowledge and research hub established as a constituent part of the Qatar Foundation, chaired by the wife of the Emir of Qatar, Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al Missned. Through the targeted selection of innovative, technology-based companies and projects which have already proven their merit, the QSTP is well on its way in becoming a driving force in Qatar's journey towards a post-carbon economy for the entire region. The ultimate objective is, through sustainable development, to transform Qatar into one of the world's most advanced countries within two decades - a leader in innovative education and research.
Licenses for tenancy at the park with its highly specified facilities are granted only after exhaustive selection and evaluation of applicant companies and their concepts. A select few, universally known companies such as EADS, CISCO, Microsoft and others are already housed and operating at the QSTP.
Thomas Hoffmann explains: "We are extremely happy that the decision makers at the Qatar Science & Technology Park were convinced by our concept. A kind of Silicon Valley at the Arabian gulf is emerging there, and for us as a young, innovative growth-stage enterprise to belong to this select circle of resident companies is a great opportunity."
Both state and private funds support carefully screened growth-stage companies and their research projects. Together they combine to create a vibrant R&D community dedicated to the further development of the location and to the benefit of the Qatar community.
Through integrated voice recognition, the search engine converts speech into text |
The future media search engine to be developed at the QSTP will provide its users new means of access to media content of all types. The benefits with this search engine are that companies and/or persons can research the most varied media content according to their own themes and search criteria and then document the results of their research. All of this will be done with a minimum of effort and expense.
With the cutting-edge combination of multimedia database and search engine which artec technologies has developed, broadcasts from TV and radio stations can be searched both in real-time as well as years after the original transmission. Likewise, diverse other content, for instance the recordings of university lectures, can be stored in the database and then researched with artec technologies' search engine.
The basic principle of the search engine is that all captured media content is simultaneously catalogued and digitally archived. Through integrated voice recognition, speech is converted into text. Moreover, the search engine gathers diverse additional information such as subtitles or programme information. All information in the stored video and audio data can subsequently be searched according to key words, including personal names. Users receive the results in the form of either short texts or video and audio clips. Thanks to the various filters, the search can be refined with extreme precision. Through the continued development of semantic content analysis, the future accuracy of the media search engine will continue to improve significantly.
"The media search engine evolving in Qatar promises enormous potential. It will merge the medial contents of the entire Arabian region into one comprehensive resource for the common advantage. Information from hundreds of TV and radio stations is then just a click of the mouse away," Thomas Hoffmann concludes. "We are convinced that our cooperation with our partners in Qatar will lead this new concept to great success in the search-engines market."
