Recent Trends in Digital Convergence Information System

Excerpt

Welcome to this special issue of the Wireless Personal Communications journal on recent trends in digital convergence information systems. The main goal behind the initiation of this special issue is to create a timely host be the vehicle for publishing selected research papers from academia and practitioners in different industries on this emerging topic. With the advancements in convergence technology, interactive multimedia communications, context awareness, and the proliferation of low cost compact sensing and computing devices, great attention is being paid to the study, development and deployment of digital convergence information systems in various sectors of the society such as healthcare, e-commerce, critical infrastructures, etc.. In healthcare, digital convergence information systems have the potential for lengthening life expectancy and most importantly improving Quality of Life (QoL). For these reasons and also to reduce healthcare costs (e.g., providing smarter healthcare to the elderly at home in an increasingly aging society), many governments worldwide, working with research centers and the industry, are to promoting the development of test projects for on- and off-line digital convergence-based health information systems. The industry has acknowledged their great potentials and is heavily investing in the development not only products that are enabling digital convergence information systems but also in the provisioning of digital convergence services for people as a business [1‐3]. This special issue covers some of the hottest topics in digital convergence information systems, including: Personal computing for convergence systems; Personal and content protection; Ubiquitous computing for digital convergence; Software infrastructure, middleware and frameworks; Mobile computing for future communication systems; Agent technology in convergence information systems; Convergence system in smart health, telemedicine; Innovative applications of digital convergence information; Cooperative design in digital convergence environments; Artificial intelligence methodologies for convergence information. Specifically: …