Page 215 - Intelligent Communication Systems

I 84 INTELLIGENT COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS
the introduction of HyperReality, they would be able to order directly a personal-
ized dress to be made by a dressmaker.
This should have a great impact on the paradigm of manufacturing. Currently,
manufacturing involves mass producing stereotyped products (such as dresses,
cars, furniture, and personal computers). Customers then purchase these ready-
made products. But in the future, this paradigm would be substantially changed.
Customers would ask a manufacturer to produce a personalized product by means
of HyperReality and then purchase it from the manufacturer directly. In this way
a manufacturer-based service would be changed to a customer-based service.
In addition, customers or subscribers would be able to choose the services they
want. For example, if you choose to have caller ID service, you could check what
number is calling before you pick up the receiver. Or as a TV subscriber, you could
choose what to watch from the many programs broadcast by your broadcasting
service company. You could order a dress from a manufacturer directly instead of
choosing one from a show window. Thus customers, subscribers, and telephone
users would be able to choose their own goods, programs, and callers.

13.3 IMPACT OFTME INTELLIGENT COMMUNICATION
SYSTEM ON INDUSTRY

Industrialization among advanced countries has squandered a huge amount of en-
ergy, e.g., petroleum, leading to such serious problems as the greenhouse effect.
We need to shift to a sustainable economy that does not use so much energy.
The intelligent communication system will be an important tool for achieving
a sustainable economy. How it will contribute to this is described in this section.

13.3.1 Presenting Cultural Heritage by HyperReality
to the World

Let's take as an example a system for presenting Japanese cultural heritage. Scenes
of Japanese cultural heritage, such as Japanese temples, shrines, or the statues of
Buddha in Kyoto, will be shot by camera and transmitted to HyperReality centers
via the network. At each center, the scenes will be displayed stereoscopically via
HyperReality. A viewer will be able to enter the scene and walk through it as if he
or she were in Kyoto, giving the viewer the experience of visiting Kyoto virtually
by means of HyperReality. Thus people in any country could access any scene of
cultural heritage virtually by means of HyperReality, gaining an understanding of
the cultural heritage of another country by visiting there virtually. This will make
long airplane journeys to Japan unnecessary, saving not only on personal wear and
tear but also on the consumption of energy.
To implement such a cultural heritage presentation system, HyperReality cen-
ters would be constructed throughout the world and interconnected by the com-
munication network. In each center, tools such as workstations, communication