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Retread?
Retread?
3/23/09 12:23 AM
While reviewing some of the top 8 projects I noticed that in one case some of the material looked familiar. The project ‘Smart Home Base’ uses a lot of content from previous published contests that were entered by the same contestant, using processors from other companies 5 YEARS ago! The links to these other contests are:

http://www.circuitcellar.com/renesas/winners/3232.htm
http://www.jandspromotions.com/zilog2004/winners/2953.htm
http://www.circuitcellar.com/renesas2005m16c/winners/1741.htm

One of the rules of the contest states:
"the Contest Materials are unpublished and consist entirely of the individual’s own original work or of work to which such individual has all necessary rights;"

So this makes me wonder, ‘how much of the project needs to be original work?’ Many of the pages submitted were direct cut and paste from the previous works, and there were other authors on each of the projects as well. More importantly does Microchip want to be compared to these other company’s chips with nearly identical applications, 5 years later?

Perhaps the most interesting thing is that while the author was careful to delete the competitor manufacture’s part numbers from the BOM, he does not even list the Microchip PIC32 processor as required on the BOM page!

I hope you take this into account in the judging.
RE: Retread?
3/23/09 1:55 PM as a reply to Anonymous.
Hi.

We were supposed to make the whole project around the PIC32 Starter kit and the IO expansion board.
So we dont require to add those into the BOM. This was clarified in the Rules page.

Kindly have a look at that.

Warm Regards,

Boseji
RE: Retread?
3/23/09 5:06 PM as a reply to Anonymous.
Anonymous,

Make sure you forward this to the judges.
RE: Retread?
3/24/09 1:48 AM as a reply to Anonymous.

First Prize

Telephone Message Watchdog
The low-cost Telephone Message Watchdog is a message-forwarding system for home telephones. Based on the H8S/2398 microcontroller, the software-only design uses a touch-tone detector and DTMF generator. The touch-tone detection system is triggered when the home answering machine picks up a phone call. A recorded message prompts callers to either leave a voice message or punch in a callback number, which is stored in on-chip memory. After the caller hangs up, the system uses the touch-tone generator to forward messages to a preset pager number. If the caller left a phone number, the system will send it to the pager. If not, the system will send the owner’s home number as an indication to call home to listen to the message.

Jingxi Zhang, Yang Zhang, and Huifang Ni
U.S.
zhang@jvclab.com



Third Prize
VoIP by eZ80

Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) technology is used to transmit ordinary telephone calls over the Internet by way of packet-linked routes. This VoIP system was successfully built around an eZ80F91 microcontroller using the ZTP software suite and the XINU operating system. A voice band pulse-coded modulation (PCM) codec was connected to the eZ80F91 through SPI and I2C interfaces. Through it, a variety of audio devices (e.g., a telephone, a handset, or a headset) can be easily connected to the VoIP system. A speaker is used to deliver a ring tone to notify you of incoming calls.

Huifang Ni, Jingxi Zhang, and Yang Zhang
jzhang@jvc.com
U.S.


TeleSecretary

The high-performance TeleSecretary is a voice-activated PDA that provides a new way to manage your schedule. You can input data in your calendar by simply calling the system from your cell phone and telling it what to add. The TeleSecretary eliminates the inconvenience of having to type in data on a clunky, portable keyboard. The system will trigger a phone call to your cell phone to remind you of your appointments. This project is designed around an M32C/84 microcontroller.

Huifang Ni, Jingxi Zhang, and Yang Zhang
jzhang@jupiter.com
U.S.






I would definately say that this is the same project, submitted to different competitions, only the processor changed pretty much... wow.
Is Huifang Ni, and Yang Zhang getting credit on this project also???? I didnt know we could enter a team project.

I had a similar project that I sold the patent on which I called The Phone Parrot (TM), does basically the same thing and more....


B.Morse
RE: Retread?
3/24/09 3:38 AM as a reply to bmorse .
Hey can someone tell me who's next inline to get bumped up? I did not see the final vote tally. Do the judges know about this? And should I start packing my bags?
RE: Retread?
3/24/09 7:25 AM as a reply to bmorse .
Dear bmorse,
I thought you are smart enough to distinguish the VoIP device from the Skype service. At least you should be able to tell the difference between a pager and a cellular phone. If you don’t know let me tell you the difference. The VoIP device in my previous Zilog contest (VoIP by eZ80) is a peer to peer voice on IP device. It uses the RTP/RTCP (Real Time Protocol) to send voice packet to the Internet without using a host computer. The device connects to the Internet directly. Smart Home Base used is a different approach. It uses TCP/IP socket connect to host computer. By interface the Skype API to communicate with the Skype users. It requires a host computer to function. Those are totally difference animals. My previous Renesas H8 project (Telephone Message Watchdog) is device sending a number to a pager not a cellular phone. The project did not send the voice and there is no voice communication for pager. I think it is a common knowledge that a pager cannot send or receive the voice communication. Smart Home Base does use the voice communication and it is more advanced. The Renesas M16 project (TeleSecretary) did not use ADC and PWM for voice sampling and regenerating. It uses an external voice recorder/store/synthesizer hardware. The microcontroller is just a control unit for this chip. It did not use the USB flash memory to store the voice data as the Smart Home Base project.
Hey, we are all intelligent developers and worked long time for the embedded system. I forgive you for lacking of the fundamental knowledge.
Regards,

By the way, you wanted to know the partners in my previous contest? They are my son and my wife. They will get credit for sure for the project no matter whether I win or not.

Jingxi
RE: Retread?
3/24/09 11:11 PM as a reply to jingxizhang .
Yes I do know the difference between the devices, its called ten+ years of evolution and, I was referring to the similarities of the projects, either you are connecting a phone line to a pager, RTP/RTCP, TCP/IP, VoIP, it is still the same concept only it has evolved with the available technologies of today. For someone with a PHD I figured you could come up with something that is not being done already, or just rebuilding an old project.

As for your remark about me lacking the fundamental knowledge about these devices, FYI, This is my first "real" embedded project, and first time programming in C, you have PHD's I have a GED, all my knowledge in electronics is self taught, you spent a lot of money going to colleges to get degrees, but yet we are both here at this point of the challenge, and I can guarantee you that if I joined another embedded challenge, I will be submitting something completely different, and not just some derivative of an old project .

I am not belittling anyone's project, I was just making some observations, just like everyone else, you didn't say anything to the first post,
The project ‘Smart Home Base’ uses a lot of content from previous published contests that were entered by the same contestant, using processors from other companies 5 YEARS ago! The links to these other contests are:
all I did was show what they were talking about, so do not take it the wrong way.

But it is a good example project on how communications technology has evolved in the past 10+ years

And it is good to keep the family involved.

B. Morse
RE: Retread?
3/24/09 6:35 PM as a reply to ganzziani .
This is a delayed response due to website problem.
Dear Ganzziani,
I can understand your feeling. Although you are not advanced to next phase, I still believe that your design project is comparable to all the projects in the top 5 list. But please don’t call others cheating. We are civilized developers in the contest for competing the technical skills and please do not attack other contestants using bad language (I am glad to see you withdrew it later).
I understand that the contest must be unpublished and entirely individual’s own original work. That means the entire design but not the special method. It does not preventing you to use the FFT because of you having used it in your previous project. I have published the Handled Multifunction Scope earlier(http://www.circuitcellar.com/archives/viewable/Zhang205/index.html) and other have published the multifunction scope similar to yours (http://www.designmsp430.com/ViewDesign.aspx?sampleId=27d08dd7-435a-4983-86e7-43e88af9e0d0&LogView=valid). I think those projects should not block you to use the similar techniques do your PIC32 multifunction scope design and you should not be called cheating.
In previous contests, I did some contest projects around the telephone interfacing. Those projects are much simpler in comparing with the Smart Home Base. Due to high performance PIC32 CPU and rich on-board peripherals, I can do much advance and different works than the previous projects in combine. The following are the comparisons.
In Renesas H8 Design 2003 contest my project (http://www.circuitcellar.com/renesas/winners/3232.htm) is a device to forward the incoming callers dialed number to a pager (beeper). Thanks PIC32 superior performance, in Smart Home Base I can digitize caller’s voice and deliver it to user’s cellular phone.
In Zilog 2004 Flash Net Cash Design Contest my project (http://www.jandspromotions.com/zilog2004/winners/2953.htm) is a peer-to-peer VoIP device. In the project I used RTP/RTPC protocol and an external PCM G.711 codec. In Smart Home Base project, I take advantage of Skype’s API and use the PIC32 TCP/IP connection to it. This makes it easier to contact more VoIP users.
In Renesas M16C Platform Design Contest 2005 my project (http://www.circuitcellar.com/renesas2005m16c/winners/1741.htm) is a telephone scheduling device using an external voice recorder and synthesizer chip (ISD5116). Thanks PIC32 ADC and USB host techniques, in Smart Home Base design I use PIC32 single chip solely for all the functions of DTMF detection, DTMF generation, voice recording and voice regeneration.
I hope this will clear you questions about the Smart Home Base design. If you have any further question you are welcome to spell out and I can discuss it with you and other people, but please it must be the technical question. Please kindly do not do the negative attack.
For the BOM, I think it is clear written in the rule. The PIC32 Starter kit, PCB and cabinet are not included in BOM. I have no comments on that portion.

Regards,

Jingxi
RE: Retread?
3/25/09 7:15 PM as a reply to bmorse .
Dear bmorse,
I can see you changed your tone. In previous message you said:
“I would definately say that this is the same project, submitted to different competitions, only the processor changed pretty much..” and later you said:
” Yes I do know the difference between the devices, its called ten+ years of evolution and, I was referring to the similarities of the projects, either you are connecting a phone line to a pager, RTP/RTCP, TCP/IP, VoIP, it is still the same concept only it has evolved with the available technologies of today.”
It is ok to correct what you have said but please don’t deny what you have said.
I believe doing negative campaign is harmful to the design contest. Let’s focus on the technical issues and compete on the PIC32 design instead of where to get education.
I don’t think in the contest you cannot use what the technology you or others have used. I can find hundreds of the projects controlling ventilation fan and thousand of water value control examples in the web. However, those “similarities” or “same concept” projects should not prevent you to use them in your bathroom project.
From what you have mentioned I can tell you still do not understand the difference of the peer-to-peer VoIP device from the Skype service. It is not only packet protocol difference they are using. My previous peer-to-peer VoIP device is a fixed IP address device and can only talk to a same type device with known IP address. It does not have the centralized database of contacts as the Skype service does. In other words, my previous VoIP device is like wall switch directly wired to the bathroom fan while Smart Home Base is like the bathroom fan controlled by a centralized microcontroller. Although the ventilation fan is similar the control is totally different. Would you like to say your bathroom project is “similar concept” to the already existing ventilation bathroom fan?
In your next embedded challenge you may submit new invented technology which nobody has used. It is very nice you have such technology and you should patent it (I don’t think you can patent BUMS because all the technologies used in your current project were not invented by you). I and the others probably have to use “the available technologies of today”.
I am listing my previous contest here. You can see how "similar" my previous contest projects are (you may click the image link to see the design). By the way, I only patented one technology based on my previous projects.
--------------------

2008 Raisonance STM ARM Cortex M3 Design Contest
First Prize Winner

-------------------------

2006 Luminary Micro Design Stellaris Contest
First Prize Winner

-------------------------

2006 Texas Instruments MSP430 eZ Design Contest
Second Prize Winner
] ]
-------------------------

2005 Renesas M16C Platform Design Contest
Honorable Mention

-------------------------

2005 Freescale Wireless Design Challenge
Honorable Mention (1)

-------------------------

2005 Freescale Wireless Design Challenge
Honorable Mention (2)

-------------------------

2004 Zilog Flash Net Cash Design Contest
Third Prize Winner

-------------------------

2004 Atmel AVR Design Contest
Excellence Award

-------------------------

2003 Renesas H8 Design Contest
First Prize Winner

-------------------------

2002 MSP 340 Gadget-O-Rama Design Contest
First Prize Winner



Regards,

Jingxi
RE: Retread?
3/24/09 11:14 PM as a reply to jingxizhang .
Good for you, atleast you are putting your degrees to some good use by making a living being a professional contestant. This is just a hobby for me.

Next time, read between the lines, I am not trying to start any problems with people, just because some anonymous person outed you, now you have to take it out on someone else you can name. I did not and wont deny anything. I could care less about you or your project, I have my own to contend to, you dont know me, and I dont know you, lets keep it that way
RE: Retread?
3/25/09 4:59 AM as a reply to bmorse .
Dear bmorse,
Thank you, let's keep it that way.
By the way, doing embedded design is my hobby, too. At least we have the common interest.

Regards,

Jingxi