Runner
The Runner system was designed for the TV newsrooms. It is aimed at preparing the running order of the show and supporting the work of people producing the show: editor, producer, vision and sound director, newscaster etc.

Within the framework of the system the running orders of individual news shows are created and the system generates the interfaces for the newsroom equipment.

The Runner system cooperates closely with the Flash-Pro system, which provides it with the texts based on the information gathered within the system, especially using the stored agency wires.

The main purposes of the system are:

	preparing the running order of the show,
	improving the information collecting by an editor, balancing running time of the show,
	securing the instant and simultaneous access to the current state of the prepared material for many users through various workstations,
	enabling printing of the texts set and creating the emission files as late as possible,
	supporting the show editors during its emission.

The Runner system enables:

	current calculation of a planned running time of a show with the automatic calculation of the reading time by the newscaster,
	presentation f the running order (on screen and as a printout) in different configurations depending on the users' role (editor, newscaster, vision director, sound director, VT editors, etc.),
	printing texts for the newscaster in a very comfortable and legible typographical shape,
	preparing the list of subtitles, graphical elements etc. depending on the studio device,
	generating interface files for prompters, character generators etc.

The system operates over a network of PCs, using the Novell-NetWare network system. The data for the system is stored in the Btrieve database.

The story which is being prepared by a journalist is described with the editor embeded whithin the Flash-Pro program and can contain such elements as the text being read by the presenter in vision, text being read during the film emission, captions, etc. Apart from defining the title and the author of the story, for every element there can be defined:

	running time,
	start time of the emission relatively to the story beginning,
	the type of the studio device (e.g. betacam, studio camera, the character generator etc.).

The story prepared in that way is sent to the editor and placed in the running order in the Runner system. The editor can also:

	edit the story himself - directly in the Runner system,
	place into the running order a story that had been prepared before, but hasn't been used yet (was dropped out of this or one of the previous issues),
	repeat the story, copying it from the running order of one of the previous issues.

The text reading times by the newscaster are counted basing on the reading tempo, which is determined individually for a particular person. The running order can be easily modified through adding, removing and changing the order of the topics. The total time and growing times are updated automatically. The status of the individual running order elements (delivered, authorized or emitted) is being presented in real time.

The running order of the show can be presented in different ways. It can contain different sets of positions (all the elements, the newscaster's texts only, captions only etc.). Running order can be viewed and printed in different arrangements with various sets of information pertaining to every element. There can be many kinds of presentation which can be adjusted to the needs of a particular user during the installation.

Authorized access to the individual functions and data configurations can be assigned in the system to the each person working with the running order. This allows keeping the access of unauthorized people limited.

The set and kind of studio devices used during the emission of the show is determined for the individual installation and can be modified.

For regular shows it is possible to create a template, which would contain the repetitive elements in every issue. It allows avoiding introducing the same information multiple times.

The system archives the running orders of the already emitted issues. There is a possibility of browsing the archive and coping the stories for second use (e.g. in weekly shows).

System incorporates a function for assessing the royalties of the authors and the team preparing the issue.

The Runner system is equipped with the followinig auxiliary functions:

	calculator,
	two multifunctional watches (stopwatch, timer, alarm clock),
	signalization of urgent wires received by Flash-Pro,
	presentation of the list with the last agency wires on it, received by Flash-Pro.

There is a possibility to operate with macro-instructions.

"Images" of the current running orders' state can be sequentially sent to the RunnerWWW system (for presentation in the Internet browsers).

The Runner system can cooperate with other systems which coexists in the same net. The Runner can send the text which has been already used in the aired shows to the archiving system and the information upon the royalities to the appropriate system dealing with payments.