Mobile Blog: Video, Media, Augmented Reality, Rich Media, IVVR

High-level system architecture for the delivery of dynamic IVVR (Interactive Voice & Video Response) services

Commercially available IVVR appliances [For example, DTG 3000 from Dilithium is a combination of MCU (Multipoint Control Unit), 3G-324M Gateway, and transcoder] still focus on dialog-based services and use VoiceXML to create IVVR applications that are generally IVR (Interactive Voice Response) Supplements, without sophisticated features like real-time video generation or camera-based interaction. This hinders the creation of advanced IVVR applications as mentioned in Section 4. Such applications are generally founded on pre-recorded or pre-generated video sequences that are played back based on speech commands or keystrokes. To create a more flexible solution that is capable of delivering games and interactive services, sounds, and graphics need to be generated in real time. The current research and testing results recommend the configuration featured in the figure on the left.

Adobe Flex has evolved into a suite of technologies appropriate for the creation of rich media applications and games. For the solution presented in this research, Flash is employed as the Game Engine as it is very flexible and can be extended to create 3D games [By using the open source real-time 3D Engine Papervision3D]. The Flash application is not run on a handset, but the audio and video it creates are transmitted over a 3G-324M session to a handset so they can be controlled based on the handset

Especially in multiplayer scenarios, game developers need to discover ways to provide players with the freedom to interrupt a game without displeasing other players. Further, game concepts should cope with the interaction delays of IVVR (Interactive Voice & Video Response) technology. In single-player games, the game should automatically pause and save the current game state when a user hangs-up the video call, resuming the last game state when the user chooses to play again. Implementing a similar functionality in multiplayer games is more challenging. As real-time shooters require rapid interaction, they are inappropriate for the W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) network. One way to cope with the high 3G network latency is turn-based multiplayer games in which fast reactions to other players

photo credit: papalars

Did you already sign up for GSMA world congress in Barcelona 15-18 February 2010? Let’s meet: http://www.mobileworldcongress.com

photo credit: qthomasbower

Applications cannot enlarge a small screen visually, but they can implement techniques that virtually increase the size of the display. One way is providing horizontal or vertical scrolling of the user interface to make new information visible while hiding other content. Another idea is a Peephole display that shows a different portion of a bigger picture when the phone is moved to the left, right, up or down. Unfortunately, neither approach works well with IVVR (Interactive Voice & Video Response). There are no positional sensors usable with 3G-324M, and scrolling requires fast screen updates with the ability to hold a key as long as the user wants to scroll. High delays in the current 3G-324M deployment and lack of transmitting the information that a key is hold for a time prevent the implementation of such features. However, applications can have multiple layers, such as a deck of cards that can be shown or hidden depending on the user

photo credit: phauly

In desktop video conferencing, the video conferencing application is normally bundled to an Instant Messaging software that includes text chat capabilities. Users can appoint or prearrange a video conference using textual chat. In contrast, the current evolution of video telephony in UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) networks based on the circuit-switched 3G-324M service does not seamlessly combine video conferencing with other communication channels. The notion of video telephony in the mobile environment is nearer to standard voice calling than in the stationary world. Therefore, it is more likely that somebody will place a video call without prior announcement. This leads to privacy and inconvenience concerns. The callee might not want to be seen during a conversation for a variety reasons: A video call