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

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

Video call set-up times are generally between 1 to 5 seconds (1-second call set-up when using MONA specified in H.324 Annex K.) independently of the IVVR (Interactive Voice & Video Response) application one is going to use, which is sometimes faster than the initialisation process of complex J2ME (Java 2 Micro Edition) applications. This makes quick on-the-go lookup or entry of information pleasant. However, what happens when the caller needs to interrupt a gaming session or the call is interrupted because of missing network coverage or exceeded battery life? Games should enable users to start and stop with breaks in between, since the time they have to spend may be brief. Mobile games are used especially to pass time for just a couple of minutes or even seconds when waiting for the bus, riding the subway, or to relieve boredom during TV commercials. Therefore, all mobile applications need to apply ways to interrupt a session and quickly resume to the last state as the user desires. This requirement also applies to IVVR applications. As application and user data of IVVR programs can be completely stored on the server-side, there are no limitations to auto-save program states or record 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

photo credit: Iain Farrell

Even with a great deal of marketing, early attempts to convert users to the video telephony technology flopped (Jones and Marsden). In contrast, desktop video conferencing is incredibly popular for private person-to-person conversations and widely used for video conferencing in business environments such as telepresence for computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW).

In desktop video conferencing scenarios, typically a stationary computer is used. Camera and microphone are fixed and usually maintain the same distance from the person participating during the conversation. Moreover, lighting conditions are generally better than