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

Download my A-graded thesis. Abstract: Interactive voice and video response (IVVR (Interactive Voice & Video Response)) is a mobile technology enabling interactive services based on 3G video telephony. IVVR applications can take advantage of bidirectional real-time multimedia streaming, enabling speech and camera-based interaction. Games are a proven way to draw users into new technologies. This thesis analyses IVVR

photo credit: Georg Wittberger

Als Fortsetzung zu meinem Artikel vom April 2009 Videotelefonie in Deutschland hier die aktuelle Situation:

Vergleich Kosten von Videotelefonie (Stand: Februar 2010)

o2 Germany

Die Videotelefonie kostet in allen Tarifen, z.B. o2 o, leider weiterhin, ins O2 Netz

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