VIC – An Interactive Video System for Dynamic Visualization in Web and Mobile Platforms

The interactive video (IV) market has been expected to capture a significant share of the huge potential revenues to be generated by the business and residential markets. The level of revenues generated depends on the completion rate of calls the service provider can support, no matter what the IV system or network condition. Thus, a cost-effective, scalable fault-tolerant IV system is needed to maximize the video call completion rate at an affordable cost. This article describes design methodologies for a scalable, fault-tolerant IV system and an IV system design and analysis research prototype called IVSDNA (IV System Designer and Analyzer). The IVSDNA prototype is designed to help network planners and engineers to evaluate quantitative trade-offs (in terms of network communications costs, video storage costs, and degree of system fault tolerance) between two major IV system architectures (centralized and distributed) with a variety of video distribution methods, replication strategies, and fault-tolerant access protocols.

In recent years, there has been a strong interest in transmitting compressed video over packet switched networks, such as asynchronous transfer mode (ATM). Previous work has dealt with transmitting MPEG over constant bit rate (CBR) and variable bit rate (VBR) services of ATM. The available bit rate (ABR) service of ATM is expected to be much more cost effective than CBR or VBR. However, there hasn't been much work done on running interactive client/server applications (for example, video on demand) over ABR. We have developed a framework to design interactive video systems transmitting MPEG video over the ATM ABR service. We have developed models to determine the network connection parameters required to run interactive client/server multimedia applications over an ATM network using the ABR service. We solve our model using real-time dynamic equilation (RTDE) analysis. We conclude that by proper dimensioning of the buffers at the client and the server, it is possible to run interactive video over the ATM ABR service.

An expert system called SEIB (sustaining-engineer-in-a-box) has been developed to allow routine lithography troubleshooting to be performed by manufacturing personnel, reducing their dependence on sustaining engineers. SEIB is a multi-media, multi-interface expert system, capable of utilizing interactive video images, PC-based information, and database information contained within a mainframe computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) system. SEIB utilizes a custom expert system contained within a DVIR interactive video platform. This allows for quick resolution of problems without engineering intervention. Because of its design, the system can be easily adapted to any functional area in the fabrication facility.

This paper introduces an interactive video system and its architecture where several systems cooperate to manage the services of interactive video. Each system is specialized according to the data it handles and the functionality it performs. A system can be a database (for billing purposes) or just a video store system (to store the video data) lacking the typical features of a database or an information retrieval system to support indexing and querying of video data. Because quality of service is an important requirement for whole management system, a specific system is introduced in the architecture. Such system monitors the bandwidth of the network, the buffer size and the frame size and rate. The resulting architecture of interactive video system consists of several systems cooperating through an active rules based workflow system to integrate their functionalities while preserving autonomy, extensibility and data integrity where necessary.

Our objective was to assess the acceptability of using an interactive video system in a general practice setting to inform patients about treatment choices. A descriptive cohort study was carried out in eight general practices in Oxfordshire. Fifty-four patients with mild hypertension and 29 with benign prostatic hypertrophy were studied. Patients' views of the video, treatment preference, level of involvement in treatment decision and satisfaction with decision-making process and GPs' views of the effect of the video on subsequent consultations were measured. Both patients and GPs reported favourable impressions of the interactive video system: 71% of patients said it definitely helped with their treatment decision; GPs said they found the video helpful in 82% of cases. The results of this pilot study were sufficiently encouraging to indicate the need for a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the impact of the video on the doctor-patient relationship, on subsequent treatment decisions and on health outcomes and patients' well-being.

This paper presents a questionnaire-based approach to evaluate the user experience (UX) while interacting with interactive Television (iTV) systems. Current contributions in the field of UX propose generic methods applicable to various application domains, whereas our contribution is dedicated to the specific domain of interactive TV systems. Based on a classification of UX dimensions from a literature review, the first version of the questionnaire is focusing on the dimension’s aesthetics, emotion, stimulation and identification. A validation study with 106 participants was performed to assess the relations between the evaluated UX dimensions, as well as their fit to the underlying theoretical assumptions. Results showed that the UX dimensions aesthetics, emotion and stimulation are important for the domain of iTV, while identification was not confirmed. The study revealed significant correlations between the type of IPTV system used and the emotional and stimulation dimension. Additionally, a significant effect of the TV reception mode and the type of IPTV box owned on the emotion towards the system was observed. Beyond the contribution of the questionnaire that is directly applicable for any iTV system, the findings described in the paper demonstrate the need for user experience evaluation methods targeted at specific domains: the validation of the questionnaire shows that identification is not a central dimension of user experience when interacting with interactive TV.

The results of a project aimed to the study, reconstruction and presentation to the public of a monument disassembled and dispersed, the mausoleum of the emperor Arrigo VII, are presented here. We used modern 3D graphics for the acquisition of accurate digital models of all the elements of the funerary complex, to draw hypothesis on its original architecture, and finally to present all this knowledge to the museum public. Issues emerged during 3D scanning are discussed. The multimedia museum presentation was implemented with an interactive visualization system, which was extended to manage standard multimedia data together with 3D geometry.

This paper shows a grid computing architecture called Grid Anywhere which aims at allowing the sharing of the computational resources from set-top boxes (receiver) of an Interactive Digital Television System. This sharing is made in a such a way that the TV broadcaster can use the set-top boxes tuned to it to get a high computational power and the user can also use remote resource of others devices (set-top boxes or personal computers) to increase the performance of the application executed in his receiver.KeywordsInteractive Digital TelevisionGrid ComputingPeer-to-Peer networks

Although some market research has predicted the rapid uptake of digital television by European householders, recent unsettling experiences in the UK digital television market has shown that consumers demand a more value added viewing experience. This is understood by the fact that terrestrial analogue broadcasting has enjoyed a reputation of providing a television service to a very high standard. It is thus necessary to find ways in which end-users can best exploit the increased flexibility and the advantages that digital television creates. For this to happen, the whole value of the broadcasting chain has to support seamless integration of the broadcast and telecommunication networks. The European Union IST project, SAVANT (synchronised and scalable AV content across networks), aims to provide an interactive digital framework for scalable broadcast television services converged with television oriented IP services. The paper describes the major architectural components of the project.

This describes the unique DAVID instructional system, which merges motion, color, and audio capacities from instructional television with individualized student interaction, answer analysis, immediate reinforcement, individualized lesson content, branching, and data gathering from computer-assisted instruction. DAVID (Digital And Video Interactive Device) instruction includes drill and practice, tutorial, and dialogue strategies based on existing and new TV lessons. The system was created for the National Technical Institute for the Deaf by Dr. vonFeldt and was operational in November 1977. This paper includes (1) a description of deaf student needs, which were the basis for system development; (2) description of the completed prototype (DAVID); and (3) results of preliminary testing of the system with deaf students.

Face-to-Face 4 Figure 1 illustrates the installation Face-to-Face 4 as it was set up in September 1989 for the (Tele) Communicatie in Kunst events at the V2 Center, 's Hertogenbosch, Holland. Two people interact between spaces A and B. Though they are separated visually by a vertical barrier, they can hear each other around or over it. They also can touch each other, or pass an object to one another, if one of them moves 9 ft through the space that separates them. Both participants have equal control in that they have access to each other's space. When communications technology is introduced into spaces A and B (as shown in Fig. 1), it enables the two participants to be together visually-through television (TV) monitors-while remaining physically separate. The basic equipment required is minimal, user-friendly and readily available: two cameras and four TV monitors, with connecting cables. Each participant faces a camera and a TV monitor. The camera in space A is connected to the TV monitor in space B, and vice versa. The video-out signals from these two TV monitors are sent via cable to the second pair of TV monitors located in space E and placed 11/2 to 2 ft apart, facing each other. In this case, space E is located just behind a wall that is perpendicular to the visual barrier separating the two participants. To the spectators, who are free to move around spaces A, B and E, it appears as though the two TV monitors in space E are 'talking to each other', as participants in spaces A and B are talking to each other (Fig. 2). This is a 'talking-heads' situation in which the public can participate by entering the electronic space created between spaces A and B. This electronic space gives the two participants on either side of the barrier visual access to one another without one of them having to move through space.

Virtual view rendering is one of the key techniques of interactive 3D video systems, and is analogue expression to the real world in virtual reality systems. This paper proposes a new algorithm of virtual view rendering between two views taken in the same scene at the same time, which is based on self-adaptive block matching disparity estimation. This algorithm outputs any view between the two origin views. In order to gain accurate dense disparity field, a method of self-adaptive block matching is proposed in disparity estimation according to the information of texture and gray scale. Image interpolation is used to render certain virtual view and reverse mapping is adopted to fill up holes formed in interpolation. Satisfying visual effect is shown in experimental result.

Currently there are several interactive content-based video retrieval techniques and systems available. However, retrieval performance depends heavily on the means of interaction. We argue that effective CBVR requires efficient, specialized user interfaces. In this article we propose guidelines for such an interface, and we propose an effective CBVR engine: the ForkBrowser, which builds upon the principle of focus and context. This browser is evaluated using a combination of user simulation and real user evaluation. Results indicate that the ideas have merit, and that the browser performs very well when compared to the state-of-the-art in video retrieval.

This paper deals with the return channel (return interaction path) based on terrestrial transmission for an interactive television system. An introduction to interactive services is also presented along with a draft proposal for the SFDMA return channel demonstrator modulation and upconversion scheme. The grouping of carriers for return channel data, their data rate, overall system capacity, forward error coding, and ease of implementation are considered. A trial system, currently under development, is also described.

Interactive videos have high potential in a wide range of learning scenarios in both private and professional life. Due to their unique combination of characteristics they can be used to create situational, exploratory and personalized learning experiences. As we are currently investigating the applicability, costs and benefits of interactive videos, we learned that interactive videos are a useful instrument especially in several areas of knowledge management, E-Business and E-Learning as well as entertainment. This article aims at providing a comprehensive understanding for the context, functionality, technical implemen-tation and suitable application scenarios of interactive video as well as provide experience gathered in several application projects in practice.