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Summer of Code/2009/Multimedia-broadcasting (view source)
Revision as of 11:30, 4 April 2009
, 11:30, 4 April 2009no edit summary
For locally-originating sources (within a classroom), a confirmation dialog will display the name of the broadcaster, and if confirmed, will launch the multimedia broadcasting/receiving activity if it has not already been launched, and will display the stream. For higher-priority sources, such as teachers in that particular classroom, the stream could be launched without confirmation to ensure that students do not accidentally miss the confirmation notice.
For locally-originating sources (within a classroom), a confirmation dialog will display the name of the broadcaster, and if confirmed, will launch the multimedia broadcasting/receiving activity if it has not already been launched, and will display the stream. For higher-priority sources, such as teachers in that particular classroom, the stream could be launched without confirmation to ensure that students do not accidentally miss the confirmation notice.
'''Broadcasting Interface'''
Upon launching the activity, the user will be presented with a "Broadcast" button. Upon clicking this, the user will be presented with a list of possible video sources the user can select - webcam or screen. The user will also be given the option to broadcast an audio source - in this case a microphone. The user will also be shown a map of laptops on the local neighborhood to which the stream can be broadcast and the associated laptop's user's name. and the user may either individually check laptops to broadcast the stream to, or press a "broadcast to all" button which would broadcast to all the local laptops, or if bandwidth issues would be encountered due to the presence of too many laptops, the situation would be handled as mentioned in the next section. After selecting multimedia sources and broadcasting targets, the user would press a "Start Broadcasting" button, and the laptop would display the stream that is currently being broadcast, and a "stop broadcasting" button to end the broadcast.
'''Addressing Bandwidth Issues'''
'''Addressing Bandwidth Issues'''
For extremely large classrooms, bandwidth issues may arise due to limitations of the wireless network. In this case, to ensure that all students are able to view the stream without saturating the network, when the teacher selects "Broadcast to All", the software would first determine the number of new streams that could be streamed based on existing network activity, bandwidth required per stream, and the network's bandwidth capacity. Then, it would retrieve the locations of the laptops in the classroom, and select a number of laptops equivalent to the number of supported streams such that the selected laptops would be in proximity to the unselected laptops, thereby allowing those students who are not receiving the streams to their own laptop to view the stream on a nearby laptop.
For extremely large classrooms, bandwidth issues may arise due to limitations of the wireless network. In this case, to ensure that all students are able to view the stream without saturating the network, when the teacher selects "Broadcast to All", the software would first determine the number of new streams that could be streamed based on existing network activity, bandwidth required per stream, and the network's bandwidth capacity. Then, it would retrieve the locations of the laptops in the classroom, and select a number of laptops equivalent to the number of supported streams such that the selected laptops would be in proximity to the unselected laptops, thereby allowing those students who are not receiving the streams to their own laptop to view the stream on a nearby laptop.
'''Interface'''
'''Viewing Interface'''
Since students may be interested in viewing multiple streams at once (for example, one stream showing the overall demonstration of the experiment and one showing a magnified view of a particular bacteria culture), then the interface should be able to automatically resize and tile individual streams to display them all at once while best utilizing screen space.
Since students may be interested in viewing multiple streams at once (for example, one stream showing the overall demonstration of the experiment and one showing a magnified view of a particular bacteria culture), then the interface should be able to automatically resize and tile individual streams to display them all at once while best utilizing screen space.