A network architecture supporting consistent rich behavior in collaborative interactive applications

Network architectures for collaborative virtual reality have traditionally been dominated by client-server and peer-to-peer approaches, with peer-to-peer strategies typically being favored where minimizing latency is a priority and client-server where consistency is key. With increasingly sophisticated behavior models and the demand for better support for haptics, we argue that neither approach provides sufficient support for these scenarios nor, thus, a hybrid architecture is required. We discuss the relative performance of different distribution strategies in the face of real network conditions and illustrate the problems they face. Finally, we present an architecture that successfully meets many of these challenges and demonstrate its use in a distributed virtual prototyping application which supports simultaneous collaboration for assembly, maintenance, and training applications utilizing haptics

[1]  Olof Hagsand,et al.  Interactive Multiuser VEs in the DIVE System , 1996, IEEE Multim..

[2]  Steve Benford,et al.  Managing mutual awareness in collaborative virtual environments , 1994 .

[3]  Blake Hannaford,et al.  Architectures for shared haptic virtual environments , 1997, Comput. Graph..

[4]  Ming C. Lin,et al.  Haptic rendering of interaction between textured models , 2004, SIGGRAPH '04.

[5]  Ming C. Lin,et al.  Sensation preserving simplification for haptic rendering , 2003, SIGGRAPH Courses.

[6]  Martin Mauve,et al.  Consistency in replicated continuous interactive media , 2000, CSCW '00.

[7]  Steve Pettifer,et al.  DEVA3: architecture for a large-scale distributed virtual reality system , 2000, VRST '00.

[8]  Steve Pettifer,et al.  A Technique for Maintaining Continuity of Experience in Networked Virtual Environments , 1999 .

[9]  Carl Gutwin,et al.  The effects of network delays on group work in real-time groupware , 2001, ECSCW.

[10]  H. Weiss,et al.  Dynamics of Geometrically Nonlinear Rods: II. Numerical Methods and Computational Examples , 2002 .

[11]  Mel Slater,et al.  Considerations in the Design of Virtual Environment Systems: A Case Study , 2003 .

[12]  F. Bogsanyi,et al.  Tool and object based synchronization in collaborative haptics , 2002, IEEE International Workshop HAVE Haptic Virtual Environments and Their.

[13]  R. Sekuler,et al.  Sound alters visual motion perception , 1997, Nature.

[14]  Cagatay Basdogan,et al.  An experimental study on the role of touch in shared virtual environments , 2000, TCHI.

[15]  Elaine Cohen,et al.  Haptic interfacing for virtual prototyping of mechanical CAD designs , 1997 .

[16]  M. Ernst,et al.  Humans integrate visual and haptic information in a statistically optimal fashion , 2002, Nature.

[17]  Clarence A. Ellis,et al.  Groupware: some issues and experiences , 1991, CACM.

[18]  Joel Brown,et al.  Spring: a general framework for collaborative, real-time surgical simulation. , 2002, Studies in health technology and informatics.

[19]  Enhua Wu,et al.  Real-time 3D fluid simulation on GPU with complex obstacles , 2004, 12th Pacific Conference on Computer Graphics and Applications, 2004. PG 2004. Proceedings..

[20]  H. Weiss.  Dynamics of Geometrically Nonlinear Rods: I. Mechanical Models and Equations of Motion , 2002 .

[21]  Michael Zyda,et al.  NPSNET:A Network Software Architecture for LargeScale Virtual Environments , 1994, Presence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments.

[22]  Brian Mirtich,et al.  Timewarp rigid body simulation , 2000, SIGGRAPH.

[23]  James Marsh,et al.  A technique for maintaining continuity of perception in networked virtual environments , 1999 .

[24]  Ian Oakley,et al.  Can You Feel the Force? An Investigation of Haptic Collaboration in Shared Editors , 2001 .

[25]  Grigore C. Burdea,et al.  Force and Touch Feedback for Virtual Reality , 1996 .

[26]  Leslie Lamport,et al.  Time, clocks, and the ordering of events in a distributed system , 1978, CACM.

[27]  Judy M. Vance,et al.  Assessment of VR Technology and its Applications to Engineering Problems , 2001, J. Comput. Inf. Sci. Eng..

[28]  Kirsten Rassmus-Gröhn,et al.  Supporting presence in collaborative environments by haptic force feedback , 2000, TCHI.

[29]  Andrew Warfield,et al.  Live migration of virtual machines , 2005, NSDI.

[30]  Steve Benford,et al.  Collaborative virtual environments , 2001, CACM.

[31]  Miguel. A. Otaduy,et al.  Sensation preserving "Simplication for haptic rendering" , 2003 .

[32]  Steve Benford,et al.  MASSIVE: a collaborative virtual environment for teleconferencing , 1995, TCHI.

[33]  Frederick P. Brooks.  What's Real About Virtual Reality? , 1999, IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications.

[34]  Rüdiger Westermann,et al.  Linear algebra operators for GPU implementation of numerical algorithms , 2003, SIGGRAPH Courses.

[35]  Martin Mauve,et al.  Local-lag and timewarp: providing consistency for replicated continuous applications , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Multimedia.

[36]  Steve Benford,et al.  Revealing the realities of collaborative virtual reality , 2000, CVE '00.

[37]  Blake Hannaford,et al.  Virtual Training for a Manual Assembly Task , 2001 .

[38]  Xiaojun Shen,et al.  A heterogeneous scalable architecture for collaborative haptics environments , 2003, The 2nd IEEE Internatioal Workshop on Haptic, Audio and Visual Environments and Their Applications, 2003. HAVE 2003. Proceedings..

[39]  Colin Ware,et al.  Haptic task constraints for 3D interaction , 2003, 11th Symposium on Haptic Interfaces for Virtual Environment and Teleoperator Systems, 2003. HAPTICS 2003. Proceedings..

[40]  Michael Zyda,et al.  Networked virtual environments - desgin and implementation , 1999 .

[41]  Stephen Robert Pettifer.  An operating environment for large scale virtual reality , 1999 .

[42]  Gabriel Zachmann,et al.  Natural and Robust Interaction in Virtual Assembly Simulation , 2001 .

[43]  Michael D. Williams,et al.  Toward event-based haptics: rendering contact using open-loop force pulses , 2004, 12th International Symposium on Haptic Interfaces for Virtual Environment and Teleoperator Systems, 2004. HAPTICS '04. Proceedings..

[44]  David R. Jefferson,et al.  Virtual time , 1985, ICPP.

[45]  Anselmo Lastra,et al.  Simulation of cloud dynamics on graphics hardware , 2003, HWWS '03.

[46]  Kyoung Shin Park,et al.  Effects of network characteristics on human performance in a collaborative virtual environment , 1999, Proceedings IEEE Virtual Reality (Cat. No. 99CB36316).

[47]  Rémi Cozot.  From multibody systems modeling to distributed real-time simulation , 1996, Proceedings of the 29th Annual Simulation Symposium.

[48]  John G. Cleary,et al.  The architecture of an optimistic CPU: the WarpEngine , 1995, Proceedings of the Twenty-Eighth Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

[49]  Gaurav S. Sukhatme,et al.  Haptic Collaboration over the Internet , 2000 .