Foveated Video Streaming for Cloud Gaming

Good user experience with interactive cloud-based multimedia applications, such as cloud gaming and cloud-based VR, requires low end-to-end latency and large amounts of downstream network bandwidth at the same time. In this paper, we present a foveated video streaming system for cloud gaming. The system adapts video stream quality by adjusting the encoding parameters on the fly to match the player's gaze position. We conduct measurements with a prototype that we developed for a cloud gaming system in conjunction with eye tracker hardware. Evaluation results suggest that such foveated streaming can reduce bandwidth requirements by even more than 50% depending on parametrization of the foveated video coding and that it is feasible from the latency perspective.Comment: Submitted to: IEEE 19th International Workshop on Multimedia Signal Processin

Dementia, music and biometric gaming: Rising to the Dementia Challenge

In 2012, the U.K. government launched its Dementia Challenge, authorizing additional funding for dementia research and health care. The search for curative medicines is ongoing, but scientific research reveals evidence that music can play a positive role in general health, and in dementia and Alzheimer’s disease in particular. This article considers whether some of the challenges that dementia presents could be addressed through music therapy and proposes that biometric gaming might offer one means of channeling such associated health benefits to sufferers of dementia, even in the final stages of the disease

Data Collection in Virtual Reality Control Room Validation

Virtual reality brings new promising possibilities to the field of control room design. An immersive virtual reality environment can be combined with a control room 3D-model and a simulation of the processes. This makes it possible to extensively evaluate changes or different possibilities regarding user interface solutions in early stages of the control room design. This study was commissioned by Fortum Power and Heat. The intention of this qualitative study was to determine burdensome tasks regarding data collection and analyzing in traditional control room validations and how these could be improved or supported by using a virtual reality environment. Furthermore, what virtual reality does not significantly improve and what previously impossible or utopian does virtual reality now provide the means for. The study was executed by depth interviews of experts in the field of human factors engineering and control room validation. The principal conclusion is that using virtual reality in control room validations improves the quality of data or saves time as concerns data collected by video recording, audio recording, movement tracking and timing. Additionally, virtual reality offers possibilities for unparalleled automatic situational tracking and the collection of previously unattainable data by eye-tracking.Virtuaalitodellisuus tuo uusia lupaavia mahdollisuuksia valvomosuunnitteluun. Immersiivinen virtuaalitodellisuus voidaan yhdistää valvomon 3D-malliin ja prosessin simulaatioon. Tämä mahdollistaa laajamittaisen muutosten ja käyttöjärjestelmävaihtoehtojen arvioimisen jo suunnittelun aikaisissa vaiheissa. Tämän insinöörityön toimeksiantaja oli Fortum Power and Heat. Työn tarkoituksena oli selvittää perinteisen validoinnin tiedonkeruun työläitä tehtäviä ja miten niitä voidaan parantaa tai tukea hyödyntämällä virtuaalitodellisuutta. Lisäksi kartoitettiin, mitä perinteisin keinoin mahdotonta tai utopistista virtuaalitodellisuus nyt mahdollistaa. Laadullinen tutkimus toteutettiin syvähaastattelujen avulla. Haastateltavana oli inhimillisten tekijöiden (Human Factors Engineering) ja valvomon validoinnin asiantuntijoita. Tulosten mukaan virtuaalitodellisuuden hyödyntäminen valvomon validoinnissa parantaa kerätyn tiedon laatua tai säästää aikaa mitä tulee tiedonkeruuseen videotallennuksen, äänittämisen, liikkeen kartoittamisen ja ajastamisen avulla. Lisäksi virtuaalitodellisuus mahdollistaa vertaansa vailla olevaa tilanteen seurantaa ja aikaisemmin saavuttamattoman tiedon keruuta katseenseurannan avulla

Guidelines for designing augmented reality games

The growing popularity of augmented reality (AR) games in both a research and more recently commercial context has led for a need to take a closer look at design related issues which impact on player experience. While issues relating to this area have been considered, to date most of the emphasis has been on the technology aspects. Furthermore it is almost always assumed that the augmented reality element in itself will provide a sufficient experience for the player. This has led to a need to evaluate what makes a successful augmented reality game. In this paper we present a set of design guidelines which are drawn from experiences of three mixed reality games. The guidelines provide specific guidance on relationships between real and virtual space, social interaction, use of AR technologies, maintaining consistent themes and implicitly address higher level aspects such as presence within a particular augmented reality place

A 3D pedagogical heritage tool using game technology

This paper will propose and address issues that contribute to a serious challenge for virtual heritage: that there are few successful, accessible and durable examples of computer game technology and genres applied to heritage. Secondly, it will argue that the true potential of computers for heritage has not been fully leveraged and it will provide a case study of a game engine technology not used explicitly as a game but as a serious pedagogical tool for 3D digital heritage environments

Virtual Reality Games for Motor Rehabilitation

This paper presents a fuzzy logic based method to track user satisfaction without the need for devices to monitor users physiological conditions. User satisfaction is the key to any product’s acceptance; computer applications and video games provide a unique opportunity to provide a tailored environment for each user to better suit their needs. We have implemented a non-adaptive fuzzy logic model of emotion, based on the emotional component of the Fuzzy Logic Adaptive Model of Emotion (FLAME) proposed by El-Nasr, to estimate player emotion in UnrealTournament 2004. In this paper we describe the implementation of this system and present the results of one of several play tests. Our research contradicts the current literature that suggests physiological measurements are needed. We show that it is possible to use a software only method to estimate user emotion