P2P Video Synchronization in a Collaborative Virtual Environment

We previously developed a collaborative virtual environment (CVE) for small-group virtual classrooms, intended for distance learning by geographically dispersed students. The CVE employs a P2P approach to the frequent real-time updates to the 3D virtual worlds required by avatar movements (fellow students in the same room). This paper focuses on our extensions to support group viewing of lecture videos, called VECTORS, for Video Enhanced Collaboration for Team Oriented Remote Synchronization. VECTORS supports synchronized viewing of lecture videos, so the students all see “the same thing at the same time”, and can pause, rewind, etc. in synchrony while discussing the lecture via “chat”. We are particularly concerned with the needs of the technologically disenfranchised, e.g., whose only Internet access if via dialup networking. Thus VECTORS employs semantically compressed videos with meager bandwidth requirements.