Mobile Adaptations for a Multi-User Framework Supporting Video-based Avatars

The application of Networked Virtual Environment (NVE) technology on mobile devices is an emerging area in research. The marketing potential for these types of applications, when deployed on mobile networks is huge, both for entertainment and professional use. This statement can be verified when observing the popularity of these types of applications on the PC platform. Traditionally, mobile devices were regarded as too limited for NVEtechnology deployment in terms of processing power, screen resolution and interaction capabilities. Recent developments have pushed the boundaries and overcome some of these problems. However, it is clear that applications should still adapt to the inherent limitations of the mobile platform. In this paper, we show how our existing NVE framework was adapted for use on mobile platforms. Three major factors are taken into consideration : universal access to NVEs, issues in rendering and optimizations for direct and natural forms of communication between participants. The resulting framework enables connection to an NVE at any time, while remaining compatible with fixed-network users.