Abstract
Ubiquitous is one of the essential features of what should be the desktop of the future. In practice, this concept covers several issues related to multi-users collaboration, remote applications control or remote display and secure access over IP networks. With its standards and capabilities, WebRTC provides a new vision of real-time communications services that can raise these challenges. In this paper we present a WebRTC-based middleware solution for real-time multi-users remote collaboration. It allows a full desktop setup where everyone can see what other users are doing and where they position themselves in the shared workspace. In contrast to standard WebRTC’s Peer-to-Peer architecture, our system supports a synchronous communication model through a star topology. It also improves network bandwidth efficiency by using hardware video compression when the GPU resource is available, though assuring a very low latency streaming. In this way, we can maintain awareness and sense of presence without changing the usual practices of the users in front of a desktop. Several use cases are provided and a comparison of advantages and drawbacks of this solution is also presented to guide users in applying this technology under real-life conditions.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Wright, A.: Ready for a Web OS? Commun. ACM 52(12), 16–17 (2009)
Nunamaker, J.F., Briggs, R.O., Romano, N.C.R.: Collaboration Systems: Concept, Value, and Use. Taylor & Francis, Routledge (2015)
Isenberg, P., Elmqvist, N., Scholtz, J., Cernea, D., Ma, K.-L., Hagen, H.: Collaborative visualization: definition, challenges, and research agenda. Inf. Vis. J. 10(4), 310–326 (2011)
Mouton, C., Sons, K., Grimstead, I.: Collaborative visualization: current systems and future trends. In: Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on 3D Web Technology, Web3D 2011, pp. 101–110. ACM, New York (2011)
Childs, H., Geveci, B., Schroeder, W., Meredith, J., Moreland, K., Sewell, C., Kuhlen, T., Bethel, E.W.: Research challenges for visualization software. Computer 46(5), 34–42 (2013)
Zudilova-Seinstra, E., Adriaansen, T., van Liere, R.: Trends in Interactive Visualization: State-of-the-Art Survey, 1st edn. Springer Publishing Company, Incorporated, London (2008)
Nicolaescu, P., Jahns, K., Derntl, M., Klamma, R.: Yjs: a framework for near real-time P2P shared editing on arbitrary data types. In: Cimiano, P., Frasincar, F., Houben, G.-J., Schwabe, D. (eds.) ICWE 2015. LNCS, vol. 9114, pp. 675–678. Springer, Cham (2015). doi:10.1007/978-3-319-19890-3_55
Desprat, C., Luga, H., Jessel, J.-P.: Hybrid client-server and p2p network for web-based collaborative 3d design. In: Proceedings of the 23rd International Conference in Central Europe on Computer Graphics, Visualization and Computer Vision, WSCG 2015, pp. 229–238 (2015)
Wang, L., Wang, J., Sun, L., Hagiwara, I.: A peer-to-peer based communication environment for synchronous collaborative product design. In: Luo, Y. (ed.) CDVE 2007. LNCS, vol. 4674, pp. 9–20. Springer, Heidelberg (2007). doi:10.1007/978-3-540-74780-2_2
Pizarro, R., Hall, M., Bermell-Garcia, P., Gonzalez-Franco, M.: Augmenting remote presence for interactive dashboard collaborations. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces, ITS 2015, pp. 235–240. ACM, New York (2015)
Van Ma, L., Kim, J., Park, S., Kim, J., Jang, J.: An efficient Session_Weight load balancing and scheduling methodology for high-quality telehealth care service based on WebRTC. J. Supercomput. 72(10), 3909–3926 (2016)
Xenos, M., Avouris, N., Komis, V., Stavrinoudis, D., Margaritis, M.: Synchronous collaboration in distance education: a case study on a computer science course. In: Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, ICALT 2004, Washington, DC, USA, pp. 500–504. IEEE Computer Society (2004)
Osipov, I.V., Volinsky, A.A., Prasikova, A.Y.: E-learning collaborative system for practicing foreign languages with native speakers. Int. J. Adv. Comput. Sci. Appl. 7(3), 40–45 (2016)
Zeidan, A., Lehmann, A., Trick, U.: WebRTC enabled multimedia conferencing and collaboration solution. In: Proceedings of the World Telecommunications Congress 2014, WTC 2014, pp. 1–6, June 2014
Wenzel, M., Meinel, C.: Full-body WebRTC video conferencing in a web-based real-time collaboration system. In: Proceedings of the 20th IEEE International Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work in Design, CSCWD 2016, pp. 334–339 (2016)
Pinikas, N., Panagiotakis, S., Athanasaki, D., Malamos, A.: Extension of the WebRTC data channel towards remote collaboration and control. In: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Ambient Intelligence and Embedded Systems 2016, AmiEs 2016 (2016)
Grigorik, I.: High Performance Browser Networking: What Every Web Developer Should Know About Networking and Browser Performance. O’Reilly Media Inc., Sebastopol (2013)
WebRTC. https://webrtc.org/. Accessed 07 Mar 2017
Acknowledgment
This work is supported by the French national funds (PIA2’program) under contract No. P112331-3422142 (3DNS project).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Lucas, L., Deleau, H., Battin, B., Lehuraux, J. (2017). USE Together, a WebRTC-Based Solution for Multi-user Presence Desktop. In: Luo, Y. (eds) Cooperative Design, Visualization, and Engineering. CDVE 2017. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 10451. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66805-5_29
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66805-5_29
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-66804-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-66805-5
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)