InPerson
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Nothing can replace the dynamic exchange of ideas offered by a face-to-
face encounter. And nothing is faster and more convenient than a computer
network for sharing information. Imagine the power of combining the two.
imagine how productive you'd be if you could interact and share
information with your co-workers, live on your workstation monitor.
lnPersonTM desktop conferencing software from Silicon Graphics makes
a|I of this possible. lnPerson turns your workstation into a powerful
communica tions center allowing you to "call" people and interact with live
video and audio while you work together - in real time - on a selected file, a
captured image, a 3D model, or a text document. Say you're part of a
design team working on a product prototype and want to share your ideas
with the rest of the group. Simply use InPerson to call all the members of
the group, bring your work on screen, then collaborate interactively on the
project. With InPerson you hear the group's comments and see theh
reactions - a much more productive and creative way of working.
As Familiar as a Telephone
InPerson is as convenient to use as a multiline telephone. The icon-based
interface lets you quickly launch InPerson, look up people in the Phone
Book or your personal directory, and place calls. You can make conference
calls, put a call on hold, and both make and receive calls on another
"line."
While telephones are just for talking, InPerson is for interacting as if you
were face to face. Callers appear in an interactive video window if their
workstations are equipped with video cameras; if not, static pictures of
them appear. You can then interact with the callers, sharing and annotating
information in real time.
The Power of Mindshare
InPerson seamlessly integrates with the other components of the
Mindshare collaborative environment. Tied together with the familiar,
intuitive Indigo MagicTM interface, the Mindshare solutions make it easy
to express and share ideas. If you try to call someone with InPerson and
they are not available, you can use MediaMail or IRIS Annotator' to forward
a digital media-rich message for later review. The message can include
text, audio, video, 2D images, or 3D models. Distribute your Whiteboard
using MediaMail or the Shared Shelf, or incorporate it into a Showcase
presentation. Cut and paste 3D models among InPerson, Showcase, IRIS
Annotator, and Inventor viewers. Since the Phone Book is integrated with
MediaMail, InPerson simplifies communications to Windows and all UNIX
platforms across local and wide-area networks.
Great For Distributing Files
InPertson offers a fast and easy way do distribute files to conferencde
participants. Simply drag a file from the desktop to the InPerson Shared Shelf
and the file is automatically distributed to all participants in a call.
Capture Everyone's Attention with the Shared Whiteboard
The InPerson Whiteboard, the central focus of the desktop conference,
provides a multimedia forum for sharing your ideas. Conference
participants can:
- Simultaneously view, mark up, scale, and manipulate 2D images and 3D
Inventor models
- Cut and paste 3D Inventor models from Showcase, IRIS Annotator, and
Inventor viewers
- Share and mark up information from another application by capturing any
window and placing it on the Whiteboard
- Capture images from any video stream, a window on the screen, or any
selected portion of the screen
- Import flies and images
Simple Tools to Make Your Point
Whiteboard mark-up tools allow participants in a conference call to show
the others just what they have in mind. The mark-up tools include text,
freehand drawing, circles, squares, and arrowheads. Selectable colors and
line thicknesses for the mark-up tools allow a conference call group to
annotate extensively without creating an incomprehensible thicket of lines.
A menu provides Cut, Copy, and Paste commands for editing objects
drawn on screen. 2D images and 3D Inventor models can be rotated or
scaled to control the detail level or amount of Whiteboard surface you want
to use.
Unlimited Whiteboard Pages
For projects that require lots of room, you can add pages to the
Whiteboard to expand your work area. A single mouse click adds a new
page, and you can quickly jump from page to page by clicking on the page
tab. Your personal cursor is displayed on the tab of the page you're viewing
to indicate your page location to the other participants in the call. If you are
presenting information to a group, you can double-click on the page you
are viewing to automatically bring the participants in the conference to that
page.
Saving the Whiteboard Contents
When the call is completed, the entire Whiteboard can be saved to a file
for future reference, or distributed to co-workers via MediaMail or the
Shared Shelf. When viewing the file Iater, you can even see who authored
what material in the saved Whiteboard. Your work stays in the computer
during the entire process - the key to true collaborative
computing.
Silicon Graphics Provides the Ideal Platform for
Collaborative Work
lnPerson runs on the entire family of Silicon Graphics workstations.
Anyone with a Silicon Graphics system and InPerson software can receive
video images and fully participate in a conference through the use of the
Whiteboard. A workstation equipped with an audio system and microphone
can also send and receive audio: a workstation equipped with a video
camera can send and receive video. The Indigo family of workstations, with
its integrated digital media hardware, provides the ideal platform for
desktop conferencing and collaborative work.
It's All in the Software
InPerson is software based. Just load the software and that's it. For Indy
workstations, optional hardware can deliver accelerated
performance.
Cross-Platform Interoperability
Silicon Graphics is commited to interoperability through conformance to
standards and relationships with other companies.
InPerson is avaiIable through NetManage. Inc., on PCs running the
Windows operating system. Additional platform support, including UNIX,
will be available in the future.
InPerson supports several audio and video compression standards,
including those supported by the H.320 videoconferencing
standard.
InPerson supports X-based application sharing on PCs and most UNIX
platforms through the X/TeleScreenTM product, available from VisualTEK
Solutions, Inc.
Doesn't Exhaust Your CPU
Video compression is by far the most CPU-intensive activity off any
software-based video application. InPerson offers a video compression
algorithm that can keep CPU overhead low by using an efficient difference-
based algorithm for video compression. This algorithm compares
successive images in the video stream and sends only the areas of the
image that have changed. Unlike similar video conferencing packages,
InPerson doesn't overwork your CPU. You can still run other applications
and quickly bring information from these applications onto the
Whiteboard.
Works on Existing Networks
InPerson can be used with existing network routers over any type of TCP/IP network:
InPerson uses the very efficient and well-established 'multicast' network transmission
protocol to transmit data. To assure that InPerson runs smoothly over any type of
network, IRIX supports 'tunneling' which lets you bypass routers that don't support
multicast routing.
Maximize Quality, Minimize Network Impact
lnPerson was designed to keep network traffic to an absolute minimum.
The amount of network bandwidth required by InPerson is affected by the
number of participants in a conference and the participants' desired video
frame rate and resolution. InPerson automatically adjusts audio and video
usage to alleviate network congestion.
lnPerson gives you the choice of minimizing network traffic by manually
fine-tuning InPerson controls or by letting InPerson do it for you. You do not
have to become an expert on video and audio compression schemes to
optimize performance. Simply specify the network on which you are
running InPerson; audio and video compression schemes, video resolution,
and frame rates are automatically and dynamically chosen to optimize
bandwidth usage. The results are optimal audio and video quality for your
conferences.
InPerson Option Board for Indy Workstations
The addition of an lnPerson option board to an lndy workstation can
improve performance and quality of audio transmission over the network.
Specifically, the InPerson option board provides acoustic echo cancelllation
(AEC) and G.728 audio compression. AEC for outgoing audio results in
echo-free audio for conference participants. The board, together with
InPerson 2.0, provides enhanced performance for video-conferencing over
low-bandwidth connections such as ISDN.
Compression Schemes for Optimized Network Usage
InPerson supports several audio and video compression schemes,
including those supported by the H.320 conference standard. This allows
you to communicate with interactive video over low-bandwidth connections
such as ISDN. In addition, InPerson 2.0 lets you optimize use of high-
bandwidth networks by supporting uncompressed video.
Technical Specifications
Open Shelf
Opens and closes the Shared Shelf used for distributing files
Open Whiteboard
Opens and closes the Whiteboard
Invite Others Into an Existing Call
Drag and drop icons of invited guests onto view area
Use invite dialog window
Audio
Reacts to network congestion
Dynamic silence suppression can be turned on/off via UI
Multiple audio compression schemes can be dynamically or automatically adjusted
SAMPLING
RATE BANDWIDTH
Intel/IMA DVI ADPCM 16kHz 64kbps (default)
Intel/IMA DVI ADPCM 8kHz 32kbps
CCITT/ITU-T G.711 u-law PCM 8kHz 64kbps
GSM 06.10 RTE/LTP 8kHz 13kbps
Uncompressed mono 44.1kHz 706kbps
G.728 (with optional board) 8kHz 16kbps
Video Compression
- Multiple compression schemes for optimized network usage
- Can be changed dynamically (during conferences)
- Frame rate: 1-30 fps
- Adjustable frame rate priority (auto compression adjustment)
- Reacts to network congestion
- HDCC compression: 160xl 20 and 320x240 resolution supported
- H.261 compression: 160xl 20 and 320x240 display resolution supported
- Uncompressed video: 1-30 fps frame rate
Shelf
Visual distribution of files
Whiteboard
Selection tool
Draw tools
- Freehand, square, circle, straight line, arrowhead line
Snapshot (capture)
- Selected area of screen
- Entire contents of other window
- Full resolution, 24-bit image from camera
Text
- Whenever you type
- All text can be edited
Object ownership (all data is tagged with identifier of person who put it there)
Multiple line colors (9), Line widths (4), Fonts (4)
Multiple page
- Double-click on page to change pages of call participants
- Pages are tabulated for easy selection
- Callers' unique cursors appear on the page tabs they're viewing
Import data to Whiteboard
- Previously saved Whiteboard files
- Text files
- Images
- 3D Inventor models
Save Whiteboard
- As a Whiteboard file or as Encapsulated PostScriptr (EPS)
Print Whiteboard
Cut, copy, and paste text and objects; scale 3D Inventor models
Phone Book
Drag and drop icons from corporate Phone Book to place InPerson calls or to send
e-mail
Create a directory of frequently called numbers
Publish information about yourself
Outgoing Calls
Create group aliases for group calling
Create/edit groups
Call listed groups
Ring tone can be set via UI
Number of rings can be set via UI
Incoming Calls
Phone icon rings and image of caller flashes
Have multiple call conferences, all but one on hold
Screen incoming calls and accept or deny via UI
Switch between multiple calls via buttons on the phone
Hold
Put your call on hold
Privacy
Allows you to see and hear others while they can't see or hear you
Freeze
Your video becomes a static picture while you continue to receive interactive video
from others.