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IRIX 6.2 Applications 1996 August
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Silicon_Graphics_812-0542-002.iso
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relnotes
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InPerson
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ch3.z
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1996-08-03
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22KB
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595 lines
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3. _C_h_a_n_g_e_s__a_n_d__A_d_d_i_t_i_o_n_s
3.1 _I_n_P_e_r_s_o_n__2_._1_._1
The following section describes the changes and additions
since InPerson 2.1.
3.1.1 _I_n_P_e_r_s_o_n__w_h_i_t_e_b_o_a_r_d
+o The whiteboard now uses Inventor version 2.0.1. This
makes the whiteboard considerably faster for some
operations.
3.1.2 _I_n_P_e_r_s_o_n__v_i_d_e_o
+o Support has been added for Impact Video for Indigo2.
+o On Indigo2s with EV1 Video hardware (Galileo or
Indigo2Video), color-banding in low-light video images
has been greatly reduced.
+o In IRIX 6.2, IndigoVideo ("Starter Video") is no longer
supported on Indigo systems with LG1 ("Starter")
graphics. InPerson no longer supports Starter Video.
3.2 _I_n_P_e_r_s_o_n__2_._1
The following section describes the changes and additions
since InPerson 2.0.
3.2.1 _I_n_P_e_r_s_o_n__p_h_o_n_e
+o _i_n_p_e_r_s_o_n now places and answers calls more quickly than
2.0.
+o The phone's performance preference was ignored when
starting an authoring call.
+o The phone can now be controlled via the command-line by
iiiinnnnppppccccoooonnnnttttrrrroooollll((((1111)))).
3.2.2 _I_n_P_e_r_s_o_n__w_h_i_t_e_b_o_a_r_d
+o File selection dialog boxes for Append, Import and
Save-As now separately and distinctly remember the last
pathname used with each one.
+o The whiteboard now obeys the TMPDIR environment
variable when it creates temporary files.
- 2 -
+o The whiteboard now checks before overwriting a file.
If the file exists and is not writable the whiteboard
gives an error better feedback as to why it couldn't
write the file.
+o The whiteboard now obeys the caps lock key.
+o In certain cases when drawing with the freehand tool,
extra lines were drawn on other participant's
whiteboards. This has been fixed.
+o The second font is now a fixed-width font.
+o Pasting of text always was in a certain font
(unchangeable). Now the text you paste always comes
out in the currently set font.
+o Memory usage for pages with lots of images was been
improved.
+o You can now import text, image and whiteboard files by
dragging their desktop icons onto the whiteboard.
+o Printing is now done in the background, speeding up
responsiveness of the whiteboard.
+o A bug was fixed that in previous releases had caused
video images that were snapped from Indy's VINO video
board to be unusually dark.
3.2.3 _I_n_P_e_r_s_o_n__v_i_d_e_o
+o The image quality of small and large video display
sizes has been improved.
+o When you release the hold button, the displays of other
participants will be updated quickly. Previously it
took up to 15 seconds before the displays were updated.
+o The vanity display will no longer be mirrored when the
user selects static video.
+o On Indigos with IndigoVideo, video will now return to
the desired frame rate after releasing the hold button.
Previously it stayed at 1 frame/sec afterwords.
+o In 1.X and 2.0, video may have been transmitted while
on hold. This has been fixed.
+o In 2.0, PAL analog cameras on EV1 video hardware didn't
work with HDCC-small video compression. This has been
- 3 -
fixed.
+o A new resource '*highSpeedVanityView: true' will update
the vanity view display at the same at rate as the
video capture rate.
+o H.261 performance has been improved.
3.2.4 _I_n_P_e_r_s_o_n__a_u_d_i_o
+o When InPerson displays the "Do you want to exit"
dialog, audio is no longer shutdown.
+o Audio can be disabled with the new '*audio: false'
resource.
3.2.5 _I_n_P_e_r_s_o_n__s_h_e_l_f
+o When you drop files on the shelf, it calculates the
time to transfer the files to the other participants
based on the current audio and video bandwidths. If the
transfer time exceeds this threshold, the shelf will
display a dialog box with the time and a choice to
continue or cancel the transfer. The threshold is
controlled via the shelf.xferTimeMsgThreshold resource
described in _i_n_p_e_r_s_o_n(1).
3.2.6 _I_n_P_e_r_s_o_n__n_e_t_w_o_r_k_i_n_g
+o InPerson can be used through a network packet
filter/firewall. See the descriptions for the
networkPortMin and networkPortMax resources in
_i_n_p_e_r_s_o_n(1).
3.3 _I_n_P_e_r_s_o_n__2_._0
The following section describes the changes and additions
since InPerson 1.2.
3.3.1 _I_n_P_e_r_s_o_n__p_h_o_n_e_b_o_o_k__(_P_e_o_p_l_e_P_a_g_e_s_) A new application,
_p_e_o_p_l_e_p_a_g_e_s, is included in InPerson 2.0. The PeoplePages
provides users with a list of all users on their corporate
network that have InPerson, as well as a place to store
information about people and places.
A system administrator can set up the PeoplePages server on
a shared system, and use NFS to provide a shared database
for all users to access. See the PeoplePages man pages (mmmmaaaannnn
ppppeeeeoooopppplllleeeeppppaaaaggggeeeessss) and release notes for details.
- 4 -
3.3.2 _I_n_P_e_r_s_o_n__p_h_o_n_e
+o InPerson now allows users to leave electronic mail
messages when any participant in a call does not answer
or is not running InPerson. If you have MediaMail
installed and running, Inperson will use the MediaMail
compose window to create the message, otherwise a
simple text window is used. To use this feature, you
must install the mmmmmmmmaaaaiiiillll....sssswwww....mmmmaaaaiiiillll image from the InPerson
2.0 CD. InPerson 2.0 is incompatible with the MediaMail
from the IRIX 5.3 CD.
+o For 2-way calls, the phones on each end of the call
tell each other their network bandwidth and audio/video
compression schemes. This is useful when you normally
use InPerson over a LAN but occasionally call someone
over ISDN. You won't have to adjust the parameters as
long as the ISDN user has set their network type to
ISDN in the Call Control panel under the Tools menu.
+o The "Let's Make A Call" window now has a button that
allows you to launch the PeoplePages.
+o The Call Preferences panel is now accessible from the
phone. To change preferences for all future calls,
place the mouse over the phone window, and hold down
the right mouse botton, then choose "Call Preferences"
from the menu. You can also save your preferences from
the phone, so they will be remembered next time you
launch the phone.
+o When calling someone who has requested lower network
bandwidth than you requested, you are now notified that
audio/video quality will be lower than usual because of
the reduced bandwidth.
3.3.3 _I_n_P_e_r_s_o_n__w_h_i_t_e_b_o_a_r_d
+o 3D models created with Open Inventor tools like
Showcase and IRIS Annotator can be imported and shared
amongst all InPerson 2.0 users. However, all the
annotations are removed from the IRIS Annotator model
before it is placed on the whiteboard.
+o When you bring an image into the whiteboard, either
using the File/Import menu bar or the snapshot tool,
you are given an opportunity to scale the image to the
size you desire.
- 5 -
+o All images are now transmitted using RLE compression,
for better performance over low-bandwidth networks.
+o The drawing tools (square, circle, arrow, box, straight
line), now each have a separate button, rather than
being a pull-right menu. This UI change allows quicker
access to these drawing tools.
+o You can now create multiple-line text objects by
hitting <CR> when typing text into the whiteboard. The
entire multiple-line text object can be moved or
deleted in one operation. To end a text object when
typing, either click the mouse button outside the text
object, or hit <Ctrl><CR>. Text pasted into the
whiteboard using middle-mouse button is added as a
single text object, even if it contains multiple lines
of text.
+o Information about which person drew which object on the
whiteboard is now correctly preserved, even if people
leave and rejoin the conference. Furthermore, if a
whiteboard file is appended to the current whiteboard
session, and it contains objects that were drawn by any
of the current call participants, the "who drew what"
information is correct.
+o You can now cancel an image snap while the camera
cursor is on by clicking either the middle mouse or
right mouse button.
+o Double-clicking on a page tab forces all participants
in the conference to that page.
+o The InPerson 2.0 whiteboard fully interoperates with
InPerson 1.1. If an InPerson 1.1 user starts the
conference, the InPerson 2.0 whiteboard reverts to 1.1
behavior: no 3D models and single line text objects.
If an InPerson 2.0 user starts the conference, but an
InPerson 1.1 user is invited, the 1.1 user will not see
3D objects on their whiteboard, and multi-line text
objects will be displayed in a single line.
+o Resources to specify the fonts are no longer used. You
can specify which of the predefined fonts is used by
default. The predefined fonts are:
0: Helvetica-Bold-18
1: Helvetica-14
2: Helvetica-BoldOblique-18
3: Helvetica-Bold-24
- 6 -
+o Whiteboard files can now be printed from the desktop
just by dragging the whiteboard file icon onto a
printer icon.
+o Thick freehand lines are now much cleaner-looking.
3.3.4 _I_n_P_e_r_s_o_n__C_a_l_l__V_i_e_w
+o The InPerson Call view now has Network Information
panel that shows conference congestion state, actual
transmitted bandwidth and video frame rate, and actual
audio/video compression algorithms being used.
+o If you invite more participants to a 2-way call, but
your network does not support IP multicast, a warning
dialog is displayed that indicates audio/video for
multiway calls cannot be sent and received correctly
without IP multicast support.
+o When starting up a call in authoring mode, InPerson now
automatically puts the call on hold, to avoid wasting
CPU resources to compress audio and video. When you
invite someone into an authoring call, take yourself
off hold so that the other user can see and hear you.
3.3.5 _I_n_P_e_r_s_o_n__v_i_d_e_o
+o Two additional video compression algorithms are
available:
+o ITU-T's H.261 low-bandwidth compression algorithm
for ISDN and other low-bandwidth networks
+o 8-bit RGB uncompressed for high-quality images on
high-speed networks such as FDDI or ATM.
Both new video compression algorithms are implemented
in software and do not require the InPerson Option
board.
+o The Call Control Panel, which controls various
parameters of an InPerson call, has changed
substantially.
In previous releases, InPerson provided independent
controls for bandwidth, video frame rate and video
resolution, even though these three parameters are
related. Thus, users could specify a combination of
settings that was impossible to achieve: for example,
- 7 -
large video, 20 frames/sec, but only 128 kbps of
bandwidth. In such cases, InPerson had to drastically
reduce the transmitted video frame rate below the
user's setting in order to meet the bandwidth goal.
In the new control panel, users specify one major
control: the network bandwidth goal for this call.
Based on this bandwidth setting, InPerson will then
make the best choice for video resolution, video
compression algorithm, video frame rate, and audio
compression algorithm. Sophisticated users can find out
what choices InPerson is making, and even change
InPerson's default behavior.
Specific changes in the Call Control Panel include:
+o You can now switch between static and live video
during an active call.
+o Support for medium-size video (208x156) has been
removed, since H.261 does not support this size,
and zooming between small/medium and medium/large
was always impractical because the resolutions are
not integer multiples of each other.
+o You can now specify the total amount of network
bandwidth to use in a call. There are 4 preset
bandwidth settings: ISDN, T1, LAN and high-speed
LAN. There is also a finer control feature to let
sophisticated users choose an exact bandwidth.
Based on the bandwidth setting for a call,
InPerson will will choose the appropriate video
capture resolution, video compression algorithm,
video frame rate, and audio compression algorithm.
To see the compression algorithms and video
resolution InPerson is using, click on the finer
control button in the Call Control Panel. The
graphs at the bottom of the control panel provide
a qualitative comparison of the various
compression algorithms.
+o The Video Size control now controls only the
amount of screen real estate allocated to the
video displays; in other words, it controls the
ddddiiiissssppppllllaaaayyyy rrrreeeessssoooolllluuuuttttiiiioooonnnn of the video, but not the
ccccaaaappppttttuuuurrrreeeedddd aaaannnndddd ttttrrrraaaannnnssssmmmmiiiitttttttteeeedddd rrrreeeessssoooolllluuuuttttiiiioooonnnn. The
resolution of video captured, compressed and
transmitted depends on the call bandwidth setting,
as mentioned above, and on the Performance control
(explained below). Video is zoomed or decimated
- 8 -
in order to convert between the resolution of
video being received and the requested video
display size.
+o The frame rate control has been replaced by a
single "Performance" control: whether maintaining
frame rate or maintaining video image quality is
most important. InPerson will send the highest
frame rate possible given the bandwidth setting,
and user's choice of image quality vs. frame rate.
The setting of this "Performance" control now
controls the resolution of the image transmitted
over the network. The "Optimize frame rate"
setting causes small images to be transmitted. The
"Optimize quality" setting causes large images to
be transmitted, except when transmitting H.261
images, which are always transmitted as small
images.
+o The meters indicating actual frame rate, network
bandwidth and congestion control state have been
moved into a separate control panel, called the
Network Info panel. Also, this panel shows the
current audio and video compression algorithms
being used. The Call Preferences panel shows the
compression algorithms normally chosen for the
chosen bandwidth setting; however, different
algorithms may temporarily be used if congestion
control has forced InPerson to drastically lower
it's transmitted bandwidth.
+o The congestion control algorithm may now change the
transmitted video resolution and compression algorithm,
if congestion indicates that a drastic change in
network bandwidth is appropriate. Minor changes in
network bandwidth are accomplished by automatically
changing video frame rate, as in previous releases.
However, because each video stream is now displayed at
a consistent size on each users window, regardless of
the received video resolution, these changes in
transmitted video resolution are not obvious or
annoying to the user.
+o InPerson will now send uncompressed video at up to 30
fps, when operating on networks with a large network
MTU (maximum transmission unit). To enable this 30 fps
feature, you must add the following lines to your
~/.desktop-<hostname>/InPerson file:
****nnnneeeettttwwwwoooorrrrkkkkMMMMTTTTUUUU:::: 4444333355552222
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3.3.6 _I_n_P_e_r_s_o_n__a_u_d_i_o
+o InPerson 2.0 supports the InPerson Option Board for
Indy, which provides G.728 audio compression and
acoustic echo cancellation. The echo cancellation
feature will always be enabled for each user that has
the board, even if other users in the call don't have
it. The G.728 audio compression can only be used in 2-
way calls where both users have the board.
+o InPerson no longer changes the audio output sampling
rate when a call starts. Instead, it will automatically
perform rate conversion from the sampling rate used by
the current audio compression algorithm (8 or 16 kHz)
to the current audio output sampling rate set for the
system. This new feature means that if you're using
your audio system when an InPerson call comes in (for
example, playing CDs with CDman), InPerson will not
disrupt the audio being played.
However, audio does sound slightly better if no sample
rate conversion is being performed. For optimal audio
quality when you are not using your audio subsystem for
anything besides InPerson, use apanel(1) to set the
audio output rate to be equal to the audio input rate.
Or, if you want InPerson to always set the output rate
equal to the input rate when a call starts (and thus
never do sample rate conversion, but potentially
disrupt other audio applications), add the following
line to your ~/.desktop-<hostname>/InPerson file:
****aaaauuuuddddiiiiooooAAAAuuuuttttooooRRRRaaaatttteeeeCCCCoooonnnnvvvveeeerrrrssssiiiioooonnnn:::: FFFFaaaallllsssseeee
+o The resource audioInputLevel has been replaced by
audioLeftAtten and audioRightAtten. These new resources
are automatically updated your ~/.desktop-
<hostname>/InPerson file when inpview exits. The
audioInputSource resource is also updated to the
current _a_p_a_n_e_l(1) value when inpview exits, too.
+o InPerson will now automatically change audio
compression algorithms in response to extreme network
congestion.