Secure Stealth Viewing

One multi-user scenario supported by the Majic Player system is the concept of stealth viewing of a simulation, test exercise or live support situation.

Consider the case where you have data generated by a simulation program and you wish to have that information broadcast and viewed in near real-time by a large geographically disperse audience. Furthermore, the data generated affects the motion of 3D bodies or detailed instruments and you want the audience visual to be as realistic as possible.

The figure below shows the solution architecture using the Majic Player system. In this scenario, there are two related Majic Player applications.

First, a Master Viewing application is created that connects with the simulation data to be broadcast. The simulation and viewer may run on the same computer or they may be networked. The Master Viewing application contains all of the detailed 3D models and instruments. The Master Viewing application will also likely contain information showing the Majic Player users that are in the viewing audience. Depending on the application requirements, the user of the Master Viewing application may have control over his audience or he may rely on standard Majic Player security to control who can obtain the Client Viewer.

Second, a simpler Client Viewing application is created for the audience. This application normally presents a simpler user interface, removing any unnecessary clutter from the Master Viewing application involved in simulation setup or other details that are unimportant to the audience. Any of the detailed 3D models and instruments necessary for visual appeal will be included in the application.

Both of these applications are standard Majic Player applications with an associated .mcml file. Thus, any standard Majic Player access security mechanism can be applied to limit access of the applications to a particular user audience. The authenticated Majic Player end-user obtains the application locally, indicated in the figure as a Loaded Application. Once loaded, the near real-time communication occurs via the Majic Player Communication Server.

The Master Viewing application sends information to the Majic Player Communication Server affecting the client viewing audiences visual. This could include 3D motion, the moving of instrument dials, the display of raw numbers, the updating of graphs or any information desired.

The application producer defines the data to broadcast. As the Client Viewers access their application, they register with the Majic Player Communication Server, a step that can be done automatically at start-up. Once something occurs in the simulation, the clients viewer is updated appropriately.

The Client Viewing application can be configured to allow the individual user to have control over viewing of the simulation. He may be able to choose his camera viewpoint and perspectives using features within the Client Viewing application. Thus, he can interactively examine only the parts of the simulation that he is interested and his viewing perspectives are not influenced by any of the other Client Viewers or Master Viewers.

The architecture of this solution has two major advantages over typical WebEx like collaboration software.

1. Three dimensional or complex graphical motions can be displayed in near real-time. Even in a high bandwidth environment, it is difficult for WebEx like collaboration software to keep the display fresh for complex 3D graphics with significant motion. Usually there a noticeable display lag which often times is unacceptable.

2. Everybody in the audience sees exactly the same perspective and only one person has control of the viewing for the entire audience. While this scenario can be supported by the above architecture, the architecture above also allows each client to have independent control over his view of the simulation.

The solution architecture is the same for broadcasting any data source that drives a complex 3D environment. In this case the data source was simulated; however it could be a live data source, information contained in a periodically updated database or information contained in any other data source.

Please contact Majic Player Support for more information or to view a demonstration of the above scenario.