Abstract :
A multimedia center, containing six main research groups, was established at the University of Aizu in 1995. For one such group, a multimedia VR (virtual reality) system was constructed as a VR museum or interactive theater in a 17-m2 room with HDTV, a 10-m×9-m large screen for 3D images, 17 loudspeakers for virtual sound, and various kinds of video-recording machines. This system is controlled by a high-performance computer using an ATM network. This paper first presents the technical limitations of this system, owing to its construction from a combination of commercially available products, and then introduces a new architecture for computing machines, computer graphics processors and sound generators which has been developed at the University of Aizu in reply to the demand for second-generation multimedia systems
Keywords :
B-ISDN; asynchronous transfer mode; computer architecture; computer graphic equipment; high definition television; interactive systems; loudspeakers; multimedia systems; three-dimensional displays; video tape recorders; virtual reality; 10 m; 17 m; 3 m; 3D images; ATM network; HDTV; commercially available products; computer architecture; computer graphics processors; high-performance computer; interactive theatre; loudspeakers; multimedia virtual reality system; screen; second-generation multimedia systems; sound generators; technical limitations; video-recording machines; virtual reality museum; virtual sound; Computer graphics; Computer networks; Data processing; Data structures; High-speed networks; Multimedia databases; Multimedia systems; Solid modeling; Virtual reality; Workstations;
