Reconfigurable Multimedia Environment

This paper presents a bespoke solution for a real-time reconfigurable audiovisual routing system for capture and playback within a pervasive multimedia environment. Having the ability to capture user interaction and experience is essential when conducting usability research. At the University of Sussex a Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) funded research lab has been developed to allow user centred research to be conducted. Within the lab a solution was required which would let researchers record from multiple camera sources as well as playback video feeds to many display devices. The desired solution would let researchers have control over audiovisual routing, allowing them to have design flexibility over their experiments without the need for dedicated technical support. The solution presented removes the need for the user to have any knowledge of the underlying hardware within the lab by creating a software layer used to re-route audiovisual capture, output, and playback. It allows for rapid setup giving users more freedom with experiment design, enabling them to design practically any type of experiment for large groups of people. Furthermore, experiments have a more realistic outcome as designs can be modified during runtime.