| This thesis presents the design and implementation of a framework for audio/video services for a virtual laboratory. A library of subroutines was developed to support a network video/audio server, capable of performing multimedia interactive presentations in this networked environment. The network video/audio server is an upgraded form of ACME.;In a virtual laboratory, the server's file system can be used to store laboratory lessons, combining circuit simulations such as SPICE or mathematical computations using MATLAB with sounds and video sequences. The clients are able to access the server's file system via TCP/IP connections and to playback a sound or a video sequence, to record a voice message, and to send a voice message or a video sequence to another workstation. The server's workstation and the client's workstations are able to perform real time audio voice communication between each other via the video/audio server. The clients can also send voice commands from the local workstation to the voice recognition toolkit in the server workstation via a TCP/IP connection with the audio/video server for hands-free interactive presentations.;The experimental results indicate that the audio/video performance is suitable for multimedia presentations in a virtual laboratory environment. The suggestions for the future development of the virtual laboratory design are presented. |
