User`s guide

Figure 13: IRServer main window
4.6 Automatic Switching
The automatic switching application has been partially implemented, as part of the videoconferenc-
ing reciprocity application. If, in the future, three video walls exist (for example, one at the Caulfield
staff room, one at the Clayton stall room, and new one at the Clayton meeting room), then there
will be three VidClients trying to connect to the VidServer. If there are people in the Caulfield staff
room and the Clayton staff room, then VidServer will link those two walls together, but if there are
people in the meeting room and one of the staff rooms, then VidServer will link those walls together.
Most of the time, the video wall in the meeting room would be turned off, and would only be
turned on when necessary, eliminating unnecessary connections if a Clayton-only meeting took place.
This scenario could also work if there are people in all three rooms. Initially the video link might
be between the two staff rooms, but if a meeting is taking place, then as people leave the Clayton
staff room and head to the meeting room, the link between the two staff rooms is shut down and
the link between the Caulfield staff room and the Clayton meeting room starts up.
However, it is only a temporary solution. More control is needed, especially if two or more new
video walls are installed. Since VidServer accepts a maximum of two connections, only one link is
allowed simultaneously, but in the future, two concurrent links (e.g. between two common rooms
and two meeting rooms) might be necessary. Also, there is little reason to have a video link between
two rooms at the same campus. Additional, customisable software, or possibly modifications to
VidServer and VidClient, would be required to implement these features.
If the software chooses appropriate video links automatically based on rules, such as “never link
two VANs from the same campus together”, then a method to identify each VAN needs to be
implemented. This could involve numbering each node, or perhaps using descriptive terms, such as
campus (e.g Clayton) and room type (e.g. meeting room) as a basis for rule making. The latter
would require more work initially, but would allow new nodes to be set up more quickly.
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