Ultra-Lightweight Face Animation Method for Ultra-Low Bitrate Video Conferencing

Video conferencing systems face the dilemma between smooth streaming and decent visual quality because traditional video compression algorithms fail to produce bitstreams low enough for bandwidth-constrained networks.An ultra-lightweight face-animation-based method that enables better video conferencing experience is proposed in this paper.The proposed method compresses high-quality upperbody videos with ultra-low bitrates and runs efficiently on mobile devices without high-end graphics processing units(GPU).Moreover,a visual quality evaluation algorithm is used to avoid image degradation caused by extreme face poses and/or expressions,and a full resolution image composition algorithm to reduce unnaturalness,which guarantees the user experience.Experiments show that the proposed method is efficient and can generate high-quality videos at ultra-low bitrates.

Utilization of HEVC ChaCha20-Based Selective Encryption for Secure Telehealth Video Conferencing

Coronavirus(COVID-19)is a contagious disease that causes exceptional effect on healthcare organizationsworldwide with dangerous impact on medical services within the hospitals.Because of the fast spread of COVID-19,the healthcare facilities could be a big source of disease infection.So,healthcare video consultations should be used to decrease face-to-face communication between clinician and patients.Healthcare video consultations may be beneficial for some COVID-19 conditions and reduce the need for faceto-face contact with a potentially positive patient without symptoms.These conditions are like top clinicians who provide remote consultations to develop treatment methodology and follow-up remotely,patients who consult about COVID-19,and those who have mild symptoms suggestive of the COVID-19 virus.Video consultations are a supplement to,and not a substitute for,telephone consultations.It may also form part of a broader COVID-19 distance care strategy that contains computerized screening,separation of possibly infectious patients within medical services,and computerized video-intensive observing of their intensive care that helps reduce mixing.Nowadays,the spread of the COVID-19 virus helps to expand the use of video healthcare consultations because it helps to exchange experiences and remote medical consultations,save costs and health procedures used to cope with the pandemic of the COVID-19 virus,and monitor the progress of treatment plans,moment by moment from a distance with precision,clarity and ease.From this perspective,this paper introduces a high-efficiency video coding(HEVC)ChaCha20-based selective encryption(SE)scheme for secure healthcare video Consultations.The proposed HEVC ChaCha20-based SE scheme uses the ChaCha20 for encrypting the sign bits of the Discrete Cosine Transform(DCT)and Motion Vector Difference(MVD)in the HEVC entropy phase.The main achievement of HEVC ChaCha20-based SE scheme is encrypting the most sensitive video bits with keeping low delay time,fixed bit rate of the HEVC,and format compliance.Experimental tests guarantee that the proposed HEVC ChaCha20-based SE scheme can ensure the confidentiality of the healthcare video consultations which has become easy to transmit through the internet.

Can Video Conferencing Be as Easy as Telephoning?—A Home Healthcare Case Study

In comparison with almost universal adoption of telephony and mobile technologies in modern day healthcare, video conferencing has yet to become a ubiquitous clinical tool. Currently telehealth services are faced with a bewildering range of video conferencing software and hardware choices. This paper provides a case study in the selection of video conferencing services by the Flinders University Telehealth in the Home trial (FTH Trial) to support healthcare in the home. Using pragmatic methods, video conferencing solutions available on the market were assessed for usability, reliability, cost, compatibility, interoperability, performance and privacy considerations. The process of elimination through which the eventual solution was chosen, the selection criteria used for each requirement and the corresponding results are described. The resulting product set, although functional, had restricted ability to directly connect with systems used by healthcare providers elsewhere in the system. This outcome illustrates the impact on one small telehealth provider of the broader struggles between competing video conferencing vendors. At stake is the ability to communicate between healthcare organizations and provide public access to healthcare. Comparison of the current state of the video conferencing market place with the evolution of the telephony system reveals that video conferencing still has a long way to go before it can be considered as easy to use as the telephone. Health organizations that are concerned to improve access and quality of care should seek to influence greater standardization and interoperability though cooperation with one another, the private sector, international organizations and by encouraging governments to play a more active role in this sphere.

Analysis of the Effects of Rainfall Intensity into the Performance of Video Conferencing

Attenuation due to rain is an important limitation in the designing of the microwave communication links operating at frequencies above 10 GHz. Video conferencing performs over high-speed link via high-speed satellite (WINDS satellite) transmission in the Ka-band which is vulnerable to attenuation due to rain. Using the ITU-R proposed models for the prediction of rain attenuation gives a good estimation for the microwave propagation loss caused by rain for the temperate regions, but it underestimates the rain attenuation prediction for the monthly variation of rain rate by averaging annual rain rate for particular region. This study was carried out at the University of Rwanda/Huye Campus. The rain rates were predicted for 0.01 percentage of time from rainfall data measured during two months of July and August using the RD-80 Joss and Waldvogel Disdrometer. From the data collected and analyzed, compared with ITU-R model, we can see that where Rwanda region is situated in region K, what is different from the obtained results because the data are collected during months that coincide with a dry season.

The Use of Video Conferencing for Persons with Chronic Conditions: A Systematic Review

The purpose of this paper is to present a systematic review of studies that used Video Conferencing (VC) intervention for common chronic conditions. Chronic conditions account for the majority of poor health, disability, and death, and for a major portion of health-care expenditures in the United States. Innovative methods and interventions are needed to enhance care and management, improve access to care, improve patient outcomes, narrow health disparities and reduce healthcare costs. Video Conferencing could be particularly relevant in improving health, care management, access and cost in the care of chronic illnesses. A comprehensive literature search process guided by the PRISMA statement led to the inclusion of 27 articles measuring video conferencing, at least one chronic illness, and patient outcomes for adults living in a community setting. While VC has been found to be feasible and effective, a low number of randomized controlled trials limit evidence. In addition, studies in this review were not designed to address the question of whether access to care in rural areas is improved through VC. Hence, more research is needed.

A video conferencing system based on SDN-enabled SVC multicast

Current typical video conferencing connection is bridged by a multipoint control unit(MCU),which may cause large delay and communication bottleneck for the whole system.With the development of network technology,a video conferencing system can be implemented based on software-defined networking(SDN),which makes the service controllable and improves the scalability and flexibility.Additionally,a video encoding method called scalable video coding(SVC) can also help.In this paper,we propose a video conferencing architecture based on SDN-enabled SVC multicasting,which discards the traditional Internet group management protocol(IGMP) and MCU.The system implements SVC multicast streaming to satisfy different device capabilities of various conference terminals.The SDN controller is responsible for dynamically managing and controlling the layers of a video stream when a conference member faces network congestion.Also,a conference manager is designed to facilitate the management of the conference members.Experimental results show that our system can not only provide a flexible and controllable video delivery,but also reduce the network usage while guaranteeing the quality of service(QoS) of video conferencing.

DHT-and blockchain-based smart identification for video conferencing

Video conferencing applications help people communicate via the Internet and provide a significant and consistent basis for virtual meetings.However,integrity,security,identification,and authentication problems are still universal.Current video conference technologies typically rely on cloud systems to provide a stable and secure basis for executing tasks and processes.At the same time,video conferencing applications are being migrated from centralized to decentralized solutions for better performance without the need for third-party interactions.This article demonstrates a decentralized smart identification scheme for video conferencing applications based on biometric technology,machine learning,and a decentralized hash table combined with blockchain technology.We store users'information on a distributed hash table and transactional events on the distributed ledger after identifying users by implementing machine learning functions.Furthermore,we leverage distributed ledger technology's immutability and traceability properties and distributed hash table unlimited storage feature to improve the system's storage capacity and immutability by evaluating three possible architectures.The experimental results show that an architecture based on blockchain and distributed hash table has better efficiency but needs a longer time to execute than the two other architectures using a centralized database.

Videoconference Interpreting in Criminal Proceedings

With the increase of bi-and multilingual proceedings,videoconference interpreting(VCI)has become common practice in many areas of national and cross-border criminal proceedings.However,the use of VCI has been impeded by some limits,such as no clear guidelines,lack of training,emotional issues,equipment limits,interaction impacts and inability to represent.Various measures thereby do need to be taken to improve VCI in guidelines,training,three-way interaction,technical support,and location of the defendant solicitor.Though basic practical problems can be addressed quickly,the combined complexities of it with both technological and linguistic-cultural mediation require further research.

SHVC, the Scalable Extensions of HEVC,and Its Applications

This paper discusses SHVC, the scalable extension of the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard, and its applications in broadcasting and wireless broadband multimedia services. SHVC was published as part of the second version of the HEVC specifi?cation in 2014. Since its publication, SHVC has been evaluated by application standards development organizations (SDOs) for its potential benefits in video applications, such as terrestrial and mobile broadcasting in ATSC 3.0, as well as a variety of 3GPP mul?timedia services, including multi?party multi?stream video conferencing (MMVC), multimedia broadcast/multicast service (MBMS), and dynamic adaptive streaming over HTTP (DASH). This paper provides a brief overview of SHVC and the performance and com?plexity analyses of using SHVC in these video applications.

Performance Evaluation of an Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) Based Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) Virtual Private Network

This paper evaluates the performance of Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) based Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) virtual private network (VPN) in a small to medium sized organization. The demand for security in data networks has been increasing owing to the high cyber attacks and potential risks associated with networks spread over distant geographical locations. The MPLS networks ride on the public network backbone that is porous and highly susceptible to attacks and so the need for reliable security mechanisms to be part of the deployment plan. The evaluation criteria concentrated on Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and Video conferencing with keen interest in jitter, end to end delivery and general data flow. This study used both structured questionnaire and observation methods. The structured questionnaire was administered to a group of 70 VPN users in a company. This provided the study with precise responses. The observation method was used in data simulations using OPNET Version 14.5 Simulation software. The results show that the IPSec features increase the size of data packets by approximately 9.98% translating into approximately 90.02% effectiveness. The tests showed that the performance metrics are all well within the recommended standards. The IPSec Based MPLS Virtual private network is more stable and secure than one without IPSec.