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Improving Performance of Virtual Reality Applications Through Parallel Processing

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Abstract

DLoVe (Distributed Links over Variables evaluation) is a new model for specifying and implementing virtual reality and other next-generation or “non-WIMP” user interfaces. Our approach matches the parallel and continuous structure of these interfaces by combining a data-flow or constraint-like component with an event-based component for discrete interactions. Moreover, because the underlying constraint graph naturally lends itself to parallel computation, DLoVe provides for the constraint graph to be partitioned and executed in parallel across several machines, for improved performance. With our system, one can write a program designed for a single machine but can execute it in a distributed environment with minor code modifications. The system also supports mechanics for implementing or transforming single user programs into multi-user programs. We present experiments demonstrating how DLoVe improves performance by dramatically increasing the validity of the rendered frames. We also present performance measures to measure statistical skew in the frames, which we believe is more suitable for interactive systems than traditional measures of parallel systems, such as throughput or frame rate, because they fail to capture the freshness of each rendered frame.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA

    Leonidas Deligiannidis

  2. Department of Computer Science, Tufts University, Medford, MA, 02155, USA

    Robert J. K. Jacob

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  1. Leonidas Deligiannidis
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  2. Robert J. K. Jacob
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Correspondence to Leonidas Deligiannidis.

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Deligiannidis, L., Jacob, R.J.K. Improving Performance of Virtual Reality Applications Through Parallel Processing. J Supercomput 33, 155–173 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11227-005-0243-x

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