=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=None
|storemode=property
|title=Multimedia Contents Provision Using Bluetooth for Cultural Heritage Applications: the MID-Blue project
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-815/paper2.pdf
|volume=Vol-815
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/invit/ZaDMB11
}}
==Multimedia Contents Provision Using Bluetooth for Cultural Heritage Applications: the MID-Blue project==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-815/paper2.pdf
Multimedia Contents Provision Using Bluetooth for
Cultural Heritage Applications: the MID-Blue project
Stefano Za1, Edoardo D'Atri2, Filippo Mazzei2, Alessio Maria Braccini1
1
CeRSI – LUISS GUIDO CARLI University, Roma, Italy,
{sza, abraccini}@luiss.it
2
ITHUM srl, Roma, Italy,
{e.datri , f.mazzei}@ithum.it
Abstract. The paper describes the MID-Blue (Multimedia Information
Distribution over Bluetooth) system architecture as a dynamic guidance system
for museum visitors based on Bluetooth connection. It provides specific
contents related to the user position also using streaming video. This feature is
still not diffused among Bluetooth technologies and could be more useful than
other alternative solutions in museum contexts where it is necessary to delivery
short-range information. The architecture overview underlines the components
involved for supporting video streaming functionality over Bluetooth describing
the first prototype implementation.
Keywords: Video streaming over Bluetooth, museum, RTSP, culture heritage.
1 Introduction
This paper describes a dynamic guidance system for museum visitors: MID-Blue
(Multimedia Information Distribution over Bluetooth), a mobile Bluetooth based
system for managing and providing multimedia information and contents.
Recent studies [1] show the growing trend of using mobile technologies in Italy:
more than 20 million of people in Italy have at least a smartphone. Using smartphones
guidance system in museum context can avoid cognitive overload of visitors, by
allowing them to use their own device.
Many applications have been developed for smartphones to give users the
possibility to use geo-localized information: social network (Facebook or four square)
and information provider (Aroundme). Related to the specific context, different
technologies have been used in museums guidance system such as optical signals (i.e.
infrared), and RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification). Each of them has some
limitation that will be describe in the next paragraph. An alternative can be
represented by the Bluetooth technology. It is ideal for use in confined spaces and it
also allows the transmission of data up to the speed of 721 Kbps [1]. The short-range
distance (but not as short as for infrared) of Bluetooth is useful for delivering the right
information related to the object close to the user, since the system has the possibility
to infer (based on signal strength) the distance between the device and the transmitter.
These features allow MID-Blue to provide specific contents related to users’ position.
10
The MID-Blue system introduces an innovative method to provide information
through streaming videos on Bluetooth. This is a new feature that is still not so
diffused among Bluetooth technologies, and could be very useful for exhibitions in
museum where it is necessary to delivery short-range information.
This paper will start from the state of art related to the guidance systems in
museum and after that it will describe the MID-Blue project, describing the system
architecture and how it can be an alternative valid solution in this specific context.
2 State of art
This section defines a first a framework for the application of multimedia
technologies in museum contexts. Then it will illustrate the state of art for
technologies related to the guidance systems.
Recent studies [3] show how a high percentage of visitors (about 75%) before
starting their tour in the museum go first to the information desk. This highlights the
necessity of an orientation guide to avoid confusion sense in museum users.
Fig. 1. Percentage of visitors in Italian museum that ask support from the help desk
Another research [4] highlights the importance of first impact of users with
museums: the lack of and introduction in orientation in the space and the
understanding of location and paths of exposure spaces affects the satisfaction level
and generates sense of boredom and discomfort in users.
The lack of an adequate information support is the most visible critical issue and
usually one of the first obstacles to increasing the number of museums visitors. A
research of cultural Heritage ministry [5] shows how timetable and continuity of the
opening times, facilities and basic services of the museums are acceptable. Audio
guidance, multimedia station, digital catalogues, and contents in foreign language
cannot usually be found on Italian museums.
11
The research of Cultural Observatory of Piemonte show how captions and
information panel are examined on average by half of visitors, while Solima [6]
reveals that the average time dedicated to read the information panel is less than 30
seconds in respect to the time of reading (50-70 seconds).
50% 50%
Visitors who read
Information Panels
Visitors don't read
Information Panels
Fig. 2. Percentage of visitors of museums that read information panel
This is due to the density of texts and images of panels that causes difficult for
users in reading relevant information. So it can be useful to give information on
multiple level of in-depth examination in order to allow users to have different
information related to specific interests, attention levels and the available time
customized for different targets of visitors. Technologies are perceived as an
opportunity for increasing the quality of life; furthermore young people prefer an
indirect usage of cultural heritage [7]. Therefore it is possible to deduct that there is a
percentage of young people who are inclined to visit a cultural venue if this is
combined and supported by new technologies. The lack of specific technological
skills induces museums to develop partnerships with "technology provider" such as
universities, research centres and private and public companies operating in the ICT
sector. In recent years there has been a growing interest in applying technologies to
the cultural heritage sector. By now the focus is more on restoration and conservation
activities [8] rather than on fruition.
Using Smartphone guidance system in museum context can avoid cognitive
overload of visitors, by allowing them to use their own device [9]. Many applications
have been developed for Smartphone devices to give users the possibility to use geo-
localized information: social network (Facebook or Four Square) and information
provider (Aroundme).
Related to the specific context, different technologies have been used in museum
guidance system such as:
12
• Optical signals [10] – the main disadvantage of optical signals (such as
infrared) is that the line of sight between the emitter and receiver can be
occluded; also, the infrared signal range is small, forcing the visitor to get
close to the emitters;
• RFID [10] – promising technology, but not yet available in smartphones;
• Bluetooth technology.
Against the others, Bluetooth finds it ideal application in confined spaces, it is
capable of transmitting data up to the speed of 721 Kbps, and it is a global standard
targeted to low cost, small sized, and very low power consumption applications [1,
12, 13].
The short range distance covered by Bluetooth technologies is useful for delivering
the right information related to the objects close to the user, since the system has the
possibility to infer (based on signal strength) the distance between the device and the
transmitter. These features allow providing specific contents related to the user
position.
The MID-Blue system introduces in respect of similar systems [1] an innovative
method to provide information through streaming videos over Bluetooth. This feature
is still not diffused among Bluetooth technologies, and could be very useful in
museum context where it is necessary to delivery short-range information. The next
paragraph describes the architecture, describing the components involved for
supporting video streaming functionality.
3 Architecture Overview
As described before, this system aims to provide multimedia contents distribution to
the users in a small and delimited geographic area (as museum, archaeological area,
trading fair, exhibition, etc.) using the Bluetooth connection presents in almost all
mobile personal device (smart-phone, cellular phone, PDA, etc.).
The use of Bluetooth connections allows the system to guess how far is the user
from the point of interest through the signal strength. In this way the system can
provide a list of content only related to what is close to the user (a picture, a statue, a
painting, etc.). The use of this system aims at substituting the use of audio/video tours
or guides (organization ownership) with the use of personal devices (users ownership)
for cultural heritage applications.
Beyond savings in terms of buying and management of equipment, the use of
personal devices allows to:
• Improve the user interaction experience (the user is more confidence using
their own device compared to i.e. the museum video guide);
• Update the multimedia contents very quickly and make them available
almost in real time.
From a software perspective, the system involve only Open Source Software (OSS)
solutions, allowing to avoid sophisticated constrains related to the licenses
13
management. The multimedia contents managed by the system regards only this three
kind of format:
• Text;
• Image;
• Video.
The system is based on a client/server architecture in which the server is the
multimedia content provider, and the client is the personal device. From the server
side we have the following software components:
• LINUX Operative System;
• Bluecove library for managing Bluetooth connectivity;
• Java virtual machine (the MID-Blue server is developed in JAVA);
• Darwin Streaming Server (the video/audio streaming service).
The architecture design plans the possibility to use more than one server (actually
one for each location/room), and each of them is interconnect with the other ones
through the Ethernet cable or Wi-Fi network. Each server manages a subset of content
related to the location in which it is, in this way the content among the server can be
different. Only the information concerning personal devices of the users that agree to
interact with the system must be shared among all the servers.
From the client side, the personal device has to have the following software for
hosting the client component of the system:
• Software to manage the blue-tooth connection (each personal device has one
if the blue-tooth characteristic is present);
• Java support (the MID-Blue client component is a midlet Java application);
• CLDC Framework 1.1 (Connected Limited Device Configuration - needed to
implement the midlet application);
• MIDP 2.0 profile (Mobile Information Device Profile - needed to implement
the midlet application);
• OBEX service for file exchange through Bluetooth connection.
Since the exchange of file, as picture or text, by using Bluetooth [14] is a common
procedure for the personal device users, for the video there are some limit due to the
storage and timing (connection time) constraints. For this reasons, starting from the
literature on streaming over Bluetooth in the last ten years [15, 15, 11, 18, 19], we
planned to design and implement a streaming video functionality over Bluetooth
connections.
14
Fig. 3. MID-Blue architecture schema
According to the MID-Blue architectural overview shown in Fig. 3, the protocols
used for the communication between client and server for provide and use streaming
video are:
• RFCOMM (Bluetooth) – to exchange message for controlling the video streaming
and to send/receive the picture or text file;
• OBEX (Bluetooth) – for providing the client application to the personal device;
• L2CAP (Bluetooth) – for the video streaming support at layer two;
• RTSP (over IP) – streaming protocol.
Using Streaming functionality via L2CAP allows to hide the peculiarities of the
Bluetooth low-layers, thus making it possible for existing applications to run over
Bluetooth links without deep modifications. In this way it is possible to use streaming
client/server application designed to work over the IP protocol, as the RTSP
streaming server.
The RTSP1 protocol is based on combination of TCP and UDP protocol over IP:
through TCP it is possible exchange messages for controlling the video flow, while
UDP transports the real content of video.
Using the Bluetooth as layer-2 connection, the TCP messages can be encapsulated
in RFCOMM packets while the UDP video content in L2CAP. This is possible using
a proxy on client side as showed in Fig. 3.
On personal device, the proxy service is listening on port 81 for requests from the
client media player (i.e. Realplayer2). When a request is received, it activates three
1
http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2326.txt
2
http://www.real.com
15
communication channels with the MID-Blue server (on server side through
Bluetooth) in this way:
1. TCP – RFCOMM: for the RTSP requests and streaming control
2. Two UDP – L2CAP: for audio and video streaming
On the server side, the MID-Blue Server is listening for request on the above
mentioned channel, and upon reception of a request it forwards it to the Darwin
Streaming Server, that provides the video/audio streaming service, using two UDP
ports for content streaming, and one TCP port (port number 554) for streaming
control.
4 Discussion and Conclusion
This paper briefly describes architecture of the MID-Blue platform, confronting it
with the state of the art of similar systems. In particular, the paper describes how the
streaming video over Bluetooth is implemented for carrying out the first prototype,
and discusses the advantages of this kind of system against other possible alternatives
for the provision of multimedia contents for proximity cultural heritage applications.
The MID-Blue project is still underway, therefore the conclusion of development
phase and the project validation through experiments or simulations are candidates for
future research efforts.
References
1. Continua a crescere la navigazione da mobile in Italia,
http://it.nielsen.com/site/Comunicatostampaonlinegiugno2011.shtml
2. Antoniou, A. and Lepouras, G.: Using Bluetooth Technology for Personalized Visitor
Information: Four Scenarios of Use. In proceedings of the IADIS International Conference
Mobile Learning 2005. Qwara, Malta, pp. 307-309 (2005)
3. Osservatorio Culturale del Piemonte, 2003,(Ibid.) http://www.ocp.piemonte.it/
4. Cohen, M. S.: Orientation in a Museum – An Experimental Visitor Study. Curator: The
Museum Journal, 20(2), 85-97 (1997)
5. Maresca Campagna, A., Di Marco, S. C., Bucci, E.: Musei pubblico territorio. Verifica
degli standard nei musei statali. Gangemi Editore, Roma (2008) (in Italian)
6. Bollo, A., Solima, L.: I Musei e le imprese, Indagine sui servizi di accoglienza nei musei
statali italiani, Electa, Napoli (2002) (in Italian)
7. Report on innovation and digital technologies in Italy, http://www.innovazionepa.gov.it
8. Braccini, A. M., Federici, T. 2010. An IS for archaeological finds management as a
platform for knowledge management: the ArcheoTRAC case. VINE: The Journal of
Information and Knowledge Management Systems, 40(2): 136-152.
9. Raptis, D., Tselios, N., and Avouris, N.: Context-based design of mobile applications for
museums: a survey of existing practices. In proceedings of. 7th Int. Conf. on Human
computer interaction with mobile devices & services, pages 153-160 (2005)
16
10. Oppermann, R. and Specht, M.: A Nomadic Information System for Adaptive Exhibition
Guidance. Archives & Museum Informatics 13(2), 127-138 (1999)
11. Tesoriero, R., Gallud, J., Lozano, M., Penichet, V.: Using active and passive rfid
technology to support indoor location-aware systems. Consumer Electronics, IEEE
Transactions on 54(2), 578-583 (2008)
12. Mannar, S.: Location aware services using Bluetooth. Tata Consultancy Services.
Available On-line: http://www.tcs.com/0_whitepapers/htdocs/Bluetooth.pdf Last accessed
May 2005 (2004)
13. Hännikäinen, M., Hämäläinen, T. D., Niemi, M., Saarinen, J.: Trends in personal wireless
data communications. Computer Communications 25(1), 84-99 (2002)
14. Haartsen, J.: The bluetooth radio system. IEEE Personal Communications, 7(1), 28-36
(2000)
15. Razavi, R., Fleury, M. and Ghanbari, M.: Unequal protection of video streaming through
adaptive modulation with a trizone buffer over bluetooth enhanced data rate. EURASIP
Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking vol. 2008, Article ID 658794, 16
pages (2008)
16. Razavi, R., Fleury, M. and Ghanbari, M.: Low-delay video control in a personal area
network for augmented reality. In proceedings of the 4th Visual Information Engineering,
pp. 1245-1300, London, UK, (2007)
17. Hipolito, J.I.N. Arballo, N.C. Michel-Macarty, J.A. Garcia, E.J.: Bluetooth Performance
Analysis in Wireless Personal Area Networks. In proceedings of Electronics, Robotics and
Automotive Mechanics Conference, pp. 38-43 (2009)
18. Razavi, R.; Fleury, M.; Jammeh, E.; Ghanbari, M.: An Efficient Packetization Scheme
for Bluetooth Video Transmission. Electronic Letters, 42(20), 1143-1145 (2006)
19. Kapoor, R., Cesana M. and Gerla M.: Link Layer Support for Streaming MPEG Video
over Wireless Links. In proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Computer
Communications and Networks, ICCCN 2003, Dallas (TE), USA, pp. 477-482 (2003)