CareAR Assist - Version: 22.02

Overview of Release 22.02 

Release 22.02 of CareAR Assist provides the following features and enhancements: 

• Automatic Video Adaptation 
• Enabling all participants to stream video and annotate 
• Persona Based Privileges 
• Usability Enhancements 
• CareAR Assist for Glasses Enhancements 

Automatic Video Adaptation 

OVERVIEW 

Users of CareAR Assist are typically connected via wireless (Wi-Fi, cellular) connections which can suffer from a wide degree of variability in terms of overall connection quality. Additionally, guests joining calls often require remote assistance in areas which may not have good reception, such as basements, factory floors, rural areas, etc. Real-time audio and video are particularly susceptible poor network conditions which can result in broken picture, variable / low frame rate, reduced clarity, etc. For this reason, we want to provide as consistent of user experience as possible given the available network conditions. 

Automatic video adaptation works by varying video quality based upon the available bandwidth at any given time. For example, if network conditions cause available bandwidth to drop during a CareAR Assist call below a level that would sustain the initial video resolution and frame rate, the video quality should be reduced to the highest quality level the network conditions would allow. This function applies to the sender side (i.e., the streaming party). 

Continual checks of connectivity resources and dynamic adjustment of performance - with no interaction required of the user. Assist provides the best quality possible based on network conditions. As bandwidth and network quality improve within a session, the app silently detects and re-adjusts to make use of available connectivity resources to deliver the optimal experience. 

CUSTOMER BENEFITS 

CareAR Assist customers will enjoy an improved and optimized experience in bandwidth constrained environments. Automatic video adaptation works over wifi and mobile data connections. 

CONFIGURATION 

No configuration or activation is required to enable automated video adaptation; this function is automatically enabled and active for all tenants and all users. 

SUPPORTED ENDPOINTS 

Automatic video adaption is supported on the following CareAR Assist clients:  

• iOS 
• Android 
• Windows 
• macOS 
• Smart Glasses 
• Drone 

ADDITIONAL NOTES 

When a guest joins an Assist session using the browser-based client, the automated video adaptation function does not activate. Future releases may include this functionality. 

Enabling All Participants to Stream and Annotate 

OVERVIEW 

Prior to release 22.02, a user who is a collaborator can enable or disable their camera. When streaming, the collaborator can also annotate locally (and distribute into the session) the composited, annotated video feed. This holds for both live video and shared image. The host can also annotate on the collaborator’s feed (either video or shared image). 

Once the first guest joins (the session’s second participant), this user is immediately awarded collaborator status. Subsequent guests will simply be viewers. After a session has started, the host can arbitrarily assign the collaborator role to any other participant in the call. 

This does limit who can stream and who can annotate on that stream. 

With release 22.02, we loosen these restrictions. We now allow any user the option to stream video: the user taps the camera icon to request permission to stream, the host then gets a notification of the request, and the host can approve or deny the request. If approved by the host, the user can then stream from their device. 

Once a user is streaming, all session participants will see a notification that indicates which participant is streaming video. When a participant enters a session while streaming is underway, the participant is informed via a pop-up notification who is currently streaming.  

Also, when the video sender uses a native CareAR Assist app, then other users in the session who are also using the native CareAR Assist app can annotate on the video stream. If the streamer is using the browser client, the smart glasses app, or the drone app, then annotation on live video is not supported. 

CUSTOMER BENEFITS 

With this enhancement, users in a session have additional options for streaming and annotation. Additional clarity to participants (and those in process of joining) is provided as to which party is streaming.  

CONFIGURATION 

No configuration or activation is required. 

ADDITIONAL NOTES 

Note that only the host can pause/resume the video feed.  

Persona Based Privileges 

OVERVIEW 

With the current CareAR Assist solution, feature privileges at the persona (or role) level are fixed and not configurable. For example, any user within a tenant (i.e., business account) can take a snapshot and can record a video. As more organizations use CareAR Assist to solve business problems, we increasingly have the need to provide controls over certain features at the role level. 

Release 22.02 introduces persona-based privileges. With this feature, the tenant administrator can set permissions for the following features at the system role level: 

• snapshot 
• download snapshot to local device 
• video recording  

The standard system roles include tenant administrator, analyst, normal, and guest user. The default settings for persona-based privileges align to the existing behavior prior to release 22.02.

CUSTOMER BENEFITS 

Customers now have more options to control what features are active, based on role. This capability especially helps those customers who operate in highly secure environments or where data capture needs to be carefully controlled/managed. 

CONFIGURATION 

Persona Based Privileges are configured by the tenant administrator. We now have a new menu option called Role Management in the CareAR management portal and is visible to tenant administrators and analysts. Within this screen, a tenant administrator may view, add, and edit permissions for the features called out above. See the screen capture below for the layout and controls within the Role Management screen. 

Figure 1 Role Management in the CareAR Admin Portal 

Note that changes made to privilege permissions require app users to log out and log back in for the changes to take effect. Also, the guest role does not have the “Allow Recording” checkbox available as this is only applicable to authenticated users in the system. 

ADDITIONAL NOTES 

For a user that has an account (i.e., a username) in the tenant, when they are invited to a session, the role or profile permissions for Normal user will apply. They will not be treated as a Guest. Further, if any user is invited to a session and that user is not a member of the host’s tenant, that user will be treated strictly as a Guest. 

Usability Enhancements 

Release 22.02 includes numerous usability enhancements that help improve the overall Assist experience. 

CareAR Assist for Smart Glasses Enhancements 

ANNOTATION ON A FROZEN SCREEN 

When a user of Release 22.02 smart glasses streams video into the session, the host can now pause the stream (effectively freezing the video frames) and annotate on that frozen frame, and the composited frame (with annotations) is then distributed back out to all the participants in the session 

 This capability is supported on RealWear HMT-1.