Having noticed the current VR ecosystem and its setbacks, Huawei is building an open environment for builders and content developers to unleash the highly potential technology from its state of restrictions.
The company’s VR OpenLab has been working on solutions and have now released a system prototype for its E2E Cloud VR solution. The prototype integrates the cloud-pipe-device ecosystem of the VR industry and builds a unified platform for various VR service scenarios. The Huawei prototype is the first Cloud VR architecture to demonstrate E2E VR service aggregation.
VR is widely considered to be the next direction of development in the video industry. However, many industry breakpoints have restricted the VR market in its initial phase and rendered scalability impractical. For example, many VR terminals are restricted to proprietary content channels, making it difficult for the consumer to choose which one to buy. Local rendering poses higher performance requirements on user devices, increasing the total cost of ownership. Most VR headsets are wired, impairing the user experience. Moreover, most VR content is stored on local devices. As such, content copyrights cannot be well protected, dampening the enthusiasm of content providers. To bridge these breakpoints in VR development and promote the VR industry’s financial prospects, Huawei has worked together with partners to launch the VR OpenLab industry cooperation plan.
Consisting of three parts: a home terminal, a network, and a cloud server, the prototype includes a home terminal, a standalone VR and an STB. The standalone VR supports 5G Wi-Fi (802.11ac), which is used to receive and display VR code streams. The STB synchronizes the VR content to the television, supporting simultaneous on-screen viewing and immersive experiences among multiple people. VR content is stored and rendered on cloud servers, and the network streams Cloud VR code to terminals in real time. The quality of experience of VR services is ensured through Huawei’s flattened E2E bearer network and the SmartWi-Fi 300M home network solution. It implements unified service operations and management so that multi-terminal users can share content on the cloud platform.
The prototype decouples terminals from content, marking the evolution of the industry from vertical operation to horizontal operation. This lowers barriers to entry and enriches the quality of content. The prototype also eliminates the need for wired VR headset by enabling wireless transmission and improves user experience. Huawei sees this integrated cloud content solution to drive demand for gigabit home broadband services and promote further growth of the industry.
