The use of streaming audio in VRML environments

VRML is one of the most popular languages for building virtual worlds, but it lacks support for the reception of streaming data. In our work this functionality was added by embedding a small Java application into the virtual environment. The application controls the transmission of streaming content (audio or video) from the content provider into the virtual world, real-time communication between current visitors of the same VRML environment and numerous other streaming operations. To verify our ideas, a VIRACO system was implemented. It shows that the proposed solution meets the requirements and can be used to enhance the arbitrary VRML environments.