Condroid: using an android phone as a 3D input device for a multiuser 3D drawing application setup in a collaborative virtual environment over the web

3D collaborative virtual environments (CVE) are gaining popularity. One problem with 3D CVEs is lack of a natural 3D input device. Smartphones are gaining popularity for being used as a 3D input device for a variety of purposes. We present ConDroid, a system that uses a smartphone as a 3D input device in a 3D drawing application setup in collaborative virtual environment over the web with support for multiple users at the same time and on large or small displays. We tackle the problem of remote synchronization in CVEs using the concepts we have named as SUMD (synchronicity using minimal data) and remote semaphores with deadlock avoidance. For the CVE architecture, we use the basic idea of the Active replication model in which an atomic broadcast is used to deliver updates to all of the clients in order to keep them synchronized and use the SUMD and remote semaphores approach on top of it. Our work comprises of an Android application for 3D input, a 3D drawing windows application projected on a large (or small) display with remote collaboration capability, and a middleware server application. Our approach can be used by others to use smartphones as a 3D input device for computers as well design CVEs with quick and effective synchronization using the concepts of SUMD and remote semaphores.