From: "Rajaraman, Shiva" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "RealForum Mailing List (E-mail)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Realtime Alerts alongside RealServer Broadcast Date: Thu, 26 Aug 1999 19:49:14 -0400 Hi, I'm trying to put together a project by which I broadcast a radio program to several recipients--this part is simple. Alongside this broadcast I want to send people alerts or informational announcements related to company events based on schedules stored in a database. For example... Listener A is listening to a radio broadcast. At 5:00, his program is interrupted by a message saying "Stop listening and pick up your kid". Listener B is listening to the same broadcast but doesn't receive this message. I'm assuming I need to build a custom client that listens for such messages on a user-specific 'alert channel' that accompanies the normal realplayer. Each listener could launch RealPlayer and point to their personal broadcast channel or point to a multicasted signal. Alongside of this, they would have to launch their 'personal listener' that points to their own personal alert channel. Ideally, I'd like the RealServer to poll the client and see if it is listening or 'alive' when an alert message is scheduled to be sent out to that client. In other words, a message wouldn't be sent out to a clients channel unless that client was alive and listening so as not to waste bandwidth. Is this a good approach for this type of solution or is their an easier way? I thought about using the newest release to intersperse personalized messages using the ad integration facility, but I would like to interrupt the current broadcast as well and not be tied to the beginning or end of a segment. Alternatively, if can only set up a listener that won't interrupt the other broadcast but will display messages alongside of it (similar to Real Time Chat) that would be ok too if that's the only possible solution. I'd like to keep the whole application within the realnetworks architecture. Thanks in advance! Shiva
