computer science

Microsoft RoundTable

Microsoft RoundTable is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Microsoft RoundTable rather than just read about it. In short: Microsoft RoundTable was a videoconferencing device with a 360-degree camera that was designed to work with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 or Microsoft Office Live Meeting. RoundTable provided remote meeting participants with panoramic video of everyone sitting around the conference table.

Key takeaways

Microsoft RoundTable belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Microsoft RoundTable to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Microsoft RoundTable from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Microsoft RoundTable was a videoconferencing device with a 360-degree camera that was designed to work with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 or Microsoft Office Live Meeting. RoundTable provided remote meeting participants with panoramic video of everyone sitting around the conference table. In addition, RoundTable contained active speaker detection technology that provides high-resolution video of the active speaker in a meeting, and tracked the flow of conversation in real time, switching between different meeting participants as they speak. RoundTable was a plug-and-play USB device that also functioned as a standard PSTN speakerphone. Core technology used in RoundTable was invented and originally developed by Ross Cutler and other researchers at Microsoft Research. Ross Cutler and Senthil Velayutham founded the RoundTable product group as part of the Microsoft Greenhouse and led by GM Jeff Finan to commercialize the technology. The product launched in 2007. It used the Windows CE operating system on the main processor and other operating systems on the supporting DSP chipsets. In 2009 the Roundtable device was licensed to Polycom and rebranded as the Polycom CX5000. The device has an identical feature set but is branded as a Polycom unit. Polycom has since launched two new products based upon the RoundTable design – the CX5100 and the CX5500, supporting 1080p resolution video. The CX5100 is a USB only device. The CX5500 operates like the CX5100 as a 360-degree camera when plugged in to a PC running the Skype for Business client, but also can make audio VoIP calls when not plugged in to a PC.

References

External links Microsoft RoundTable – Official RoundTable product page on Microsoft website (Now leads to Microsoft Lync) Microsoft RoundTable product datasheet – On Microsoft website Polycom CX5000 - Official Product Page on Polycom website Polycom CX5100 - Official Product Page on Polycom website Polycom CX5500 - Official Product Page on Polycom website

Product reviews InfoWorld review of RoundTable PC World review of RoundTable

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Microsoft RoundTable

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Microsoft RoundTable claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Microsoft RoundTable before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Microsoft RoundTable ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Microsoft RoundTable

In research: Microsoft RoundTable appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Microsoft RoundTable in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Microsoft RoundTable is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Cameras introduced in 2007, Computer-related introductions in 2007, Microsoft hardware, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Microsoft RoundTable outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Microsoft RoundTable in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Microsoft RoundTable means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Microsoft RoundTable out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Microsoft RoundTable in simple terms?

Why does Microsoft RoundTable matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Microsoft RoundTable?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Microsoft RoundTable.