skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Group tele-immersion:enabling natural interactions between groups at distant sites.

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/876307· OSTI ID:876307
 [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, CA
  2. Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, CA
  3. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC

We present techniques and a system for synthesizing views for video teleconferencing between small groups. In place of replicating one-to-one systems for each pair of users, we create a single unified display of the remote group. Instead of performing dense 3D scene computation, we use more cameras and trade-off storage and hardware for computation. While it is expensive to directly capture a scene from all possible viewpoints, we have observed that the participants viewpoints usually remain at a constant height (eye level) during video teleconferencing. Therefore, we can restrict the possible viewpoint to be within a virtual plane without sacrificing much of the realism, and in cloning so we significantly reduce the number of required cameras. Based on this observation, we have developed a technique that uses light-field style rendering to guarantee the quality of the synthesized views, using a linear array of cameras with a life-sized, projected display. Our full-duplex prototype system between Sandia National Laboratories, California and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has been able to synthesize photo-realistic views at interactive rates, and has been used to video conference during regular meetings between the sites.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), Albuquerque, NM, and Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-94AL85000
OSTI ID:
876307
Report Number(s):
SAND2005-5206; TRN: US200606%%70
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English