Social television telepresence system and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016014371-A1
Application number	US-201314770324-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 24, 2013
Priority date	Apr 24, 2013
Publication date	Jan 14, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Management of received images of remote participants displayed to a local participant in a telepresence system commences by first establishing the orientations of the remote telepresence system participants relative to their respective image capture devices (telepresence cameras). The received images of the remote participant(s) undergo processing for display to the local participant in accordance with the established orientations to control at least one of image visibility and image location within the displayed image observed by the local participant.

First claim

1 . A method for managing images of remote participants at remote telepresence stations displayed to a local participant at a local telepresence station in a telepresence system, comprising the steps of:
establishing orientations for remote participants relative to respective image capture devices; and processing remote participants' images for display to the local participant in accordance with the established orientations to control at least one of horizontal image flip and image location within a display.

2 . The method according to claim 1 wherein the step of establishing orientations includes receiving orientation information from the remote telepresence stations indicative of the orientation at each station.

3 . The method according to claim 1 wherein the step of establishing orientations is on the basis of a predetermined convention.

4 . The method according to claim 1 wherein the step of establishing orientations includes step of evaluating the received remote participants' images at the local telepresence station to determine each remote participants' dominant facing.

5 . The method according to claim 4 wherein the step of evaluating the remote participants' images at the local telepresence station includes detecting each remote participant's face.

6 . The method according to claim 1 wherein the step of processing received remote participants' images for display includes the step of compositing an image of shared content with the received remote participants' images to yield a combined image for display.

7 . The method according to claim 1 wherein the step of processing received remote participants' images for display includes the step of locating at least one of the participants' images on a first side of a display of such images when the participant associated with the at least one image has a first orientation.

8 . The method according to claim 1 wherein the step of processing received remote participants' images for display includes the step of locating at least one other of the participants' images on a second side of a display of such images when the participant associated with the at least one other image has a second orientation.

9 . The method according to claim 1 wherein the step of processing received remote participants' images for display includes the step of locating at least one of the remote participants' images on a side of a display, the side selected in accordance with a user command.

10 . The method according to claim 1 wherein the step of processing received remote participants' images for display includes the step of rendering at least one of the participants' images substantially opaque in a display of such images when the participant associated with the at least one image has a first facing.

11 . The method according to claim 1 wherein the processing received remote participants' images for display includes the step of rendering at least one other of the participants' images substantially transparent in a display of such images when the participant associated with the at least one other image has a second facing.

12 . The method according to claim 1 wherein the step of processing received remote participants' images for display comprises rendering a first and second ones of the participants' images such that the first participant image is larger than the second participant image on the basis of the first participant being facing in the first image and the second participant being non-facing in the second image.

13 . The method according to claim 5 wherein the processing received remote participants' images for display includes the step of locating at least one of the participants' images on a first side of the combined image for display when the participant associated with the at least one image has a first orientation.

14 . The method according to claim 1 wherein the processing received remote participants' images for display includes the step of locating at least one other of the participants' images on a second side of the combined image for display when the participant associated with the at least one other image has a second orientation.

15 . The method according to claim 1 wherein the processing received remote participants' images for display includes the step of locating at least one of the remote participants' images on a selected side of the combined image for display in accordance with a user command.

16 . The method according to claim 1 wherein the processing received remote participants' images for display includes the step of rendering at least one of the participants' images substantially opaque in the combined image for display when the participant associated with the at least one image has a first orientation.

17 . The method according to claim 1 wherein the processing received remote participants' images for display includes the step of rendering at least one other of the participants' images substantially transparent in the combined image for display when the participant associated with the at least one other image has a second orientation.

18 . Apparatus for use in a telepresence system, comprising:
an input buffer for receiving images of a plurality of participants, each at a plurality of remote stations; video processing means coupled to the input buffer for receiving information of orientations for each of remote telepresence system participants relative to their respective image capture devices; and processing received remote participants' images to yield an output image in accordance with the established orientations to control at least one of image visibility and image location within a display; and an output buffer coupled to the video processing means for supplying the output image from the video processing means to a display device.

19 . The apparatus according to claim 18 wherein the video processing means composites an image of shared content with the received remote participants' images to yield the output image.

20 . The apparatus according to claim 18 wherein the video processing means locates at least one of the participants' images on a first side of a display of such images when the participant associated with the at least one image has a first orientation.

21 . The apparatus according to claim 18 wherein the video processing means locates at least another one of the participants' images on a second side of a display of such images when the participant associated with the at least one other image has a second orientation.

22 . The apparatus according to claim 18 wherein the video processing means locates at least one the remote participants' images on a side of a display of such images selected in accordance with a user command.

23 . The apparatus according to claim 18 wherein the video processing means of renders substantially opaque at least one of the participants' images the output image when the participant associated with the at least one image has a first orientation.

24 . The apparatus according to claim 18 wherein the video processing means of renders substantially transparent at least one other of the participants' images the output image when the participant associated with the at least one other image has a second orientation.

25 . The apparatus according to claim 18 wherein the video processing means provides orientation information of its local telepresence system to each remote telepresence

Assignees

• Huber Mark J
• Walker Mark Leroy
• Redmann William Gibbens
• Thomson Licensing

Inventors

• Huber Mark J
• Walker Mark Leroy
• Redmann William Gibbens

Classifications

• H04N7/15

  Conference systems · CPC title

• H04N21/4788

  communicating with other users, e.g. chatting {(arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104)} · CPC title

• H04N7/144 Primary

  camera and display on the same optical axis, e.g. optically multiplexing the camera and display for eye to eye contact · CPC title