System and method for synthesizing and preserving consistent relative neighborhood position in multi-perspective multi-point tele-immersive environments

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9852647-B2
Application number	US-201615180604-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 13, 2016
Priority date	Aug 30, 2013
Publication date	Dec 26, 2017
Grant date	Dec 26, 2017

Abstract

An e-learning system has a local classroom comprising a local student station and an instructor station, such that local students at the local student station and an instructor at the instructor station face each other directly along a first viewing line, a plurality of remote classrooms each having a student station, video cameras in each of the remote classrooms positioned and oriented to capture video images of subjects, video displays in the local classroom arranged along a line orthogonal to the first viewing line and all facing the local student station, in sets of at least two displays, arranged vertically one above another, each first set of at least two displays dedicated to one of the remote classrooms, a second plurality of video displays like the first, but facing the instructor, connection apparatus between classrooms, a server coordinating video feeds with displays.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An e-learning system comprising:
a local classroom comprising a local student station, including a local student microphone, and an instructor station, including an instructor microphone, such that local students at the local student station and an instructor at the instructor station face each other directly along a first viewing line;
a plurality of remote classrooms of a specific number, each having a student station, a remote student microphone, and an instructor display, including an instructor audio speaker, such that remote students are enabled to view the instructor display;
a plurality of video cameras in each of the local and remote classrooms, individual ones of the video cameras positioned and oriented to capture video images of the instructor, the local students and the remote students as subjects;
a first plurality of video displays in the local classroom arranged along a line orthogonal to the first viewing line and all facing the local student station, the first plurality of video displays comprising first sets of at least two displays, arranged vertically one above another, each first set of at least two displays dedicated to one of the remote classrooms, with an equal number of sets positioned side-by-side to each side of the first viewing line;
a second plurality of video displays in the local classroom arranged along the line orthogonal to the first viewing line and all facing the instructor station, the second plurality of video displays comprising second sets of at least two displays, arranged vertically one above another, each second set of at least two displays dedicated to one of the remote classrooms, with an equal number of sets positioned side-by-side to each side of the first viewing line, and with first and second sets dedicated to the same remote classroom positioned back to back, first sets facing the student station and second sets facing the instructor station;
first connection apparatus at the local classroom connecting electronic elements of the local classroom to a network;
second connection apparatus at each of the remote classrooms connecting electronic elements of the remote classrooms to the network; and
a server having a processor executing coded instructions from a non-transitory physical medium, the server connected through the network to the first and second connection apparatus, the server executing the software coordinating video and audio transmission between the classrooms;
wherein feeds from the plurality of video cameras are mapped to individual sets of the first and second plurality of the video displays, with different video feeds of a same subject, but having a different viewpoint of that subject, mapped to each of the at least two displays in each set, providing a variable view of the same subject for a viewer.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the system operates in exclusive states, and in a first exclusive state the instructor lectures to both the local students and the remote students.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein in a second exclusive state the instructor engages exclusively with one or more students in a specific one of the remote classrooms.

4. The system of claim 2 wherein in a third exclusive state the instructor interacts exclusively with one or more of the local students.

5. The system of claim 2 wherein in a fourth exclusive state one of the local students and one of the first remote students interact with one another.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the network is the Internet network.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein each set of video displays comprises two displays dedicated to a common subject, one display above the other in a common plane.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein each set of video displays comprises three or more displays dedicated to a common subject, arranged vertically, one above another in the set.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein, among the plurality of video cameras, a sub-set of video cameras is arranged in each of the remote classrooms patterned in an array as on an interior surface of a hemisphere.

Assignees

• Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham

Inventors

• Rangan P Venkat
• Hariharan Balaji
• Narayanankutty Ramkumar
• Gopalakrishnan Uma

Classifications

• H04N7/15

  Conference systems · CPC title

• H04N7/142

  Constructional details of the terminal equipment, e.g. arrangements of the camera and the display · CPC title

• G09B5/10 Primary

  all student stations being capable of presenting the same information simultaneously (G09B5/14 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G09B5/14

  with provision for individual teacher-student communication · CPC title

• G09B5/067

  Combinations of audio and projected visual presentation, e.g. film, slides · CPC title