Immersive teleconferencing: a new algorithm to generate seamless panoramic video imagery

This paper presents a new algorithm for immersive teleconferencing, which addresses the problem of registering and blending multiple images together to create a single seamless panorama. In the immersive teleconference paradigm, one frame of the teleconference is a panorama that is constructed from a compound-image sensing device. These frames are rendered at the remote site on a projection surface that surrounds the user, creating an immersive feeling of presence and participation in the teleconference. Our algorithm efficiently creates panoramic frames for a teleconference session that are both geometrically registered and intensity blended. We demonstrate a prototype that is able to capture images from a compound-image sensor, register them into a seamless panoramic frame, and render those panoramic frames on a projection surface at 30 frames per second.

[1]  Rajiv Gupta,et al.  Linear Pushbroom Cameras , 1994, ECCV.

[2]  Shree K. Nayar,et al.  A theory of catadioptric image formation , 1998, Sixth International Conference on Computer Vision (IEEE Cat. No.98CH36271).

[3]  O. Faugeras.  Three-dimensional computer vision: a geometric viewpoint , 1993 .

[4]  Rajiv Gupta,et al.  Linear pushbroom cameras , 1997 .

[5]  Shenchang Eric Chen,et al.  QuickTime VR: an image-based approach to virtual environment navigation , 1995, SIGGRAPH.

[6]  Shmuel Peleg,et al.  Panoramic mosaics by manifold projection , 1997, Proceedings of IEEE Computer Society Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition.

[7]  Naokazu Yokoya,et al.  Generation of high-resolution stereo panoramic images by omnidirectional imaging sensor using hexagonal pyramidal mirrors , 1998, Proceedings. Fourteenth International Conference on Pattern Recognition (Cat. No.98EX170).

[8]  Roger Y. Tsai,et al.  A versatile camera calibration technique for high-accuracy 3D machine vision metrology using off-the-shelf TV cameras and lenses , 1987, IEEE J. Robotics Autom..

[9]  Greg Welch,et al.  The office of the future: a unified approach to image-based modeling and spatially immersive displays , 1998, SIGGRAPH.

[10]  Richard Szeliski,et al.  Creating full view panoramic image mosaics and environment maps , 1997, SIGGRAPH.

[11]  Shree K. Nayar,et al.  Catadioptric omnidirectional camera , 1997, Proceedings of IEEE Computer Society Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition.

[12]  Olivier Faugeras,et al.  Three-Dimensional Computer Vision , 1993 .

[13]  Edward H. Adelson,et al.  A multiresolution spline with application to image mosaics , 1983, TOGS.