Next generation webcam technology

[edesignuk]

Instant messaging could get a lot more interesting if webcam technology from Microsoft gets the go-ahead.

i2i, in development at Microsoft's research lab in Cambridge, UK, is a two-camera system which very carefully follows an individual's movement.

It uses a specially developed algorithm to fuse what each camera sees to create an accurate stereo "cyclopean" image.

This means it looks as if users are looking each other in the eye. It can also display floating 3D emoticons.

"We were able to come up with an algorithm that was able to take two images and capture a corresponding map in 3D," said Antonio Criminisi, lead researcher of Microsoft's Machine Learning and Perception Group.

"Using this powerful technology, we can now synthetically create an image as if the person is looking at you."

Full Article.

 

[aswitcher]

Full Article.

Interesting idea.

There was a single rumor about a new iSight model from Apple. I wonder how long the iSight will stay around before they upgrade. I guess they could increase the CCD, maybe add a zoom to allow a good wideangle. Those would improve low light and allow for easier conferencing at each camera.

 

[stoid]

Or, just put the camera mounted like the iSight and quit wasting your damn time and money.

 

[wdlove]

I'm sure that Apple has something like this in the works already. The iSight is already a year old. When they introduce the upgrade it will be better than Microsoft's copy version. Apple is the innovator.

 

[jsw]

I'm waiting for someone to put the CCD part on an arm that hangs over the monitor face - conceptually, like a coin taped to a string, which dangles over the monitor face (with proper protection, of course). The whole camera part would be smaller than a dime, the arm that it hangs on could be really thin, and you'd just stare at the person's face, which would be slightly eclipsed by the tiny camera sitting in the middle of your monitor.

No new technology, no advanced image processing.

Dumb idea, maybe. But as monitor sizes increase, and CCD sizes decrease, it might not be all that noticeable.

 

[Jalexster]

What we need is a display that has a hole in the back that can "see" through, kinda like a two-way mirror. This way the iSight could me mounted behind the monitor, and and you position the video window over that spot, so when you look at the video window, the camera is picking up you looking straight at it.

This may not work. Plus I have no idea what I am talking about. It's just an idea.

 

[neut]

soon the monitor itself will be the camera... speakers can act like microphones; so why not monitors?

i still have yet to use an iSight – cool widget though.


peace.

 

[iMook]

What about, instead of creating a two-way window in the monitor, point the camera down from the top edge (or up from the bottom edge), use a narrow-field camera, and use a semi-silvered mirror suspended in front of your monitor to act as a reflector for image capture.Similar to a heads-up display, but for image capture, not display.The camera can be narrow-angle, but curving the mirror can produce a wide-angle image on the camera. This way, all you ideally see is a darker patch in the middle of your screen.

And actually, a Japanese company showed off a prototype PDA display a few years ago which doubled as a B&W scanner. You press a business card up the screen, and the image capture sensor pixels will read the light reflected fromt eh screen's own backlight and capture a low-res scanned image of the business card. They did this by creating a two-in-one pixel: they positioned a display pixel and a sensor pixel side-by-side in place of a normal pixel. Of course, to adapt this to long-distance (non-contact) image capture requires the use of individual lenses for each sensor pixel, which would be quite a task. But, it's physically possible.