Layered telepresence

Abstract

We propose "Layered Telepresence", a novel method of experiencing simultaneous multi-presence. Users eye gaze and perceptual awareness are blended with real-time audio-visual information received from multiple telepresence robots. The system arranges audio-visual information received through multiple robots into a priority-driven layered stack. A weighted feature map was created based on the objects recognized for each layer, using image-processing techniques, and pushes the most weighted layer around the users gaze in to the foreground. All other layers are pushed back to the background providing an artificial depth-of-field effect. The proposed method not only works with robots, but also each layer could represent any audio-visual content, such as video see-through HMD, television screen or even your PC screen enabling true multitasking.