Advantages of 3D extraction and spatial awareness within a videoconferencing environment

This work-in-progress paper describes some of the issues, and lists proposed use-case scenarios, for the development of a real-time multi-participant 3D enhanced videoconferencing system. We are interested in creating a framework capable of reconstructing an approximate 3D model of the physical environment, from a collection of images taken via the same system from probably unknown camera viewpoints. This reconstruction framework creates a partial 3D world that is embedded back within the videoconferencing environment and transmitted to all participants. We hypothesise that detailed 3D positional information combined with this augmented 3D world information of remote sites, can be useful to participants over and above the usual audio and video streams; it is believed that 3D reconstruction can be a rich tool to enable analysis and spatial awareness, moreover facilitating interactions with participants at remote sites. © The Eurographics Association 2011.