Real-time 3D Video Communication in 3D Virtual Worlds: Technical Realization of a new Communication Concept

Thanks to applications like Skype, Yahoo and IM Messenger, people are getting more and more used to one-to-one video communication using webcams with relatives and friends. These video communication applications will typically pop-up a window in which the local user can see the image captured by the webcam at the remote side while his webcam will convey his image to the remote user. At the same time, users are already familiar with immersive multi-user games in which they are represented by avatars with a mission. Immersive on-line multi-user social applications like SimCity and Second Life build on this trend by providing people the opportunity to build up a social network in a simulated adaptable environment. Both the standard video communication applications as well as the immersive multi-user social applications have their specific advantages and disadvantages [7] that will ultimately lock them into a specific area of use for a specific market segment. The research goal of the Bell Labs Visual Communication Department is to develop and implement by prototype innovative ideas on applications for immersive visual communication between multiple residential as well as professional users. One of the research activities within the department is called Mixed Reality and studies the use of real-time 3D video images of users embedded in immersive on-line multi-user social applications as such combining many of the advantages of both trends mentioned above while elegantly dismissing the disadvantages.