Multimodal Telepresence Systems

Significant uses of immersive communication systems include support for group design activities in a -distributed context, combining human-human communication and interactivity with synthetic computer-generated content, such as three-dimensional (3-D) models or visualizations. As the demands of distributed human communication and simultaneous interaction with synthetic media continue to expand into new collaborative applications, including surgical planning, simulation training, and entertainment, we see a growing need to improve upon the state of the art of the associated technologies. To this end, we consider the demands on next-generation telepresence systems to support some of the most demanding collaborative human activities. Specifically, we explore the communications requirements for tightly coupled activities in a “shared reality” environment, where distributed users are free to move about their physical spaces, and interact with one another as if physically copresent.