Virtual Post-its: Visual Label Extraction, Attachment, and Tracking for Teleconferencing

Abstract

We present a novel functionality for tele-conferencing and tele-teaching, coined ‘virtual post-IT’. A virtual label can be cut out of a scene or can have been determined beforehand. This label can then be virtually attached to either a part of the screen or to an object in the scene. When made part of the screen, it remains there as a reminder, e.g. to a complicated formula. When glued to an object, the label automatically follows it when the speaker moves the object around. This real-time tracking includes out-of-plane rotation and does not require any special markers. The selection of the pattern to be used as a label can be carried out on-line by the speaker, by simply encircling it with a laser pointer. S/he can also determine on which object it has to be glued and where. Also these commands are given through simple, intuitive motions with a laser pointer. As the encircling motion to cut out the label will be rather sloppy, the system autonomously determines a rectangle that encloses the data and that has edges which are aligned with the dominant directions of the environment (typically horizontal and vertical).