Michael Karl

A realtime hardware system for stereoscopic videoconferencing with viewpoint adaptation

This paper describes a hardware system and the underlying algorithms that were developed for realtime stereoscopic videoconferencing with viewpoint adaptation within the European PANORAMA project. The goal was to achieve a true telepresence illusion for the remote partners. For this purpose, intermediate views at arbitrary positions must be synthesized from the views of a stereoscopic camera system with rather large baseline. The actual viewpoint is adapted according to the head position of the viewer, such that the impression of motion parallax is produced. The whole system consists of a disparity estimator, stereoscopic MPEG-2 encoder, disparity encoder and multiplexer at the transmitter side, and a demultiplexer, disparity decoder, MPEG-2 decoder and interpolator with viewpoint adaptation at the receiver side. For transmission of the encoded signals, an ATM network is provided. In the final system, autostereoscopic displays will be used. The algorithms for disparity estimation, disparity encoding and disparity-driven intermediate viewpoint synthesis were specifically developed under the constraint of hardware feasibility.

PCI-based multi-processor system for immersive videoconference terminals

This paper introduces newly developed hardware components and configuration aspects for a complex video-processing system based on PCI architectures. Originally designed for an immersive videoconference system, the modular, scalable and cost efficient multi-processor structure can also be applied to other demanding signal processing applications. Announcing the videoconference system, we derive and explain the structure of a PCI subsystem based on four TriMedia processors and an open interface architecture. First application results of the introduced components are presented regarding PCI compatibility, processing power as well as the system architecture for an immersive videoconference system.

A TriMedia based multi-processor system using PCI technology for immersive videoconference terminals

This paper introduces newly developed hardware components and configuration aspects for a complex video-processing system based on PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) architectures. Originally designed for an immersive videoconference system, the modular, scalable and cost efficient multi-processor structure can also be applied to other demanding signal processing applications. Announcing the videoconference system, the structure of a PCI subsystem based on four TriMedia processors and an open interface architecture is derived and explained. First application results of the introduced components are presented regarding PCI compatibility, processing power as well as the system architecture.