Rieko Otsuka

Transpost: a novel approach to the display and transmission of 360 degrees-viewable 3D solid images

Three-dimensional displays are drawing attention as next-generation devices. Some techniques which can reproduce three-dimensional images prepared in advance have already been developed. However, technology for the transmission of 3D moving pictures in real-time is yet to be achieved. In this paper, we present a novel method for 360-degrees viewable 3D displays and the Transpost system in which we implement the method. The basic concept of our system is to project multiple images of the object, taken from different angles, onto a spinning screen. The key to the method is projection of the images onto a directionally reflective screen with a limited viewing angle. The images are reconstructed to give the viewer a three-dimensional image of the object displayed on the screen. The display system can present images of computer-graphics pictures, live pictures, and movies. Furthermore, the reverse optical process of that in the display system can be used to record images of the subject from multiple directions. The images can then be transmitted to the display in real-time. We have developed prototypes of a 3D display and a 3D human-image transmission system. Our preliminary working prototypes demonstrate new possibilities of expression and forms of communication.

T-map: a topological approach to visual exploration of time-varying volume data

The rapid advance in high performance computing and measurement technologies has recently made it possible to produce a stupendous amount of time-varying volume datasets in a variety of disciplines. However, there exist a few known visual exploration tools that allow us to investigate the core of their complex dynamics effectively. In this paper, our previous approach to topological volume skeletonization is extended to capture the topological features of large-scale time-varying volume datasets. A visual exploration tool, termed T-map, is presented, where pixel-oriented information visualization techniques are deployed so that the user can identify partial 4D spatiotemporal domains with characteristic changes in a topological sense, prior to detailed and comprehensible volume visualization. A case study with datasets from atomic collision research is performed to illustrate the feasibility of the proposed tool.

Transpost: 360 deg-Viewable Three-Dimensional Display System

Three-dimensional (3-D) displays are drawing attention as next-generation devices. Some techniques which can reproduce 3-D images prepared in advance have already been developed. However, technology for the transmission of 3-D moving pictures in real time is yet to be achieved. In this paper, we present a novel method for 360/spl deg/ viewable 3-D displays and the Transpost system in which we implement the method. The basic concept of our system is to project multiple images of the object, taken from different angles, onto a spinning screen. The key to the method is projection of the images onto a directionally reflective screen with a limited viewing angle. The images are reconstructed to give the viewer a 3-D image of the object displayed on the screen. The display system can present images of computer-graphics pictures, live pictures, and movies. Furthermore, the reverse optical process of that in the display system can be used to record images of the subject from multiple directions; the images can then be transmitted to the display in real-time. We have developed prototypes of a 3-D display and a 3-D human-image transmission system. Our preliminary working prototypes demonstrate new possibilities of expression and forms of communication.

Knowledge-creating behavior index for improving knowledge workers' productivity

Improving the productivity of knowledge workers is becoming a major issue in corporate management in the 21st century. “Business Microscope” is a sensornet application designed to improve organizations. Organizational improvement is facilitated by the visualization of each workers behavior. In addition, the improvement can be accelerated further by presenting a beneficial index. In this paper, we propose a novel index for organizational improvement using Business Microscope. Thus, “active face-to-face interaction” and “concentration time” are proposed as an effective knowledge-creating behavior index, and a knowledge-creating behavior balance graph is developed as a visualization application. We focus here on the quality of communication measured from gestures in face-to-face interactions. Additionally, the behavior index is obtained from infrared sensor data and acceleration sensor data. As a result of applying this proposed application to a real organization, we were able to identify which worker and organization problems need to be improved. The effectiveness of the productivity analysis on knowledge workers was also confirmed.

Visualization of knowledge-creation process using face-to-face communication data

No firm can survive without building a mechanism to create knowledge in the 21st century. The knowledge-creation theory by Nonaka has successfully generalized a knowledge-creation process in an organization. However, nobody has found a quantitative method for evaluating the process. This paper proposes a technique of visualizing the knowledge-creation process by plotting graphs of face-to-face contact time and number of people contacted. We applied the data of face-to-face communication of an organization to our proposed technique and confirmed that it represented dynamics of the knowledge-creation process. This technique will provide a new method of corporate management.

An organization topographic map for visualizing business hierarchical relationships

Visualization of the actual conditions of an organization is a very challenging issue. We propose a new system called a Business Microscope that senses the activities of people in an organization and provides visual feedback to users. We use name-tag shaped sensor nodes to measure face-to-face interaction between employees. The massive amount of data collected by the sensor-network terminal are signal-processed by the server and displayed as an organizations topographic map that displays the frequencies of organizational activities. To depict the organizations topographic map, our system creates a novel relation tree using the interaction data from all pairs of members. In this kind of map, some groups in the organization hierarchically form islands. Members in those islands who have relationships with many others form mountains that are plotted with contours. We can comprehend the actual conditions of organizations from our topographic map. We tested our technique in several experiments to evaluate this system.