Reach-Through-the-Screen: A New Metaphor for Remote Collaboration

For some years, our group at FX Palo Alto Laboratory has been developing technologies to support meeting recording, collaboration, and videoconferencing. This paper presents several systems that use video as an active interface, allowing remote devices and information to be accessed “through the screen.” For example, SPEC enables collaborative and automatic camera control through an active video window. The NoteLook system allows a user to grab an image from a computer display, annotate it with digital ink, then drag it to that or a different display. The ePIC system facilitates natural control of multi-display and multi-device presentation spaces, while the iLight system allows remote users to “draw” with light on a local object. All our systems serve as platforms for researching more sophisticated algorithms to support additional functionality and ease of use.