Computer Vision for HCI and RTC Applications

SPEAKER: Dr. Zhengyou ZhangTitle:
Computer Vision for HCI and RTC ApplicationsAbstract:
We strive to advance the state of the art of computer vision, and develop flexible and robust techniques for human-computer interaction and real-time communication and collaboration. In this talk, I will provide an overview of the research projects I have been working with my colleagues in these areas. I will cover the following topics:
* Face modeling with a webcam. We have developed a model-based face modeling system. A 3D face model is built in a few minutes, and the model can be animated immediately. We have successfully built 3D face models for Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, and many others.
* Eye-gaze correction for video conferencing: The lack of eye contact in desktop video teleconferencing substantially reduces the effectiveness of video contents. We describe a novel approach: Based on stereo analysis combined with rich domain knowledge (a personalized face model), we synthesize, using graphics hardware, a virtual video that maintains eye contact.
* Whiteboard Technology: While physical whiteboards are frequently used by knowledge workers, they are not perfect. The content on the board is hard to archive or share with others who are not present in the session. We have developed a set of technologies which include automatic whiteboard note taking by scanning with a web cam and by enhancing the images, automatic audio and whiteboard meeting archiving and indexing, and live meetings with enhanced whiteboard streaming.
If time allows, I will also show two more prototype systems. The first converts an ordinary screen into a touch screen. The second converts a rectangular panel (e.g., an ordinary piece of paper) into a virtual mouse, keyboard and joystick.Bio:
Zhengyou Zhang is a Senior Researcher with Microsoft Research, Redmond, USA. He is an IEEE Fellow, an Associate Editor of the "IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence" (PAMI), an Associate Editor of the "IEEE Transactions on Multimedia", an Associate Editor of the "International Journal of Computer Vision" (IJCV) and an Associate Editor of the "International Journal of Pattern Recognition and Artificial Intelligence" (IJPRAI). He received the B.S. degree in electronic engineering from the University of Zhejiang, China, in 1985, the M.S. in computer science from the University of Nancy, France, in 1987, the Ph.D. degree in computer science from the University of Paris XI, France, in 1990, and the Doctor of Science (Habilitation à diriger des recherches) diploma from the University of Paris XI, in 1994. He has been with INRIA (French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control) for 11 years and was a Senior Research Scientist from 1991 until he joined Microsoft Research in March 1998. In 1996-1997, he spent one-year sabbatical as an Invited Researcher at the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR), Kyoto, Japan. He holds guest or adjunct faculty positions at University of Southern California, Zhejiang University (China) and Institute of Automation (Chinese Academy of Sciences. He has published over 100 papers in refereed international journals and conferences, and has co-authored the following books: 3D Dynamic Scene Analysis: A Stereo Based Approach (Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 1992); Epipolar Geometry in Stereo, Motion and Object Recognition (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1996); Computer Vision (textbook in Chinese, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1998). He has been a member, an area chair or a program chair of the program committees for numerous international conferences. More information is available at http://research.microsoft.com/~zhang/.

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Nancy Levien