Development of teleconferencing methodologies with emphasis on virtual space video and interactive graphics

This final report completes three years of research effort conducted by Decisions and Designs, Inc. (DDI) to investigate and implement a prototype video/audio teleconferencing system. This project has included everything from feasibility studies through the transfer of technology to an operational system. The most striking outcome of this research has been the development of an interactive videographic subsystem, which has been called the Shared Graphic Workspace (SGWS). By using the SGWS, conferees have the ability to share documents or other visual materials during a teleconference, and annotate the graphic materials if so desired. In addition, this research incorporated a video coder/decoder (codec), which was developed by Compression Labs., Inc. (CLI), to test the effectiveness of severely compressed video images of conferees in various types of teleconference environments. Use of these codecs indicated that even a severely compressed picture is a definite improvement over audio-only conferencing. Two other significant aspects of this research project were: implementing the virtual space concept (for multiple transmissions of each conferee's image), and developing a user interface suitable for high level decision makers.