ShareCam part 1: interface, system architecture, and implementation of a collaboratively controlled robotic Webcam

ShareCam is a robotic pan, tilt, and zoom web-based camera controlled by simultaneous frame requests from online users. Part II describes algorithms. This paper, part I, focuses on the system. Robotic Webcameras are commercially available but currently restrict control only one user at a time. ShareCam introduces a new interface that allows simultaneous control many users. In this Java-based interface, participating users interact desired frames remotely located browsers where users draw desired frames over a fixed panoramic image. User inputs re transmitted back to pair of PC servers that compute optimal camera back to a pair of PC servers that compute optimal camera parameters, servo the camera, and provide a video stream to all users. We describe the system, online experiments, and compare results with two frame selection models based on user "satisfaction", one memoryless and the second based on satisfaction over multiple motion cycles.