Capture, recognition, and visualization of human semantic interactions in meetings

Human interaction is one of the most important characteristics of group social dynamics in meetings. In this paper, we propose an approach for capture, recognition, and visualization of human interactions. Unlike physical interactions (e.g., turn-taking and addressing), the human interactions considered here are incorporated with semantics, i.e., user intention or attitude toward a topic. We adopt a collaborative approach for capturing interactions by employing multiple sensors, such as video cameras, microphones, and motion sensors. A multimodal method is proposed for interaction recognition based on a variety of contexts, including head gestures, attention from others, speech tone, speaking time, interaction occasion (spontaneous or reactive), and information about the previous interaction. A support vector machines (SVM) classifier is used to classify human interaction based on these features. A graphical user interface called MMBrowser is presented for interaction visualization. Experimental results have shown the effectiveness of our approach.