Kinect-based presenter tracking prototype for videoconferencing

Video conferencing is a quickly growing market. Suppliers are enhancing their services in order to get more functionality beyond the traditional video services. Such add-on functionality is the presenter tracking system. This solution can operate with any videoconferencing system or other video capture device. It allows complete room freedom and adds movement flexibility utilizing smooth continuous tracking. In this paper, a kinect-based presenter tracking system for video conferencing systems is introduced. The prototype is validated with Ericsson´s Visual Communication system. Ericsson Visual Communication (VisualCom) offers an operator hosted, enriched video communication experience to enterprises and professionals, enabling the operators to evolve their communications. VisualCom was originally made for holding video conferences in smaller rooms. Presenter Tracking System expands VisualCom´s capabilities by adding a moving HD camera (also known as a pan tilt zoom camera) that focuses a single presenter, and can be controlled both automatically and manually.