Abstract: A system includes a computing device to obtain encoded content data corresponding to at least one participant of a virtual reality environment. A memory device stores at least one texture corresponding to the at least one participant. A single decoder decodes the encoded content data into decoded content buffers for the at least one texture of one participant of the virtual reality environment. A processor determines whether the at least one texture is located in a pre-determined region of the virtual reality environment displayed to a program user. In response to the at least one texture being located in the pre-determined region, the processor updates the at least one texture with the decoded content buffers.

Abstract: A selectable three dimensional virtual pointer (501) that can be selected by a collaborator and displayed within a virtual collaboration environment (200) as being sourced by an avatar (202) that corresponds to the collaborator who selected the pointer. This pointer can be used, for example, to point towards a given object (205) within the virtual collaboration environment. So configured, in a preferred approach this orientation with respect to source and target persists regardless of which collaborator views the pointer (and hence the perspective view of the pointer varies with respect to the viewer in order to ensure this orientation).

Abstract: A method and a system for directing attention during a conversation in virtual space are provided. The method includes receiving (402) the data streams from a plurality of participants and processing (404) at least one feature of each of the data streams. The method further includes altering (406) a representation of one of the plurality of participants, based on at least one feature of one of the data streams.

Abstract: An apparatus, system and method for telepresence communications in an environment of a virtual location between two or more participants at multiple locations. First perspective data descriptive of the perspective of the virtual location environment experienced by a first participant at a first location and feature data extracted and/or otherwise captured from a second participant at a second location are processed to generate a first virtual representation of the second participant in the virtual environment from the perspective of the first participant. Likewise, second perspective data descriptive of the perspective of the virtual location environment experienced by the second participant and feature data extracted and/or otherwise captured from features of the first participant are processed to generate a second virtual representation of the first participant in the virtual environment from the perspective of the second participant.

Abstract: A technique for extracting visemes includes receiving successive frames of digitized analog speech information obtained from the speech signal at a fixed rate (210), filtering each of the successive frames of digitized analog speech information to synchronously generate time domain frame classification vectors at the fixed rate (215, 220, 225, 230, 235, 240), and analyzing each of the time domain classification vectors (250) to synchronously generate a set of visemes corresponding to each of the successive frames of digitized speech information at the fixed rate. Each of the time domain frame classification vectors is derived from one of the successive frames of digitized analog speech information. N multi-taper discrete prolate spheroid sequence basis (MTDPSSB) functions (220) that are factors of a Fredholm integral of the first kind may be used for the filtering, and the analyzing may use a spatial classification function (250). The latency is less than 100 milliseconds.