Whiteboard Collaboration Input With Feedback Loop Masking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing remote collaboration systems face challenges in providing a natural user experience for virtual whiteboarding due to limitations in input devices, such as mice and trackpads, and lack of simultaneous viewing and annotation capabilities, especially when participants use full-sized digital whiteboards.
Innovation Solution
An input device with a high-resolution camera and projector, combined with a Feedback Prevention Module (FPM), which analyzes and masks previously projected signals to prevent feedback loops, and a backend system for mapping and composing participant annotations, allowing seamless collaboration on a virtual whiteboard.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a camera and projector are used to enable natural whiteboarding, then the user experience becomes more natural, but visual feedback loops are created
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a Feedback Prevention Module (FPM) as an intermediary component between the camera and projector. The FPM analyzes camera input signals to detect projected content and prevents this content from being re-projected, thereby breaking the feedback loop while preserving the natural whiteboarding experience enabled by the camera-projector system.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements a feedback analysis mechanism where the FPM continuously monitors camera input signals, identifies projected content within these signals, and takes corrective action by masking or preventing re-projection of detected content. This feedback loop detection and prevention mechanism resolves the harmful feedback while maintaining the beneficial real-time visualization.
2Manufacturing precision
If high-resolution camera and projector are used to improve whiteboarding quality, then annotation precision improves, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the camera and projector serve multiple functions: they not only provide high-resolution visualization for precise annotation but also enable the FPM to detect and prevent feedback loops. The same hardware components support both the user interface function and the feedback prevention function, reducing the need for additional specialized devices.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses its own camera and projector resources to perform feedback loop detection and prevention, rather than requiring external monitoring equipment. The FPM leverages the existing camera input signals to identify projected content and autonomously prevents feedback without needing separate detection hardware.
3Reliability
If camera signal is continuously monitored to prevent feedback, then feedback loop is prevented, but processing time and computational load increase
Solution Approach 1:
The FPM maintains a block map that pre-identifies regions containing projected content based on previous frame analysis. This preliminary identification allows the system to quickly mask known projected areas in subsequent frames without performing complete image analysis, reducing processing time while maintaining reliable feedback prevention.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of analyzing the entire camera signal uniformly, the FPM focuses processing resources on specific regions identified as containing projected content through the block map. This localized analysis approach reduces overall computational load and processing time while maintaining accurate feedback detection in critical areas.
Data Source
AI summary
Input device including a camera, a projector, and a Feedback Prevention Module (FPM) for remote collaboration adapted for displaying digital whiteboarding content. The camera provides a signal to the FPM, and the input device is connected to a backend system. The FPM prevents a feedback loop by analyzing the signal from the camera and masking an original portion of the signal which was previously projected, the masking preventing the original portion of the signal which was previously projected from reaching the backend system.