Microsoft's Festival of Research - 'ZIFFPAGE TITLEClearer Communications ' (
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Clearer Communications
Several projects were designed to make computer-based audio and video communications clearer.
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Researchers showed an air- and bone-conductive integrated microphone designed to make speech recognition easier. The normal microphone near your mouth is supplemented by an additional microphone that presses against the side of your head, picking up vibrations in the bone while you're talking. This helps filter outside noise, so a speech recognition program or a person on the other end of an audio conversation hears only what you are saying, not the background noise.
Another project that makes conversation clearer is called i2i. It's designed to improve video for instant messaging and uses a dual-camera setup that lets the computer do "smart framing" so you always appear in the center of the screen. The technology includes eye-gaze correction and has the ability to blur the background, to substitute a different background behind the speaker, or even to include 3D emoticons, according to researcher Antonio Criminisi.
Better Personalization, Protection
One project addressed the complexity of today's phone systems, which have lots of options that employees don't take advantage of. Using a technology called collaborative filtering for software personalization, the phone system would learn a group's typical usage patterns and then set rules accordingly—such as when to allow a phone interruption. A new employee in a group could choose to follow the average setting for the group, then customize it later. It's easy to see how this might be applied to other applications as well.
Finally, a number of the demonstrations revolved around protecting systems from attack and unwanted e-mail. One project showed a new way of shielding systems before a patch was installed; while others looked at new ways of identifying and blocking spam.
This article was originally published on pcmag.com
