by
Mark Ollig
Why
surf the Web using just a smart device, tablet, or computer screen, when you
can bring it into an entire room?
SurroundWeb
is described by Microsoft as being a “3D Browser,” allowing two-dimensional web
page information to be projected and displayed across, and on, multiple
surfaces (such as tables, counters, cabinets, and walls) found inside a room.
We
can think of it as a greatly enhanced, interactive, Web presentation medium.
The
SurroundWeb UI (User Interface) interacts with the objects, surfaces, and
people within a room.
A
person uses natural hand gestures and their voice when interacting with
SurroundWeb.
Kinect
Fusion, Microsoft’s 3D object scanning and model creation tool, is one of the
programs used for these Web\user\room\object interactions.
The
projected images, video, and text content are “conditioned” (via SurroundWeb)
to use flat surfaces in a room which are visually suitable for presenting
content from the Web.
The
Web content is beamed from multiple overhead-mounted projectors, which overlay
the content onto physical surfaces.
In
the Microsoft Research video yours truly watched, I observed a living room and
a kitchen using SurroundWeb.
“SurroundWeb
is a way to bring immersive room experiences to everyone’s home, without
compromising privacy,” said David Molnar, a researcher with Microsoft Research.
He
explained how the physical surfaces in a home can become a setting for
interaction with the Web.
In
one example, Molnar pointed to a living room’s wall, where he noted its left,
middle, and right segments (panels) being divided into virtual screens, and how
these would present multiple web pages.
These
web pages were dedicated to car racing.
A
large display monitor sitting on a table, showed live video of the actual car
race.
The
left wall panel had three separate picture-in-a-picture screens showing other
video content he was watching.
The
middle portion of the wall displayed Wikipedia car racing information obtained
from the Web.
The
right wall panel screen displayed the live, scrolling, chat-content taking
place from his social network about the car race.
Molar
noted SurroundWeb wasn’t limited to screen projectors.
For
instance, SurroundWeb will interface with his Microsoft Surface tablet and
smartphone for displaying visual and textual content.
A
table became another display screen for information originating from a webpage;
it was shown via a projector’s beam.
SurroundWeb
will provide multiple screens for displaying relevant information to a user,
from the resources it obtains from the Web.
Each
area or frame section of the projected display screens shown in the video, were
logical-elements deployed using current web technologies.
Eyal
Ofek, a senior researcher with Microsoft Research, commented how in addition to
the screen projections being displayed on the wall or table, SurroundWeb also
had the ability to respond to events occurring in the room.
For
example, he placed a can of soda pop on a table. The can was scanned, and text
information about it was seen on the surface of the table, along with dietary
suggestions from the Web.
Another
example I viewed was in the kitchen, showing SurroundWeb’s interaction while a
recipe was being used from a website.
SurroundWeb
was monitoring the progress of the food in a pot cooking on the stove, and
displayed, in an orderly fashion, the sequential steps to be taken in its
preparation. It did this by displaying (projecting) information onto the
kitchen counter, next to the stove, which was easily viewable by the person
preparing the food.
To
the left of the stove’s hood vent, SurroundWeb projected a display panel onto
the face of a wooden kitchen cabinet door, of a live-streaming video program.
Under
the video stream’s panel, five separate video selection buttons were also
projected.
The
video selection controls were not physical and looked very holographic-like.
The
video display and controls could have been projected onto any flat surface in
the kitchen.
I
took a screen capture from this segment of the video and uploaded it to my
Photobucket page; you can see it here: http://tinyurl.com/bits-sur1.
Microsoft
Research ended its video presentation by reinforcing how the web server out on
the Internet retains no individual information about the user during a
SurroundWeb session.
The
user’s personal information, according to both researchers, is not sent back to
the website.
No
information about the user’s room, surroundings, or the events which took place
is recorded.
The
Microsoft researchers stressed the assurance of the user’s privacy while using
SurroundWeb.
SurroundWeb
will have the potential to utilize the resources from any webpage, stream them
into the real world, and mediate their interaction with the physical objects
and people, found inside a “Web room.”
Folks
will benefit by being able to more fully utilize the resources available on the
Web.
Microsoft
Research’s detailed, 16-page publication: “SurroundWeb: Least Privilege for
Immersive \Web Rooms,” which Molnar and Ofek contributed to, can be read here:
http://tinyurl.com/bits-sur2.
So,
when will we be able to use SurroundWeb in our own Web room?
The
prototype is still in the research and development stage, as testing continues
using an experimental Internet Explorer Web Browser, with specially embedded
software application controls.
Stay
tuned.
Screen capture I took from the video