2019 Volume 24 Issue 2 Pages 165-176
Field-of-view limitation has been a long-standing issue in video communication systems. With the development of omnidirectional panoramic technology, the omnidirectional camera, which can provide a 360° field-of-view, has been getting more and more popular within the last few years. Previous research indicated that one-way video communication systems with a wider field-of-view improve task efficiency with fewer collisions. Therefore, we propose to utilize omnidirectional cameras in a symmetric video communication system and study how the shape of the display affects the performance of the panoramic video communication in remote collaboration. By conducting experiments with two conditions (omnidirectional camera + spherical display vs. omnidirectional camera + horizontally placed 2D flat display), we analyzed what is the impact of display types on 360° video communication. Our results show that the spherical display is slightly better and both types of displays have their advantages and disadvantages. The findings contribute to our understanding of how to design an environment for remote collaboration with a 360° shared view of spaces.
