Supporting video conference communication using a vision-based human facial synthesis approach

Facial expressions plays an important role in human communication. In many cases where anonymity is a high priority, the identity of a person needs to be hidden or replaced by another one. Recent advancements in facial expression analysis technology have been used in order to duplicate facial human expressions with an avatar. However, a 3D avatar does not convey the same feeling as a real human face does. This paper documents an exploratory study investigating how vision-based facial analysis can be used to match someones facial expressions and head movements with pre-recorded video segments of another person. As a result of these efforts the identity of that person can be replaced with another person in real-time for videoconference supported communication. The proposed technical solutions have been implemented to support real-time communication on the Internet and tested with ten users.