Video compression using virtual skeleton

1. A method for a computing system, comprising:

receiving optical sensor information captured via one or more optical sensors, the optical sensor information imaging a scene including a human subject;

processing the optical sensor information to model the human subject with a virtual skeleton;

processing the optical sensor information to obtain surface information representing the human subject;

transmitting the virtual skeleton to a remote computing device at a first frame rate; and

transmitting the surface information to the remote computing device at a second frame rate that is less than the first frame rate.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the surface information includes visible spectrum information and/or depth information.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

identifying a high-interest region of the human subject; and

processing the optical sensor information to obtain high-interest surface information representing the high-interest region of the human subject; and

transmitting the high-interest surface information to the remote computing device at a third frame rate that is greater than the second frame rate.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the high-interest region of the human subject corresponds to a facial region of the human subject.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the high-interest region of the human subject corresponds to a region of the human subject moving at a speed exceeding a threshold.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

identifying a background region of the scene excluding the human subject;

processing the optical sensor information to obtain background surface information representing the background region of the scene; and

transmitting the background surface information to the remote computing device at a third frame rate that is less than the second frame rate.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein an individual frame of the surface information includes a greater amount of data than an individual frame of the virtual skeleton.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

varying the second frame rate of the surface information responsive to an operating parameter.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

identifying a location source of audio within the scene; and

processing the optical sensor information to obtain surface information for a region of the scene containing the location source of audio; and

transmitting the surface information for the region of the scene containing the location source of the audio at a third frame rate higher than the second frame rate.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

identifying a stereoscopic overlap region of the scene for two or more of the optical sensors;

processing the optical sensor information to obtain surface information for the stereoscopic overlap region of the scene; and

transmitting the surface information for the stereoscopic overlap region of the scene at a third frame rate higher than the second frame rate.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

at the remote computing device:

receiving the virtual skeleton at the first frame rate;

receiving the surface information at the second frame rate;

for a base frame in which the surface information is received, rendering the surface information for presentation via a graphical display device; and

for a first update frame in which the surface information is not received, rendering first-degree estimated surface information for presentation via the graphical display device, the first-degree estimated surface information estimated by using a virtual skeleton from the first update frame to adjust surface information from the base frame.

12. A method for a computing device, comprising:

receiving a virtual skeleton from a remote computing device at a first frame rate, the virtual skeleton defining a model of a human subject;

receiving surface information from the remote computing device at a second frame rate that is less than the first frame rate, the surface information representing the human subject;

for a base frame in which the surface information is received, rendering the surface information for presentation via a graphical display device; and

for a first update frame in which the surface information is not received, rendering first-degree estimated surface information for presentation via the graphical display device, the first-degree estimated surface information estimated by using a virtual skeleton from the first update frame to adjust surface information from the base frame.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the base frame corresponds to:

a received frame of surface information preceding the first update frame; or

a received frame of surface information following the first update frame.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the first-degree estimated surface information is further estimated by using a virtual skeleton from the first update frame to adjust surface information from the base frame and at least one other frame; and

wherein the base frame corresponds to a received frame of surface information preceding the first update frame and the at least one other frame corresponds to a received frame of surface information following the first update frame.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the surface information includes visible spectrum information and/or depth information; and

wherein an individual frame of the surface information includes a greater amount of data than an individual frame of the virtual skeleton.

16. The method of claim 12 , wherein the surface information received at the second frame rate corresponds to a high-interest region of the human subject; and

wherein the method further comprises:

receiving surface information at a third frame rate less than the second frame rate, the surface information received at the third frame rate corresponding to one or more of:

a non-facial region of the human subject, and

a background region excluding the human subject.

17. The method of claim 12 , wherein receiving the virtual skeleton and surface information from the remote computing device includes receiving the virtual skeleton and surface information over a communications network including a wide area network.

18. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

sending control information to the remote computing device via a communications network, the control information directing the remote computing device to increase or decrease the second frame rate.

19. A data-holding subsystem holding instructions executable by a logic subsystem to:

receive optical sensor information captured via one or more optical sensors imaging a scene including a human subject;

process the optical sensor information to model the human subject with a virtual skeleton;

process the optical sensor information to obtain surface information representing the human subject, the surface information including visible spectrum information and depth information for a first region of the human subject and a second region of the human subject;

transmit the virtual skeleton to a remote computing device at a first frame rate; and

transmit the surface information for the first region of the human subject to the remote computing device at a second frame rate that is less than the first frame rate; and

transmit the surface information for the second region of the human subject to the remote computing device at a third frame rate that is greater than the second frame rate.

20. The data-holding subsystem of claim 19 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the logic subsystem to:

identify the first region of the human subject as a body region of the human subject; and

identify the second region of the human subject as a facial region of the human subject;

wherein the third frame rate is less than or equal to the first frame rate.