Virtual Background for Unified Communication Apps in IGEL OS

Most modern Unified Communication solutions are able to hide the background behind the person that sits in front of the webcam. Typically, the background is blurred out, or replaced with an image or a video.

For those Unified Communication apps that do not support this feature, at least not in a VDI context, IGEL OS provides a universal virtual background that can be used by any Unified Communication solution. This is achieved by creating a virtual webcam; within this virtual webcam, the virtual background is mixed with the video input from the real webcam. The video stream from the virtual webcam is then fed to the Unified Communication client.

Feature with Limited Support

This feature has limited support; for more information, please refer to Licenses & More > General Product Information > IGEL Naming Convention > What is the Meaning of "Features with Limited Support"?

Minimum Hardware Requirements

4 GB RAM
Quad Core CPU with 1.5 GHz or higher

Enabling the Virtual Background Feature

In the UMS configuration dialog or the local Setup, go to System > Firmware Customization > Features.
Activate Virtual Background for Webcam (Limited support - functionality "as is", see product documentation for details), confirm the warning, and click Ok.
Reboot the endpoint device.
Go to System > Registry > multimedia > webcam > virtual_background > enabled and activate Enable virtual background for webcam and click Ok or, if you want to change further settings, click Apply.

The virtual background provided by the virtual webcam can be used with the default settings.

Selecting the Webcam to Provide Input to the Virtual Webcam

As of IGEL OS 11.10.250, the configuration of webcam priority has been changed. V4L name is used for identifying the webcam. If only one webcam is present, no configuration is needed. In case multiple webcams are present, the first webcam will be used if the priority is not set.

If you use several webcams and need to configure their priority, proceed as follows:

Go to System > Registry > multimedia > webcam > camera% and click Add Instance to add the required number of instances, e.g. two instances if two webcams are used.
Select the created instance and set System > Registry > multimedia > webcam > [camera instance] > v4lname to the name of the desired webcam. To get the V4L2 webcam name, you can use the command v4l2-ctl --list-devices.
Under System > Registry > multimedia > webcam > [camera instance] > priority, set the priority, e.g. 0,1,2.
Note that lower number means higher priority, i.e. if available, the webcam with priority 0 will be used first, then the webcam with priority 1, etc.
Set System > Registry > multimedia > webcam > [camera instance] > name to the desired display name for the camera.
Repeat these actions for all added camera instances.
Click Apply or OK to save the settings.

Selecting the Resolution of the Webcam

→ Go to System > Registry > multimedia > webcam > virtual_background > resolution and choose from the possible options:

webcam default: The default resolution of the webcam.
webcam max: The maximum resolution of the webcam.
1920x1080
1280x720
640x480
480x360
424x240
320x240
320x180

Setting the Virtual Webcam as Default Webcam

→ Go to System > Registry > multimedia > webcam > virtual_background > replace_video0 and make sure that Replace default webcam with virtual one is activated.

Setting the Strength of Background Blurring

→ Go to System > Registry > multimedia > webcam > virtual_background > blur and set the value of Strength of background blurring according to your needs.
Range: 1 (minimal blurring) ... 100 (maximal blurring)

Using an Image as Virtual Background Instead of Blurring the Background

Go to System > Registry > multimedia > webcam > virtual_background > type and set Select type of virtual background to Use background picture.
Go to System > Registry > multimedia > webcam > virtual_background > background_file and enter the path to the background image file under Background picture file to use as virtual background. For instructions on how to transfer the file to your endpoint device, see Universal Management Suite > UMS Reference Manual > Files - Registering Files on the IGEL UMS Server and Transferring Them to Devices.

Selecting the Model for Background Segmentation

You can select the method of discerning the foreground, i.e. the person, from the background.

→ Go to System > Registry > multimedia > webcam > virtual_background > backscrub > model and choose from the possible options:

segm_fill
selfiesegmentation
segm_lite
seeplabv3