Perceived Eye Contact via Screen Reflection
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Solution Overview
Problem
There is a disconnect between what a user is looking at and what the camera sees, leading to a lack of eye contact and a poor video conferencing experience due to the physical positioning of cameras relative to screens.
Innovation Solution
The system captures images of a participant reflected from a viewing screen while the screen is intermittently blacked out, and provides a sequence of these images over a network to another participant's screen, allowing for a more accurate representation of eye contact.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the camera is positioned separately from the screen (e.g., one foot to the left), then the camera can capture the user's face, but the camera sees the user looking in the wrong direction, creating a disconnect in perceived eye contact
Solution Approach 1:
The screen acts as an intermediary reflective surface between the camera and the user's eyes. The camera captures the reflection of the user's eyes in the screen, allowing the system to determine where the user is looking without requiring the camera to be positioned directly in front of the user's face. This resolves the contradiction by using the screen as a mediating element that provides accurate gaze information while maintaining natural camera positioning.
Solution Approach 2:
The solution moves from direct line-of-sight camera positioning to indirect reflection-based positioning. Instead of requiring the camera to be in the same position as the user's eyes (one-dimensional alignment), the system uses the two-dimensional reflective surface of the screen to capture eye direction from a separated camera position, adding a spatial dimension to the solution.
2Device complexity
If the camera is positioned on the top bezel of a laptop, then the camera is integrated into the device, but the camera sees the user looking down, creating a disconnect in perceived eye contact
Solution Approach 1:
The screen serves as an intermediary that redirects the line of sight. The camera on the top bezel captures the reflection of the user's eyes in the screen, which shows where the user is actually looking (at the screen content) rather than down at the camera. This allows integrated camera positioning while maintaining accurate eye contact detection through the reflective mediation of the screen.
3Ease of operation
If AI-based solutions are used to correct eye contact, then perceived eye contact can be improved, but significant processing power is required
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by capturing the user's eye direction through screen reflection before the video stream is processed or transmitted. By determining gaze direction from the reflection images and using this information to adjust or annotate the video stream, the system avoids the need for complex AI-based real-time video manipulation, significantly reducing processing power requirements while achieving the same perceived eye contact improvement.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach improves the perception of eye contact in video conferencing, making it more similar to in-person interactions while requiring less processing power than AI-based solutions.
Implementation Method 1
capturing an image of a first participant reflected from a first viewing screen
Data Source
AI summary
During a videoconference, with a first camera, capture an image of a first participant reflected from a first viewing screen collocated with the first participant and the first camera, while the first viewing screen is intermittently blacked out. Provide a sequence of the captured images over a network to at least a second viewing screen of a second participant.