Together Mode Visual Indicators for Non-Verbal Cue Awareness
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing video conference systems face challenges in interpreting non-verbal social cues due to traditional grid user interfaces, leading to user fatigue and decreased engagement, as they fail to accurately convey interactions and create a sense of being in the same room.
Innovation Solution
The introduction of a Together Mode user interface with visual indicators that provide awareness of participants' independent activities, such as interaction with computing devices, using sensors and input data to generate context-aware visual cues, allowing participants to feel like they are in the same room and facilitating natural social interactions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If a traditional grid user interface is used to display video streams, then multiple participants can be shown on screen, but non-verbal social cues cannot be accurately interpreted and users experience cognitive load and fatigue
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from a two-dimensional grid layout to a three-dimensional virtual space representation. Participants are positioned in a virtual room with spatial relationships that mimic real-world seating arrangements, allowing users to naturally interpret eye contact, gestures, and body language while maintaining visibility of multiple participants.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a virtual copy of a physical meeting room environment. The virtual space replicates real-world social dynamics and non-verbal communication patterns, enabling users to interpret cues naturally as if physically present, while displaying multiple participants without the limitations of a flat grid interface.
2Loss of information
If visual indicators of independent activity are added to show participants' actions, then user awareness and engagement improve, but system complexity and processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the visual indicator system into distinct modular components: gaze detection indicators, input device interaction indicators, and independent activity indicators. Each component handles specific types of participant actions independently, making the overall system more manageable and easier to implement while providing comprehensive activity awareness.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses color-coded visual indicators to represent different types of participant activities. For example, different colors indicate gaze direction, keyboard interaction, or other independent activities. This visual encoding system conveys multiple types of information efficiently without requiring complex displays or increasing system complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure provides systems that display visual indicators that provide user awareness of independent activity of participants in a communication session. The visual indicators are displayed within a Together Mode user interface that gives participants of a communication session a feeling that they are in the same room. The visual indicators further the technical benefits of the Together Mode user interface by providing additional context to particular non-verbal social cues. A system can generate a visual indicator that notifies meeting participants that a particular user is engaged with a computing device. The visual indicator can be generated in response to detecting that the user is interacting with an input device, such as a keyboard or touchscreen. The visual indicator mitigates confusion of non-verbal social cues, e.g., when a person appears to be looking at another participant of a meeting but is actually looking at, and interacting with, a computer.