Videoconferencing Camera Behind Display for Eye Contact
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current videoconferencing systems face challenges in maintaining eye contact between users due to camera placement, often requiring additional mechanical components or suffering from parallax errors, which can be distracting and reduce the effectiveness of virtual meetings.
Innovation Solution
A videoconferencing terminal with a camera positioned behind the display, a controller to modify the displayed image based on camera and user positions, and image processing to ensure the remote user's eyes align with the camera axis, compensating for pixel and occlusion artifacts to maintain direct eye contact.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If the camera is located adjacent to the display screen, then the device complexity is reduced, but eye contact cannot be maintained as the local user looks at the screen rather than the camera
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses the display screen as an intermediary element through which the camera captures images. The camera is positioned behind the display, and the display acts as a mediator that allows both viewing and capturing functions. This resolves the contradiction by maintaining simple adjacent placement while enabling eye contact through software-based image modification that aligns captured eyes with displayed eyes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces mechanical camera movement mechanisms with software-based image processing. Instead of physically moving the camera to achieve proper alignment, the system captures images with the camera fixed behind the display and then modifies the displayed image through digital transformation to align the captured eyes with the displayed eyes, eliminating the need for complex mechanical positioning systems.
2Reliability
If a mechanism is used to move the camera position, then eye contact can be maintained, but the device complexity increases and mechanical sounds may distract users
Solution Approach 1:
The patent completely replaces the mechanical camera movement system with a software-based solution. The camera remains stationary behind the display, and image processing algorithms transform the captured image to align the local user's eyes with the displayed remote user's eyes. This eliminates mechanical components, movement sounds, and positioning complexity while maintaining eye contact effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a transformed copy of the captured image that corrects the eye alignment issue. Instead of moving the camera to capture the correct angle, the system captures the image with the stationary camera and then digitally transforms it to produce a corrected version where the eyes appear properly aligned with the display, effectively copying and modifying the visual information to achieve the desired effect.
3Reliability
If the displayed image is moved to align with the camera axis, then some eye contact is achieved, but parallax error prevents direct eye contact
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a feedback mechanism where the system captures the local user's eyes through the camera behind the display, analyzes their position, and then applies precise digital transformation to the displayed image to align the captured eyes with the displayed remote user's eyes. This closed-loop approach continuously adjusts the image transformation parameters based on the captured eye positions, achieving accurate eye contact alignment that overcomes the limitations of simple image translation and eliminates parallax errors.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of videoconferencing comprises displaying an image of a remote user on a display and capturing an image of a local user at a user position in front of the display. The at least one camera is located at a camera position behind the display. The method comprises modifying an image to be displayed based on the camera position of the at least one camera with respect to the display and based on the user position of the local user with respect to the display.