A gaze-preserving situated multiview telepresence system
Published in Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2014
Gaze, attention, and eye contact are important aspects of face to face communication, but some subtleties can be lost in videoconferencing because participants look at a single planar image of the remote user. We propose a low-cost cylindrical videoconferencing system that preserves gaze direction by providing perspective-correct images for multiple viewpoints around a conference table. We accomplish this by using an array of cameras to capture a remote person, and an array of projectors to present the camera images onto a cylindrical screen. The cylindrical screen reflects each image to a narrow viewing zone. The use of such a situated display allows participants to see the remote person from multiple viewing directions. We compare our system to three alternative display configurations. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our system by showing it allows multiple participants to simultaneously tell where the remote person is placing their gaze.
Recommended citation: Pan, Y., & Steed, A. (2014, April). A gaze-preserving situated multiview telepresence system. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 2173-2176).
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