CA2237901C - Eye contact apparatus employing a directionally transmissive layer for video conferencing - Google Patents
Eye contact apparatus employing a directionally transmissive layer for video conferencing Download PDFInfo
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- CA2237901C CA2237901C CA002237901A CA2237901A CA2237901C CA 2237901 C CA2237901 C CA 2237901C CA 002237901 A CA002237901 A CA 002237901A CA 2237901 A CA2237901 A CA 2237901A CA 2237901 C CA2237901 C CA 2237901C
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Classifications
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N7/00—Television systems
- H04N7/14—Systems for two-way working
- H04N7/141—Systems for two-way working between two video terminals, e.g. videophone
- H04N7/142—Constructional details of the terminal equipment, e.g. arrangements of the camera and the display
- H04N7/144—Constructional details of the terminal equipment, e.g. arrangements of the camera and the display camera and display on the same optical axis, e.g. optically multiplexing the camera and display for eye to eye contact
Abstract
An eye contact video conferencing terminal (500) comprises mirrors (521, 522), a directionally transmissive layer (601), i.e. louver assembly, and a camera (530) are positioned with respect to one another such that intimate communication is realized between the parties without substantially reducing the transmissivity of the apparatus. The louver assembly is located in front of the terminal screen and passes an image of the distant party radiated from the terminal screen which is subtantially parallel to the louver assembly. A
first partially silvered mirror (521), reflects the image of the local party and transmits the image of the distant party that is radiated from the terminal screen (125) and passed by the lower assembly. The reflected image of the local party is directed toward a second mirror (522) located below the first mirror, and is positioned to capture the image of the local party from the first mirror and to reflect this image into a miniature camera.
first partially silvered mirror (521), reflects the image of the local party and transmits the image of the distant party that is radiated from the terminal screen (125) and passed by the lower assembly. The reflected image of the local party is directed toward a second mirror (522) located below the first mirror, and is positioned to capture the image of the local party from the first mirror and to reflect this image into a miniature camera.
Description
CA 02237901 1998-0~-13 WO 97/18664 PCTltJS96J17973 EYE (~(~NTACT APPARATUS EMPLOYIN(~ A ~IRECTIONALLY
TRANSMISSIVE LAYER FOR VIDEO CONFERENCING
RELAT~D PATENT
Reference is made to U.S. Patent 5,117,285, which issued on May 26, 1992 and 5 is entitled Eye Contacf Apparatus for Video Conferencing, for inventors T. J. Nelson and L. S. Smoot, wherein a related invention is disclosed and claimed, and which reference is hereby incorporated by reference.
LD OF INVENI ION
This invention relates to a video-conferencing apparatus and more particularly 10 to such apparatus which enables comm~lnicating parties to have eye contact with one another.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Commllni~ations between distant parties have evolved with an emphasis on more personal and intim~t~ contact between commnnic~nt~. This emphasis is clearly 15 noted as we observe the shift from written commllniczltions (letters and telegraphs) to voice and data commllnic~tions (telephony) and on to visual communications (video conferencing). However, even with the evolution of video conferencing, communicants still express a need for greater intimacy through eye contact.
Attempts have been made to create eye contact between communicating 20 parties; however, limitations and shortcomings associated with these schemes negate the intimacy and advantages gained in utili7.ing video communications. In a typical video-conferencing configuration, the video camera and t~rmin~l screen are not in line with one another, but are arranged such that a commllnic~ting party has the choice of either facing the camera to appear attentive to the distant party or facing the terminzll screen to view 25 the image of the distant party. ~ither choice under this disposition precludes eye-to-eye contact between communicating parties.
One prior attempt to create eye contact entailed placing a half-silvered mirror with a camera behind it within a teleconferencing terminal and a display screen being off to one side. In this set-up, the image radiated onto the display screen of a distant party is 30 reflected by the half-silvered mirror toward the local party, while the image of the local party is passed by the half-silvered mirror and scanned by the camera. Such an arrangement does result in eye contact between parties; however, a number of negative effects result as well.
CA 02237901 1998-0~-13 In ch~n~in~ the internal contents and configuration of the conventional teleconferencing t~rminz~ specially-~iesign~l terminals will be required which may render the video-conferencing application cost-prohibitive. Furthermore, given the positioning of the display screen, the image projected to the local party appears recessed 5 into the screen and distant. Therefore, the intimacy gained in achieving eye contact is lost in the recession of the projected image.
Another prior attempt to create eye contact via a new video-conferencing terminal design employed a video projection source, a video camera, a half-silvered rnirror and a liquid-crystal screen and is described in L. S. Smoot, Patent 4,928,301, May 10 22, 1990. The liquid crystal screen with an excitation at a sufficient control voltage can be rapidly switched from a transparent to a tr~n~ cellt state. This terminal operates in two modes: a capture mode and an image display mode. During the image capture mode, the liquid crystal display is excited such that the front surface screen is made transparent and the video camera detects a head-on image of a local party. During the 15 image display mode, the liquid crystal screen is translucent and serves as a rear-projection screen to display the image of a distant party generated by the video projector source and reflected by the half-silvered mirror. In a teleconferencing system employing two such terminals, synchronization must be m~int~ined between terminals in order to maintain effective commlmications and eye contact.
This bi-modal operation and configuration of the termin~l ensure eye contact between comml~nicating parties; however, as with other previously-developed eye contact structures, there are drawbacks which discourage its practical application. This arfangement requires a new specially-designed terrninal which would replace and render useless termin~l~ previously purchased for video conferencing. Furthermore, under this arrangement, synchronization is required to achieve proper commllnic~tion between termin~ls. ~intçn~nce of timing between terminz~ls is not required in conventional video-conferencing systems; therefore, the added complexity of synchronization along with other drawbacks imposed by the implementation of this prior terminzll outweighs the advantages realized in achieving eye contact and discourages its use.
Other eye contact arrangements have been attempted which require no alterations to video conferencing termin~l~ already in use. In an experiment to assess the relationship between eye contact and a commllnicant's satisfaction with video conferencing, an apparatus was described using rnirrors and cameras to achieve eye contact in the paper Design~ng Videoconference Facilities for ~mproved Eye Contact, S.
R. Acker and S. R. Levitt, Journal of Bro:~lcac~ing & Electronic Media, Volume 31, No.
TRANSMISSIVE LAYER FOR VIDEO CONFERENCING
RELAT~D PATENT
Reference is made to U.S. Patent 5,117,285, which issued on May 26, 1992 and 5 is entitled Eye Contacf Apparatus for Video Conferencing, for inventors T. J. Nelson and L. S. Smoot, wherein a related invention is disclosed and claimed, and which reference is hereby incorporated by reference.
LD OF INVENI ION
This invention relates to a video-conferencing apparatus and more particularly 10 to such apparatus which enables comm~lnicating parties to have eye contact with one another.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Commllni~ations between distant parties have evolved with an emphasis on more personal and intim~t~ contact between commnnic~nt~. This emphasis is clearly 15 noted as we observe the shift from written commllniczltions (letters and telegraphs) to voice and data commllnic~tions (telephony) and on to visual communications (video conferencing). However, even with the evolution of video conferencing, communicants still express a need for greater intimacy through eye contact.
Attempts have been made to create eye contact between communicating 20 parties; however, limitations and shortcomings associated with these schemes negate the intimacy and advantages gained in utili7.ing video communications. In a typical video-conferencing configuration, the video camera and t~rmin~l screen are not in line with one another, but are arranged such that a commllnic~ting party has the choice of either facing the camera to appear attentive to the distant party or facing the terminzll screen to view 25 the image of the distant party. ~ither choice under this disposition precludes eye-to-eye contact between communicating parties.
One prior attempt to create eye contact entailed placing a half-silvered mirror with a camera behind it within a teleconferencing terminal and a display screen being off to one side. In this set-up, the image radiated onto the display screen of a distant party is 30 reflected by the half-silvered mirror toward the local party, while the image of the local party is passed by the half-silvered mirror and scanned by the camera. Such an arrangement does result in eye contact between parties; however, a number of negative effects result as well.
CA 02237901 1998-0~-13 In ch~n~in~ the internal contents and configuration of the conventional teleconferencing t~rminz~ specially-~iesign~l terminals will be required which may render the video-conferencing application cost-prohibitive. Furthermore, given the positioning of the display screen, the image projected to the local party appears recessed 5 into the screen and distant. Therefore, the intimacy gained in achieving eye contact is lost in the recession of the projected image.
Another prior attempt to create eye contact via a new video-conferencing terminal design employed a video projection source, a video camera, a half-silvered rnirror and a liquid-crystal screen and is described in L. S. Smoot, Patent 4,928,301, May 10 22, 1990. The liquid crystal screen with an excitation at a sufficient control voltage can be rapidly switched from a transparent to a tr~n~ cellt state. This terminal operates in two modes: a capture mode and an image display mode. During the image capture mode, the liquid crystal display is excited such that the front surface screen is made transparent and the video camera detects a head-on image of a local party. During the 15 image display mode, the liquid crystal screen is translucent and serves as a rear-projection screen to display the image of a distant party generated by the video projector source and reflected by the half-silvered mirror. In a teleconferencing system employing two such terminals, synchronization must be m~int~ined between terminals in order to maintain effective commlmications and eye contact.
This bi-modal operation and configuration of the termin~l ensure eye contact between comml~nicating parties; however, as with other previously-developed eye contact structures, there are drawbacks which discourage its practical application. This arfangement requires a new specially-designed terrninal which would replace and render useless termin~l~ previously purchased for video conferencing. Furthermore, under this arrangement, synchronization is required to achieve proper commllnic~tion between termin~ls. ~intçn~nce of timing between terminz~ls is not required in conventional video-conferencing systems; therefore, the added complexity of synchronization along with other drawbacks imposed by the implementation of this prior terminzll outweighs the advantages realized in achieving eye contact and discourages its use.
Other eye contact arrangements have been attempted which require no alterations to video conferencing termin~l~ already in use. In an experiment to assess the relationship between eye contact and a commllnicant's satisfaction with video conferencing, an apparatus was described using rnirrors and cameras to achieve eye contact in the paper Design~ng Videoconference Facilities for ~mproved Eye Contact, S.
R. Acker and S. R. Levitt, Journal of Bro:~lcac~ing & Electronic Media, Volume 31, No.
2, Spring 1987, pp. 181-191. In this arrangement, a half-silvered mirror positioned at an angle of 45~ to the video conferencing tPrmin~l screen is located between the local party CA 02237901 1998-0~-13 WO 97118664 PCTrUS96/17973 and the video-conferencing terrninal in order to combine light paths of the terminal display and camera. This half-silvered mirror reflects the image of the local party to a full-silvered mirror which directs the image into cameras for tr~n~mi~ion to a distant terminal. Simnlt~nP.ously, the image radiated from the terminal screen of a distant party 5 is passed by the half-silvered mirror for viewing by the local party.
Although, this apparatus achieves eye contact with no alterations to existing video-conferencing terminals, the positioning and angling of the mirrors and cameras with respect to one another make the apparatus very buLky and thus not conveniently used in conjunction with an existing terminal screen. Furth~rrnore, an objection to this 10 arrangement is that the display appears to be deeply recessed into the terminal; this is primarily the result of the protrusion distance of the ~l~ald~us from the t~rmin~l screen.
In view of these drawbacks and shortcomings of prior terminals and apparatus, it is the object of the present invention to provide an apparatus which establishes eye to eye contact between comm--nic~tin~ parties without alteration to existing video-15 conferencing terminals and structured such that more intim~te commllnit~tion betweenthe parties is realized.
In prior U.S. Patent 5,117,285 (hereinafter, Patent '285) an apparatus for use in video-conferencing applications to establish eye contact between a local party and the image of a distant party appearing on the terminal screen is described. This apparatus 20 comprises polarizers, mirrors, and a camera, and these components are positioned and angled with respect to one another in a special well-defined m--anner to achieve eye contact such that the ~aldlus protrudes a minimz~l rli~t~nl-e from the tPrminzll screen.
Internal to this apparatus, a first polarizer and a first m--irror are located in line between the local party and the terrninal screen. The first polarizer located directly in 25 front of the terrninal screen passes a polarization of the image of the distant party radiated from the terminal screen. The first mirror, which is partially silvered, reflects the image of the local party and transmits the image of the distant party that is radiated from the terminal screen and passed by the first polarizer. The reflected image of the local party is directed toward a second m-irror located below the first mirror. The second 30 mirror is positioned to capture the image of the local party from the first m-irror and to reflect this image into a mini~t~lre camera. The second mirror also inadvertently captures light that is tr~n~mitt.3~1 by the first mirror which can cause the camera to pick up an extraneous image of the distant party. A second polarizer, which is cross-polarized with the first polarizer, is located between the second mirror and the camera and serves to 35 minimi7e the extraneous light of the distant party entering the camera for improved contrast.
CA 02237901 1998-0~-13 WO 97118664 PCTnUS96/17973 The apparatus of Patent '285 overcomes a number of shortcomings and limitations of other ~3~aldlus used to create eye contact. However, an area for rovellle-lt of the apparatus of Patent '285 is the tr~ncmi~sivity of the apparatus.
Specifically, because the apparatus of Patent '285 employs first and second polarizers, 5 each of which passes light having a particular polarization and rejects light of an orthogonal polarization, substantial amounts of light that would otherwise improve the image viewed by the local party and captured by the camera party are rejected and the overall tr~ncmi~ivity of the system is reduced.
Therefore, it is an additional object of our present invention to improve upon 10 the prior a~a~dtus of Patent '285 and provide an d~paldlus which establishes eye to eye contact between communicating parties without alteration to existing video-conferencing terrninals and structures and without substantial reduction in the tr~ncmi~ivity, such that more intim~tte communication between the parties is realized.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
1~ Our present invention relates to an apparatus which establishes eye-to-eye contact between commnntc~ting parties without alteration to existing video-conferencing terminals such that more intim~t~. commllnic~tion is realized between the parties without substantially re~ cing the trAn~mi~ivity of the apparatus. Our al~p~dL~Is comprises mirrors and a miniAtnre camera, but distinct from prior apparatuses, our apparatus does 20 not include a first and second polarizers which reduce the overall tr~n~mi.c~ivity of the apparatus. Instead, our apparatus comprises a directionally trAncmicsive layer, such as a louver assembly.
The directionally trAn~mi~ive layer is located directly in front of the terminalscreen and passes light, including the image of the distant party radiated from the 2~ terminal screen, that is substantially angled perpendicular to microlouvers within the directionally trAn~mi~ive layer. The trAn~mis~ive layer serves the combined functions of the polarizers of prior ~paldluses and in addition, offers the added advantage of significantly improving the trAn~mi.c~ivity of the image of the local party captured by the camera and the trAn~mi~ivity of the image of distant party radiated from the terminAI
30 screen to the local party.
Our apparatus also includes a partially-silvered mirror which is located between the local party and the directionally tr~n~mi.c~ive layer. The partially-silvered mirror reflects the image of the local party and trAn~mit~ the image of the distant party radiated from the te.rmin~l screen and passed by the directionally tr~ncmissive layer. The 35 reflected image of the local party is directed toward a camera module, which is located directly below-the partially-silvered ~nirror and positioned horizontally parallel to the CA 02237901 1998-0~-13 tt-rmin~l screen.
The carnera module comprises a second mirror and a mini~hlre camera.
However, unlike prior apparatuses, the camera module of our apparatus does not include a second polarizer, which reduces the tr~ncmiccivity of the apparatus. The image5 reflected from the partially-silvered mirror of the local party is directed toward the second mirror which is located below the partially-silvered mirror. The second mirror is positioned to capture the image of the local party from the partially-silvered mirror and to reflect this image into the mini~tllre camera.
The org~ni7~tion and operation of our present invention will be understood 10 from consideration of the detailed description of the illustrative embodiment, which follows, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.
BRIEF D~CRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
FIG. 1 sçh.om~ticzllly illustrates a typical video-conferencing configuration from the prior art in which the video camera and termin~l screen are not in line with one 15 another.
FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a video-conferencing terminal from the prior art which allows eye contact between comm1lniç~ntc with mirrors and a camera ~lecign~
within the terminal.
FIG. 3 sçh~m:~tically illustrates a teleconferencing terminal from the prior art20 using a liquid crystal display which operates in an image capture mode and an image display mode.
FIG. 4 schematically illustrates an arrangement described in the prior art to achieve eye contact without alteration to the existing video-conferencing terminal.
FIG. 5 sçhçm~tir~lly illustrates a side view of an eye-contact apparatus in 25 accordance with an illustrative embodiment of a prior apparatus described in Patent '285.
FIG. 6 schem:~tic~lly illustrates a side view of an eye-contact a~ud~us employing a directionally trAn.cmiccive layer in accordance with an illustrativeembodiment of our present invention.
E~G. 7 schematically illustrates a louver assembly as a directionally 30 tr~ncmiccive layer in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of our present invention.
- FIGs. 8 and ~ schem~tic~lly illustrate a detailed depiction of a top view and side view, respectively, of a camera module employed in an eye contact app~dlus in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of our present invention.
CA 0223790l l998-0~-l3 W O 97/18664 PCT~US96/17973 DETAI~ED DESCRIPTION
FIG. 1 sch~m~ti~ally illustrates a conventional video-conferencing configuration '100 from the prior art. Under such an arrangement, the video camera 130 and a conventional terminal 120 are not in line with one another. Therefore local party S 110 must choose to either gaze into the tf~nnin~l screen 125 to view the image of a distant party or into a video camera 130 to appear attentive to a distant party (not shown) at a distant video-conferencing tPrmin~l (not shown). Either choice under this arrangement precludes eye-to-eye contact between c--mmnnicating parties.
In FIG. 2 a video-conferencing termin~l 200 from the prior art is schem~tically 10 illustrated which allows eye contact between a local party 110 and a distant party (not shown), and the terrninal design calls for es~çnti~l components to be located within the terrninzll 200. In this set-up, the image of a distant party radiated onto a termin~l screen 125 on the front of the terminal 120 is reflected by a half-silvered rnirror 201 toward the local communicating party 110, while the image of the local party 110 is passed by the lS half-silvered mirror 201 and scanned by a camera 130. Such an arrangement does result in eye contact between parties; however, in ch~nging the intern~l contents and configuration of the conventional video-conferencing terminal 120 (shown in FIG. 1) a specially-(l~cign~d t~rmin~l will be required. Given the positioning of the display screen within the terminal, the image projected to the local party appears recessed into the 20 screen and distant.
FIG. 3 schematically illustrates another prior art video-conferencing tennin~l 300 employing a liquid crystal display 301. This video-conferencing t(~rmin~l 300 employs a design which incorporates a video projection source 302, a video camera 130, a half-silvered mirror 304 and a liquid crystal display 301. This f~rmin~l operates in two 25 modes: an image capture mode and an image display mode. During the image capture mode, the liquid crystal display 301 is excited by a control circuit 305 such that its front surface is made transparent and the video camera 130 detects a head-on image of a local party 110. During the image display mode, the liquid crystal display 301 is translucent and serves as a rear-projection screen to display the image of a distant party generated by 30 the video projection source 302 and reflected by the half-silvered mirror 304. In a teleconferencing system which employs two terminals, synchronization must be m~int~in.q-l between termin~l~ in order to m~int~in effective communications and eye contact unlike conventional video conferencing systems 100 (shown in FIG. l).
Furthermore, implementation of this new specially-~lesign~cl terrninal would replace and 35 render useless conventional tlqrminsll~ previously purchased for video conferencing.
CA 02237901 1998-0~-13 W O 97/18664 PCTrUS96/17973 Unlike the eye contact tP,rmin~l~ described in FIGs. 2 and 3, the eye contact arrangement 400 schematically illustrated in FIG. 4 is a different prior arrangement that works in conjunction with a conventional video-conferencing termin~l 120 already in-use to achieve eye contact between co~ ...ic~ting parties. In this arrangement, a half-5 silvered mirror 401, which is positioned at an angle 0 subst~nti~lly e(lual to 45~ to thetermin~l screen 125, is located between the local party 110 and the video-conferencing terminal 120 in order to combine light paths of the termin~l display 125 and the camera 130. The half-silvered mirror 401 reflects the image of the local party 110 to a full-silvered mirror 402 which is parallel to the half-silvered mirror 401. The full-silvered 10 mirror then reflects the image of the local party 110 into a camera 130 for tr~n~mis~ion to a distant terminal (not shown). Siml-lt~neously, the image radiated from the termin~l display 125 of a distant party is tr~n~mitte-1 through the half-silvered mirror 401 for viewing by the local party 110.
Although this a~paralus achieves eye contact with no alterations to existing 15 video-conferencing termins31c, the positioning and angling of the mirrors and cameras with respect to one another makes the a~paldlus very bulky, inconvenient and impractical. Furthermore, an objection to this arrangement 400 is that the display appears to be deeply recessed into the t~rmin~l This objection comes largely as a result of the protrusion distance of the arrangement from the termin~l screen 125 which is 20 constrained by the 45~ angle between the half-silvered mirror 401 and the tt-,rmin~l screen 125.
The apparatus of prior Patent '285 establishes eye-to-eye contact between comml-nicating parties without alteration to existing video-conferencing terminals such that more intim~t-o, commllnic~tion is realized between the parties. FIG. S sch~,m~tically depicts a side view of an eye-contact apparatus 500 of this prior invention.
The apparatus of prior Patent '285 comprises polarizers, mirrors, and a mini~tllre camera. As shown in FIG. 5, internal to the a~dtus 500 a polarizer 511 and a partially-silvered mirror 521 are located between the local party 110 and the terminal screen 125. The polarizer 511 located directly in front of the t~rmin~l screen 125 passes 30 a polarization of the image of the distant party radiated from the termin~l screen 125 that - is subst~nti~lly parallel to its direction of pnl~ri7~tion. The partially-silvered mirror 521 reflects the image of the local party 110 and transmits the image of the distant party that is radiated from the te,rminzll screen 125 and passed by the polarizer 511. The reflected image of the local party 110 and the tr~ncmitte-l image of the distant party are both 35 directed toward a camera module 550. However, the polarized image of the distant party is absorbed by a second polarizer located in the camera module 550.
CA 02237901 1998-0~-13 W O 97118664 PCTrUS9~117973 Eye Contact Apparatus of the Present Invention Our present invention also relates to an apparatus whieh establishes eye-to-eye eontact between communicating parties without alteration to existing video-conferencing termin~l~ such that more intimzlte. c--mmlmic~tion is realized between the parties. FIG. 6 5 schematieally depiets a side view of an eye-contact apparatus 600 in aceordance with an illustrative embodiment of our present invention. Our apparatus is a compact assembly which can be used in conjunction with or, as shown in FIG. 6, mounted direetly onto a eonventional video-eonfereneing termin~l 120. In this partieular eonstruetion, the al)p~dtLIs is encased in a hood 136 (discussed further in Section A) and mounted onto the 10 terminal screen with velcro strips (not shown) or small serews, either method being adequate sinee the apparatus is lightweight.
Similar to the prior apparatus of Patent '285, our apparatus comprises mirrors and a mini~h~re eamera, but distinet from this prior apparatus, our al)p~dlus does not include a polarizer which reduces the overall tr~ncmi~ivity of the a~pa dlus. Tn.~t.o~l, the apparatus of the present invention compri~es a directionally tr~n~mi.csive layer, such as a louver assembly, positioned in front of, and in line with, the terminal screen. The components of the apparatus of our invention are geometrically positioned and angled with respect to one another in a special well-defined manner to achieve eye contact such that the ~L,paldlus protrudes a minim~l distance from the termin~l sereen 125.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 6, int--rnAl to our apparatus 600, a directionally tr~n.cmi~sive layer 601 and a partially-silvered mirror 521 are located between the loeal party 110 and the terminal sereen 125. The direetionally tr~n~mi.~ive layer is loeated directly in front of the terminal screen 125 and passes light, including the image of the distant party radiated from the terminal screen 125 that is substantially angledperpendicular to the directionally tr~n~mi.c.cive layer. The partially-silvered mirror 521 is located between the local party 110 and the direetionally tr~n.cmi~ive layer. Mirror 521 refleets the image of the local party 110 and transmits the image of the distant party that is radiated from the terminal sereen 125 and passed by the direetionally tr~n.~mi.~ive layer 601. The reflected image of the local party 110 is directed toward a camera module 550.
As shown in FIG. 6 similar to the apparatus 500 of Patent '285, the camera module 550 is located directly below the partially-silvered mirror 521, is positioned horizontally parallel to the t~.rmin~l sereen 125, and, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, comprises a mirror 522 and a mini:~tnre camera 530. However, distinct from priorapparatus 500 of Patent '285, a~palalLIs 600 of our invention does not include any polarizer, which would reduee the tr~n~mi.c~ivity of the appa alus.
CA 02237901 1998-0~-13 W O 97/18664 PCTfUS96117g73 A. Camera Platform Module As depicted in FIGs. 8 and 9, the camera module 550 is mounted on a platform 132 which is held on a platform mounting rod 133 attached to the bottom of the hood 136 via a rod fastener 134. The platform mounting rod 133 is affixed to the platform 132 at one end and to the rod fastener 134 at the other end to allow for rotating and raising or lowering the camera module 550. As shown in FIG. 8, the mirror 522 is mounted in an adjustable fixture 137 to allow the distance between the mirror 522 and the camera 530 to be varied so that the full view of the camera 530 can be taken through the mirror 522.
The camera 530 is attached to the platform 132 by supports 138. Within the camera module 550, the mirror 522 is angled ~~ to the camera and, in a preferred embodiment, ~p is substantially 45~. Furthermore, the mirror 522 is non-parallel to the partially-silvered mirror 521 shown in FIG. 6.
The image reflected from the partially-silvered mirror 521 of the local party 110 is thus directed toward the mirror 522 which is located below the partially-silvered mirror 521. The mirror 522 is positioned to capture the image of the local party from the partially-silvered mirror 521 and to reflect this image into the mini~ re camera 530.
Only the light reflected from the mirror 522 that falls within the camera's field of view will be captured by the camera, the camera's field of view being the area over which light is received by the camera.
An additional benef1t of mirror 522 is that it effectively corrects the image ofthe distant party which is transposed upon reflection at the partially-silvered mirror 521.
The mirror 522 also captures extraneous light of the distant party radiated from the terminal screen 125 and tr~ncmitted through the partially-silvered mirror 521. This extraneous light is then inadvertently refl~cte~l by mirror 522 toward the camera 530.
25 B. Apparatus Hood As shown in FIG. 6, all components of the apparatus are mounted in a hood 136 which is a metallic or plastic assembly consisting of top and side pieces rigidly bound to m~int~in the positions and geometrical relationships between the components of the apparatus, as is critical to the optimal performance of the apparatus. An additional - 30 part of the hood assembly is a baffle 131 which covers the open space above the partially-silvered mirror 521. The baffle 131 is optimally painted black to prevent stray - light from falling on the termin~l screen 125. Furthermore, the exterior of parts and mount assemblies located inside the hood are optimally painted black to elimin~te stray light and spurious reflections. A hood assembly constructed out of folded sheet metal or 35 molded plastic is suggested to reduce the cost and weight of the apparatus.
CA 02237901 1998-0~-13 C. Mirrors The partially-silvered mirror 521 shown in FIG. 6 reflects the image of the local party 110 and tr~n.smit~ the image of the distant party that is radiated from the terminal screen 125 and passed by the directionally tran.cmi~ive layer 601. The S percentage of light that is reflected and tr~n.~mitt~l by the mirror is dependent upon the reflectivity pre-selected for the mirror. Prior eye contact apparatus employ half-silvered mirrors which nominally have a reflectivity of 50%. Our analyses reveal that thereflectivity selected for the partially reflecting mirror 521 should be weighed and b~l~n(~ecl based upon two factors: the brightnes~ of the terminal screen 125 and the 10 amount of light needed to achieve adequate tr~n.~mi~ion from the camera 530.
The total percentage of light reflected (X) and the light transmitted (Y) by themirror is ideally 100% (i.e., X+Y=100%). Therefore, a mirror having a reflectivity of 30% will reflect 30% of the light incident upon it in one direction and will transmit 70%
of the light incident upon it in the other direction. Clearly, increasing the level of 15 reflected light (i.e., selecting a mirror with a higher reflectivity) to improve camera reception will directly result in a reduction in the brightn~ss of the light transmitted to the local party 110 from the terminal screen 125. Conversely, increasing the level of tr~n~mittP-l light (i.e., selecting a mirror with a lower reflectivity) to improve the perceived brightn~s~ from the receiving screen 125 will directly result in a reduction in 20 the ~uality of the signal tr~n.~mitted from the camera to the distant party. In an illustrative embodiment constructed of our invention, a reflectivity of 30% to 40% (and a tr~n~mi~ivity of 70% to 60%) was selected for the partially-silvered mirror 521.In a preferred embodiment, mirror 522 shown in FIGs. 8 and 9 is a full-silvered mirror having a reflectivity of 100%; however, the full-silvered mirror may not 25 n~cç~rily be employed in all implementations of this invention. In rotating the camera module 550 such that it is perpendicular to the terminal screen 125 and captures light directly from the partially-silvered rnirror 521, the second mirror 522 may be removed without departing from the spirit of the invention. This rotation of the camera module 550, causes the apparatus to protrude moderately further from the front of the terminal 30 screen; however, such an arrangement allows more of the local party and theirsurrolln-linp.s reflected by the ~lrst mirror to be directly captured by the camera without the size limitations imposed by the full-silvered rnirror.
D. Directionally Tr~ ive Layer -- Louver Assembly Unlike the prior a~?p~dLus shown in FIG. 5, 8, and 9, the apparatus of our 35 present invention shown in Fig. 6 does not include polarizers 511 and 512 between the terminal screen-125 and the partially-silvered mirror 521 and between the mirror 522 and CA 02237901 1998-0~-13 WO 97/18664 PCT~US9~7973 camera 530, respectively. Instead, the apparatus of our present invention includes a directiona~ly tr~n.cmi.scive layer, such as a louver assembly, for improving the contrast between the image of the local party 11~ captured by the camera 530 and extraneous light of the distant party radiated from the terminal screen 125. The tr~n.cmis~ive layer S serves the combined functions of the polarizers of the prior a~al~tus of Patent '285,but in addition, use of the louver assembly and elimin~tion of the polarizers offer the added advantage of significantly improving the tr~n.smic~ivity of the image of the local party 110 captured by the camera 530 and the tr~n.smi.c~ivity of the image of distant party radiated from the terminal screen to the local party.
To reduce the interfering light from the terminal screen 125, louver assembly 601 is positioned between the terminal screen 125 and the partially-silvered mirror 521 and substantially parallel to the termin~l screen 125 as shown in FIG. 6. The louver assembly 601 passes light from the terrninal screen that is radiated at an anglesubstantially parallel to the microlouvers in the louver assembly 601, which light is tr~n.smitted by the partially-silvered mirror 521 to the local party 110. Light from the terminal screen that is radiated at an angle that is substantially perpendicular to the louvers is absorbed by the louver assembly 601 and thus prevented from entering the camera for improved contrast between the image of the local party and other extraneous light at the camera.
Unlike the prior apparatus, in our present invention, the trslnsmicsivity of theimage radiated from the terminal screen 125 to the local party 110 and the tr~n.cmicsivity of the image of the local party captured at the camera are not sacrificed for improved contrast. In accordance with our invention, it is not necessary to tradeoff tr~n.slnis.sivity for improved contrast as high tr~n.smi.ssivity and improved contrast are both cimnlt~neously ~tt~in~ble without either sacrificing the other.
To illustrate the difference in the tr~nsmissivity for the prior apparatus of Patent '285 and our present invention, consider the following. For the prior apparatus of Patent '285, the tr~n.smi.s.sivity (Tprior) of the image radiated from the ttermin~l screen 125 to the local party 110 is equal to the trz~ncmissivity of the partially-silvered mirror 521 (Tmirror521) timesthetr~ncmi~.sivityofthepolarizerS11 (Tpo~ zer511) asshowninEq.1.
T prior = T mirror 52l x T poializer 511 ( 1 ) CA 02237901 1998-0~-13 For our present invention, the trancmiccivity (Tpresent) of the image radiated from the terrninal screen 125 to the local party 110 is equal to the tr~n.cmiscivity of the partially-silvered rnirror (Tmjrror 521) times the tr~n.cmic.civity of the louver assembly (Tlouver) as shown in Eq. 2.
5 Tpresent = Trrlirror 521 x Tlouver (2) Our research has shown that the typical tr~n.cmiccivity of the partially-silvered mirror is 0.7, of the polarizer 511 is 0.4, and of the louver assembly is 0.75, thus resulting in the following typical transmiccivities:
Tpnor = (0.7)(0.4) = 0.28 (3) 10 Tpresent = (0-7)(0-75) = 0.52 (4) Therefore, in accordance with our invention, the tr~ncmi.ccivity of light radiated from the terminal screen to the local party is almost double the tr~ncmic.civity achieved under the prior apparatus of Patent '285.
A comparison of the tr~n.cmi.ccivities of light radiated from the local party and 15 captured by the camera for the prior apparatus of Patent '285 and for our present invention presents an even more compelling result. For the prior apparatus of Patent '285, the overall trAncmicsivity (TprjOr) of the image radiated from the local party to the camera is equal to the reflectivity of the partially-silvered mirror (Rmjrror 512) times the reflectivity of the fully-reflective mirror (Rmjrror 522) times the tr~n.cmiccivity of the 20 polarizer 512 (TPOIariZer512) as shown in Eq. 5.
TPriOr = R mi~or521 X R mirror522 X TpolanzerSl2 (5) For our present invention, the tr~n.cmi.ccivity (TPMSent) of the image radiated from local party to the camera is equal to the reflectivity of the partially-silvered mirror (Rmjrror 521) times the reflectivity of the fully-reflective mirror (Rmirror 522) as shown in 25 Eq. 6.
TPrCSent = R mirrOr521 X R mirrOr522 (6) Our research has shown that the typical reflectivity of the partially-silvered mirror is 0.3 and of the fully reflective mirror 522 is 1.0 and that the typical tr:-ncmiccivity of the polarizer 512 is 0.4, thus reslllting in the following typical tr~n.cmi.csivities:
30 Tprior = (().3)(1)(0.4) = 0.12 CA 0223790l l998-0~-l3 WO 97/I86C4 PCTnUS96J17973 Tpresent - (~.3)(1) = 0.3 (8) Therefore, under our present invention, the tr~n.~mi~sivity of light radiated from the local party to the camera is two and one-half times the tr~n.cmis~civity achieved under the prior apparatus of Patent '285.
Illustratively, as shown in FIG. 7, the louver assembly 601 employed in our present invention is a thin plastic film comprising microlouvers 602 whieh are spaced approximately 0.005 to 0.010 inches apart. Each microlouver has a thickness of approximately 0.0005 inches, and the assembly has a depth of approximately 0.030inches which depth ensures a minim~l protrusion distance of the apparatus. Illustratively, 10 the Optical Systems Light Control Film produced by 3M may be used as the louver assembly 601.
~ONCLUSION
Thus, our invention overcomes a number of shortcomings and limitations of other apparatus used to create eye contact in video-conferencing. Specifically, our 15 invention improves the contrast between the image of the local party captured by the camera and extraneous light of the distant party radiated from a terminal screen by using a directionally tr~n~mi.~ive assembly, such as a louver assembly, in lieu of polarizers used in prior a~ LIls. An outstanding advantage of our inventive apparatus is that improved contrast is achieved without significantly reducing the tr~n.cmi.c.~ivity of the 20 image radiated from the terminal screen and viewed by the local party and thetr~n.cmi.~ivity of the image of the local party captured by the camera, unlike prior apparatuses employing polarizers which tradeoff reduced tr~n~mi.~sivity for improved contrast.
The embo~1imt~nt~ of the above described apparatus for establishing eye 25 contact between colnm-lnicating parties during video conferencing are intended to be illustrative of our invention. Numerous alternative embo~limPnt.c may be devised without departing from the spirit and scope of the following claims.
Although, this apparatus achieves eye contact with no alterations to existing video-conferencing terminals, the positioning and angling of the mirrors and cameras with respect to one another make the apparatus very buLky and thus not conveniently used in conjunction with an existing terminal screen. Furth~rrnore, an objection to this 10 arrangement is that the display appears to be deeply recessed into the terminal; this is primarily the result of the protrusion distance of the ~l~ald~us from the t~rmin~l screen.
In view of these drawbacks and shortcomings of prior terminals and apparatus, it is the object of the present invention to provide an apparatus which establishes eye to eye contact between comm--nic~tin~ parties without alteration to existing video-15 conferencing terminals and structured such that more intim~te commllnit~tion betweenthe parties is realized.
In prior U.S. Patent 5,117,285 (hereinafter, Patent '285) an apparatus for use in video-conferencing applications to establish eye contact between a local party and the image of a distant party appearing on the terminal screen is described. This apparatus 20 comprises polarizers, mirrors, and a camera, and these components are positioned and angled with respect to one another in a special well-defined m--anner to achieve eye contact such that the ~aldlus protrudes a minimz~l rli~t~nl-e from the tPrminzll screen.
Internal to this apparatus, a first polarizer and a first m--irror are located in line between the local party and the terrninal screen. The first polarizer located directly in 25 front of the terrninal screen passes a polarization of the image of the distant party radiated from the terminal screen. The first mirror, which is partially silvered, reflects the image of the local party and transmits the image of the distant party that is radiated from the terminal screen and passed by the first polarizer. The reflected image of the local party is directed toward a second m-irror located below the first mirror. The second 30 mirror is positioned to capture the image of the local party from the first m-irror and to reflect this image into a mini~t~lre camera. The second mirror also inadvertently captures light that is tr~n~mitt.3~1 by the first mirror which can cause the camera to pick up an extraneous image of the distant party. A second polarizer, which is cross-polarized with the first polarizer, is located between the second mirror and the camera and serves to 35 minimi7e the extraneous light of the distant party entering the camera for improved contrast.
CA 02237901 1998-0~-13 WO 97118664 PCTnUS96/17973 The apparatus of Patent '285 overcomes a number of shortcomings and limitations of other ~3~aldlus used to create eye contact. However, an area for rovellle-lt of the apparatus of Patent '285 is the tr~ncmi~sivity of the apparatus.
Specifically, because the apparatus of Patent '285 employs first and second polarizers, 5 each of which passes light having a particular polarization and rejects light of an orthogonal polarization, substantial amounts of light that would otherwise improve the image viewed by the local party and captured by the camera party are rejected and the overall tr~ncmi~ivity of the system is reduced.
Therefore, it is an additional object of our present invention to improve upon 10 the prior a~a~dtus of Patent '285 and provide an d~paldlus which establishes eye to eye contact between communicating parties without alteration to existing video-conferencing terrninals and structures and without substantial reduction in the tr~ncmi~ivity, such that more intim~tte communication between the parties is realized.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
1~ Our present invention relates to an apparatus which establishes eye-to-eye contact between commnntc~ting parties without alteration to existing video-conferencing terminals such that more intim~t~. commllnic~tion is realized between the parties without substantially re~ cing the trAn~mi~ivity of the apparatus. Our al~p~dL~Is comprises mirrors and a miniAtnre camera, but distinct from prior apparatuses, our apparatus does 20 not include a first and second polarizers which reduce the overall tr~n~mi.c~ivity of the apparatus. Instead, our apparatus comprises a directionally trAncmicsive layer, such as a louver assembly.
The directionally trAn~mi~ive layer is located directly in front of the terminalscreen and passes light, including the image of the distant party radiated from the 2~ terminal screen, that is substantially angled perpendicular to microlouvers within the directionally trAn~mi~ive layer. The trAn~mis~ive layer serves the combined functions of the polarizers of prior ~paldluses and in addition, offers the added advantage of significantly improving the trAn~mi.c~ivity of the image of the local party captured by the camera and the trAn~mi~ivity of the image of distant party radiated from the terminAI
30 screen to the local party.
Our apparatus also includes a partially-silvered mirror which is located between the local party and the directionally tr~n~mi.c~ive layer. The partially-silvered mirror reflects the image of the local party and trAn~mit~ the image of the distant party radiated from the te.rmin~l screen and passed by the directionally tr~ncmissive layer. The 35 reflected image of the local party is directed toward a camera module, which is located directly below-the partially-silvered ~nirror and positioned horizontally parallel to the CA 02237901 1998-0~-13 tt-rmin~l screen.
The carnera module comprises a second mirror and a mini~hlre camera.
However, unlike prior apparatuses, the camera module of our apparatus does not include a second polarizer, which reduces the tr~ncmiccivity of the apparatus. The image5 reflected from the partially-silvered mirror of the local party is directed toward the second mirror which is located below the partially-silvered mirror. The second mirror is positioned to capture the image of the local party from the partially-silvered mirror and to reflect this image into the mini~tllre camera.
The org~ni7~tion and operation of our present invention will be understood 10 from consideration of the detailed description of the illustrative embodiment, which follows, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.
BRIEF D~CRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
FIG. 1 sçh.om~ticzllly illustrates a typical video-conferencing configuration from the prior art in which the video camera and termin~l screen are not in line with one 15 another.
FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a video-conferencing terminal from the prior art which allows eye contact between comm1lniç~ntc with mirrors and a camera ~lecign~
within the terminal.
FIG. 3 sçh~m:~tically illustrates a teleconferencing terminal from the prior art20 using a liquid crystal display which operates in an image capture mode and an image display mode.
FIG. 4 schematically illustrates an arrangement described in the prior art to achieve eye contact without alteration to the existing video-conferencing terminal.
FIG. 5 sçhçm~tir~lly illustrates a side view of an eye-contact apparatus in 25 accordance with an illustrative embodiment of a prior apparatus described in Patent '285.
FIG. 6 schem:~tic~lly illustrates a side view of an eye-contact a~ud~us employing a directionally trAn.cmiccive layer in accordance with an illustrativeembodiment of our present invention.
E~G. 7 schematically illustrates a louver assembly as a directionally 30 tr~ncmiccive layer in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of our present invention.
- FIGs. 8 and ~ schem~tic~lly illustrate a detailed depiction of a top view and side view, respectively, of a camera module employed in an eye contact app~dlus in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of our present invention.
CA 0223790l l998-0~-l3 W O 97/18664 PCT~US96/17973 DETAI~ED DESCRIPTION
FIG. 1 sch~m~ti~ally illustrates a conventional video-conferencing configuration '100 from the prior art. Under such an arrangement, the video camera 130 and a conventional terminal 120 are not in line with one another. Therefore local party S 110 must choose to either gaze into the tf~nnin~l screen 125 to view the image of a distant party or into a video camera 130 to appear attentive to a distant party (not shown) at a distant video-conferencing tPrmin~l (not shown). Either choice under this arrangement precludes eye-to-eye contact between c--mmnnicating parties.
In FIG. 2 a video-conferencing termin~l 200 from the prior art is schem~tically 10 illustrated which allows eye contact between a local party 110 and a distant party (not shown), and the terrninal design calls for es~çnti~l components to be located within the terrninzll 200. In this set-up, the image of a distant party radiated onto a termin~l screen 125 on the front of the terminal 120 is reflected by a half-silvered rnirror 201 toward the local communicating party 110, while the image of the local party 110 is passed by the lS half-silvered mirror 201 and scanned by a camera 130. Such an arrangement does result in eye contact between parties; however, in ch~nging the intern~l contents and configuration of the conventional video-conferencing terminal 120 (shown in FIG. 1) a specially-(l~cign~d t~rmin~l will be required. Given the positioning of the display screen within the terminal, the image projected to the local party appears recessed into the 20 screen and distant.
FIG. 3 schematically illustrates another prior art video-conferencing tennin~l 300 employing a liquid crystal display 301. This video-conferencing t(~rmin~l 300 employs a design which incorporates a video projection source 302, a video camera 130, a half-silvered mirror 304 and a liquid crystal display 301. This f~rmin~l operates in two 25 modes: an image capture mode and an image display mode. During the image capture mode, the liquid crystal display 301 is excited by a control circuit 305 such that its front surface is made transparent and the video camera 130 detects a head-on image of a local party 110. During the image display mode, the liquid crystal display 301 is translucent and serves as a rear-projection screen to display the image of a distant party generated by 30 the video projection source 302 and reflected by the half-silvered mirror 304. In a teleconferencing system which employs two terminals, synchronization must be m~int~in.q-l between termin~l~ in order to m~int~in effective communications and eye contact unlike conventional video conferencing systems 100 (shown in FIG. l).
Furthermore, implementation of this new specially-~lesign~cl terrninal would replace and 35 render useless conventional tlqrminsll~ previously purchased for video conferencing.
CA 02237901 1998-0~-13 W O 97/18664 PCTrUS96/17973 Unlike the eye contact tP,rmin~l~ described in FIGs. 2 and 3, the eye contact arrangement 400 schematically illustrated in FIG. 4 is a different prior arrangement that works in conjunction with a conventional video-conferencing termin~l 120 already in-use to achieve eye contact between co~ ...ic~ting parties. In this arrangement, a half-5 silvered mirror 401, which is positioned at an angle 0 subst~nti~lly e(lual to 45~ to thetermin~l screen 125, is located between the local party 110 and the video-conferencing terminal 120 in order to combine light paths of the termin~l display 125 and the camera 130. The half-silvered mirror 401 reflects the image of the local party 110 to a full-silvered mirror 402 which is parallel to the half-silvered mirror 401. The full-silvered 10 mirror then reflects the image of the local party 110 into a camera 130 for tr~n~mis~ion to a distant terminal (not shown). Siml-lt~neously, the image radiated from the termin~l display 125 of a distant party is tr~n~mitte-1 through the half-silvered mirror 401 for viewing by the local party 110.
Although this a~paralus achieves eye contact with no alterations to existing 15 video-conferencing termins31c, the positioning and angling of the mirrors and cameras with respect to one another makes the a~paldlus very bulky, inconvenient and impractical. Furthermore, an objection to this arrangement 400 is that the display appears to be deeply recessed into the t~rmin~l This objection comes largely as a result of the protrusion distance of the arrangement from the termin~l screen 125 which is 20 constrained by the 45~ angle between the half-silvered mirror 401 and the tt-,rmin~l screen 125.
The apparatus of prior Patent '285 establishes eye-to-eye contact between comml-nicating parties without alteration to existing video-conferencing terminals such that more intim~t-o, commllnic~tion is realized between the parties. FIG. S sch~,m~tically depicts a side view of an eye-contact apparatus 500 of this prior invention.
The apparatus of prior Patent '285 comprises polarizers, mirrors, and a mini~tllre camera. As shown in FIG. 5, internal to the a~dtus 500 a polarizer 511 and a partially-silvered mirror 521 are located between the local party 110 and the terminal screen 125. The polarizer 511 located directly in front of the t~rmin~l screen 125 passes 30 a polarization of the image of the distant party radiated from the termin~l screen 125 that - is subst~nti~lly parallel to its direction of pnl~ri7~tion. The partially-silvered mirror 521 reflects the image of the local party 110 and transmits the image of the distant party that is radiated from the te,rminzll screen 125 and passed by the polarizer 511. The reflected image of the local party 110 and the tr~ncmitte-l image of the distant party are both 35 directed toward a camera module 550. However, the polarized image of the distant party is absorbed by a second polarizer located in the camera module 550.
CA 02237901 1998-0~-13 W O 97118664 PCTrUS9~117973 Eye Contact Apparatus of the Present Invention Our present invention also relates to an apparatus whieh establishes eye-to-eye eontact between communicating parties without alteration to existing video-conferencing termin~l~ such that more intimzlte. c--mmlmic~tion is realized between the parties. FIG. 6 5 schematieally depiets a side view of an eye-contact apparatus 600 in aceordance with an illustrative embodiment of our present invention. Our apparatus is a compact assembly which can be used in conjunction with or, as shown in FIG. 6, mounted direetly onto a eonventional video-eonfereneing termin~l 120. In this partieular eonstruetion, the al)p~dtLIs is encased in a hood 136 (discussed further in Section A) and mounted onto the 10 terminal screen with velcro strips (not shown) or small serews, either method being adequate sinee the apparatus is lightweight.
Similar to the prior apparatus of Patent '285, our apparatus comprises mirrors and a mini~h~re eamera, but distinet from this prior apparatus, our al)p~dlus does not include a polarizer which reduces the overall tr~ncmi~ivity of the a~pa dlus. Tn.~t.o~l, the apparatus of the present invention compri~es a directionally tr~n~mi.csive layer, such as a louver assembly, positioned in front of, and in line with, the terminal screen. The components of the apparatus of our invention are geometrically positioned and angled with respect to one another in a special well-defined manner to achieve eye contact such that the ~L,paldlus protrudes a minim~l distance from the termin~l sereen 125.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 6, int--rnAl to our apparatus 600, a directionally tr~n.cmi~sive layer 601 and a partially-silvered mirror 521 are located between the loeal party 110 and the terminal sereen 125. The direetionally tr~n~mi.~ive layer is loeated directly in front of the terminal screen 125 and passes light, including the image of the distant party radiated from the terminal screen 125 that is substantially angledperpendicular to the directionally tr~n~mi.c.cive layer. The partially-silvered mirror 521 is located between the local party 110 and the direetionally tr~n.cmi~ive layer. Mirror 521 refleets the image of the local party 110 and transmits the image of the distant party that is radiated from the terminal sereen 125 and passed by the direetionally tr~n.~mi.~ive layer 601. The reflected image of the local party 110 is directed toward a camera module 550.
As shown in FIG. 6 similar to the apparatus 500 of Patent '285, the camera module 550 is located directly below the partially-silvered mirror 521, is positioned horizontally parallel to the t~.rmin~l sereen 125, and, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, comprises a mirror 522 and a mini:~tnre camera 530. However, distinct from priorapparatus 500 of Patent '285, a~palalLIs 600 of our invention does not include any polarizer, which would reduee the tr~n~mi.c~ivity of the appa alus.
CA 02237901 1998-0~-13 W O 97/18664 PCTfUS96117g73 A. Camera Platform Module As depicted in FIGs. 8 and 9, the camera module 550 is mounted on a platform 132 which is held on a platform mounting rod 133 attached to the bottom of the hood 136 via a rod fastener 134. The platform mounting rod 133 is affixed to the platform 132 at one end and to the rod fastener 134 at the other end to allow for rotating and raising or lowering the camera module 550. As shown in FIG. 8, the mirror 522 is mounted in an adjustable fixture 137 to allow the distance between the mirror 522 and the camera 530 to be varied so that the full view of the camera 530 can be taken through the mirror 522.
The camera 530 is attached to the platform 132 by supports 138. Within the camera module 550, the mirror 522 is angled ~~ to the camera and, in a preferred embodiment, ~p is substantially 45~. Furthermore, the mirror 522 is non-parallel to the partially-silvered mirror 521 shown in FIG. 6.
The image reflected from the partially-silvered mirror 521 of the local party 110 is thus directed toward the mirror 522 which is located below the partially-silvered mirror 521. The mirror 522 is positioned to capture the image of the local party from the partially-silvered mirror 521 and to reflect this image into the mini~ re camera 530.
Only the light reflected from the mirror 522 that falls within the camera's field of view will be captured by the camera, the camera's field of view being the area over which light is received by the camera.
An additional benef1t of mirror 522 is that it effectively corrects the image ofthe distant party which is transposed upon reflection at the partially-silvered mirror 521.
The mirror 522 also captures extraneous light of the distant party radiated from the terminal screen 125 and tr~ncmitted through the partially-silvered mirror 521. This extraneous light is then inadvertently refl~cte~l by mirror 522 toward the camera 530.
25 B. Apparatus Hood As shown in FIG. 6, all components of the apparatus are mounted in a hood 136 which is a metallic or plastic assembly consisting of top and side pieces rigidly bound to m~int~in the positions and geometrical relationships between the components of the apparatus, as is critical to the optimal performance of the apparatus. An additional - 30 part of the hood assembly is a baffle 131 which covers the open space above the partially-silvered mirror 521. The baffle 131 is optimally painted black to prevent stray - light from falling on the termin~l screen 125. Furthermore, the exterior of parts and mount assemblies located inside the hood are optimally painted black to elimin~te stray light and spurious reflections. A hood assembly constructed out of folded sheet metal or 35 molded plastic is suggested to reduce the cost and weight of the apparatus.
CA 02237901 1998-0~-13 C. Mirrors The partially-silvered mirror 521 shown in FIG. 6 reflects the image of the local party 110 and tr~n.smit~ the image of the distant party that is radiated from the terminal screen 125 and passed by the directionally tran.cmi~ive layer 601. The S percentage of light that is reflected and tr~n.~mitt~l by the mirror is dependent upon the reflectivity pre-selected for the mirror. Prior eye contact apparatus employ half-silvered mirrors which nominally have a reflectivity of 50%. Our analyses reveal that thereflectivity selected for the partially reflecting mirror 521 should be weighed and b~l~n(~ecl based upon two factors: the brightnes~ of the terminal screen 125 and the 10 amount of light needed to achieve adequate tr~n.~mi~ion from the camera 530.
The total percentage of light reflected (X) and the light transmitted (Y) by themirror is ideally 100% (i.e., X+Y=100%). Therefore, a mirror having a reflectivity of 30% will reflect 30% of the light incident upon it in one direction and will transmit 70%
of the light incident upon it in the other direction. Clearly, increasing the level of 15 reflected light (i.e., selecting a mirror with a higher reflectivity) to improve camera reception will directly result in a reduction in the brightn~ss of the light transmitted to the local party 110 from the terminal screen 125. Conversely, increasing the level of tr~n~mittP-l light (i.e., selecting a mirror with a lower reflectivity) to improve the perceived brightn~s~ from the receiving screen 125 will directly result in a reduction in 20 the ~uality of the signal tr~n.~mitted from the camera to the distant party. In an illustrative embodiment constructed of our invention, a reflectivity of 30% to 40% (and a tr~n~mi~ivity of 70% to 60%) was selected for the partially-silvered mirror 521.In a preferred embodiment, mirror 522 shown in FIGs. 8 and 9 is a full-silvered mirror having a reflectivity of 100%; however, the full-silvered mirror may not 25 n~cç~rily be employed in all implementations of this invention. In rotating the camera module 550 such that it is perpendicular to the terminal screen 125 and captures light directly from the partially-silvered rnirror 521, the second mirror 522 may be removed without departing from the spirit of the invention. This rotation of the camera module 550, causes the apparatus to protrude moderately further from the front of the terminal 30 screen; however, such an arrangement allows more of the local party and theirsurrolln-linp.s reflected by the ~lrst mirror to be directly captured by the camera without the size limitations imposed by the full-silvered rnirror.
D. Directionally Tr~ ive Layer -- Louver Assembly Unlike the prior a~?p~dLus shown in FIG. 5, 8, and 9, the apparatus of our 35 present invention shown in Fig. 6 does not include polarizers 511 and 512 between the terminal screen-125 and the partially-silvered mirror 521 and between the mirror 522 and CA 02237901 1998-0~-13 WO 97/18664 PCT~US9~7973 camera 530, respectively. Instead, the apparatus of our present invention includes a directiona~ly tr~n.cmi.scive layer, such as a louver assembly, for improving the contrast between the image of the local party 11~ captured by the camera 530 and extraneous light of the distant party radiated from the terminal screen 125. The tr~n.cmis~ive layer S serves the combined functions of the polarizers of the prior a~al~tus of Patent '285,but in addition, use of the louver assembly and elimin~tion of the polarizers offer the added advantage of significantly improving the tr~n.smic~ivity of the image of the local party 110 captured by the camera 530 and the tr~n.smi.c~ivity of the image of distant party radiated from the terminal screen to the local party.
To reduce the interfering light from the terminal screen 125, louver assembly 601 is positioned between the terminal screen 125 and the partially-silvered mirror 521 and substantially parallel to the termin~l screen 125 as shown in FIG. 6. The louver assembly 601 passes light from the terrninal screen that is radiated at an anglesubstantially parallel to the microlouvers in the louver assembly 601, which light is tr~n.smitted by the partially-silvered mirror 521 to the local party 110. Light from the terminal screen that is radiated at an angle that is substantially perpendicular to the louvers is absorbed by the louver assembly 601 and thus prevented from entering the camera for improved contrast between the image of the local party and other extraneous light at the camera.
Unlike the prior apparatus, in our present invention, the trslnsmicsivity of theimage radiated from the terminal screen 125 to the local party 110 and the tr~n.cmicsivity of the image of the local party captured at the camera are not sacrificed for improved contrast. In accordance with our invention, it is not necessary to tradeoff tr~n.slnis.sivity for improved contrast as high tr~n.smi.ssivity and improved contrast are both cimnlt~neously ~tt~in~ble without either sacrificing the other.
To illustrate the difference in the tr~nsmissivity for the prior apparatus of Patent '285 and our present invention, consider the following. For the prior apparatus of Patent '285, the tr~n.smi.s.sivity (Tprior) of the image radiated from the ttermin~l screen 125 to the local party 110 is equal to the trz~ncmissivity of the partially-silvered mirror 521 (Tmirror521) timesthetr~ncmi~.sivityofthepolarizerS11 (Tpo~ zer511) asshowninEq.1.
T prior = T mirror 52l x T poializer 511 ( 1 ) CA 02237901 1998-0~-13 For our present invention, the trancmiccivity (Tpresent) of the image radiated from the terrninal screen 125 to the local party 110 is equal to the tr~n.cmiscivity of the partially-silvered rnirror (Tmjrror 521) times the tr~n.cmic.civity of the louver assembly (Tlouver) as shown in Eq. 2.
5 Tpresent = Trrlirror 521 x Tlouver (2) Our research has shown that the typical tr~n.cmiccivity of the partially-silvered mirror is 0.7, of the polarizer 511 is 0.4, and of the louver assembly is 0.75, thus resulting in the following typical transmiccivities:
Tpnor = (0.7)(0.4) = 0.28 (3) 10 Tpresent = (0-7)(0-75) = 0.52 (4) Therefore, in accordance with our invention, the tr~ncmi.ccivity of light radiated from the terminal screen to the local party is almost double the tr~ncmic.civity achieved under the prior apparatus of Patent '285.
A comparison of the tr~n.cmi.ccivities of light radiated from the local party and 15 captured by the camera for the prior apparatus of Patent '285 and for our present invention presents an even more compelling result. For the prior apparatus of Patent '285, the overall trAncmicsivity (TprjOr) of the image radiated from the local party to the camera is equal to the reflectivity of the partially-silvered mirror (Rmjrror 512) times the reflectivity of the fully-reflective mirror (Rmjrror 522) times the tr~n.cmiccivity of the 20 polarizer 512 (TPOIariZer512) as shown in Eq. 5.
TPriOr = R mi~or521 X R mirror522 X TpolanzerSl2 (5) For our present invention, the tr~n.cmi.ccivity (TPMSent) of the image radiated from local party to the camera is equal to the reflectivity of the partially-silvered mirror (Rmjrror 521) times the reflectivity of the fully-reflective mirror (Rmirror 522) as shown in 25 Eq. 6.
TPrCSent = R mirrOr521 X R mirrOr522 (6) Our research has shown that the typical reflectivity of the partially-silvered mirror is 0.3 and of the fully reflective mirror 522 is 1.0 and that the typical tr:-ncmiccivity of the polarizer 512 is 0.4, thus reslllting in the following typical tr~n.cmi.csivities:
30 Tprior = (().3)(1)(0.4) = 0.12 CA 0223790l l998-0~-l3 WO 97/I86C4 PCTnUS96J17973 Tpresent - (~.3)(1) = 0.3 (8) Therefore, under our present invention, the tr~n.~mi~sivity of light radiated from the local party to the camera is two and one-half times the tr~n.cmis~civity achieved under the prior apparatus of Patent '285.
Illustratively, as shown in FIG. 7, the louver assembly 601 employed in our present invention is a thin plastic film comprising microlouvers 602 whieh are spaced approximately 0.005 to 0.010 inches apart. Each microlouver has a thickness of approximately 0.0005 inches, and the assembly has a depth of approximately 0.030inches which depth ensures a minim~l protrusion distance of the apparatus. Illustratively, 10 the Optical Systems Light Control Film produced by 3M may be used as the louver assembly 601.
~ONCLUSION
Thus, our invention overcomes a number of shortcomings and limitations of other apparatus used to create eye contact in video-conferencing. Specifically, our 15 invention improves the contrast between the image of the local party captured by the camera and extraneous light of the distant party radiated from a terminal screen by using a directionally tr~n~mi.~ive assembly, such as a louver assembly, in lieu of polarizers used in prior a~ LIls. An outstanding advantage of our inventive apparatus is that improved contrast is achieved without significantly reducing the tr~n.cmi.c.~ivity of the 20 image radiated from the terminal screen and viewed by the local party and thetr~n.cmi.~ivity of the image of the local party captured by the camera, unlike prior apparatuses employing polarizers which tradeoff reduced tr~n~mi.~sivity for improved contrast.
The embo~1imt~nt~ of the above described apparatus for establishing eye 25 contact between colnm-lnicating parties during video conferencing are intended to be illustrative of our invention. Numerous alternative embo~limPnt.c may be devised without departing from the spirit and scope of the following claims.
Claims (2)
1. A video conferencing terminal without polarizers for allowing eye contact between a local party viewing a terminal screen and the image of a distant party on said screen, said terminal including a camera module for capturing the image of the local party for transmission to a distant party and a partially silvered mirror for transmitting the image of the distant party on said screen to the local party to said camera module, said terminal further comprising means for concurrently increasing the transmission of light from said screen to the local party, for improving the contrast at said camera module between the image of the local party and the light radiated from said screen, and for increasing the transmission of light from the local party to said camera module, said means comprising a louver assembly having microlouvers, said louver assembly being positioned on said screen and between said screen and said camera module.
2. A video conferencing terminal in accordance with claim 1 wherein said microlouvers of said louver assembly are oriented between said screen arid the local party so that light from said screen that is radiated at an angle substantially parallel to the microlouvers is passed through to the local party while light from said screen that is radiated at an angle that is substantially perpendicular to said microlouvers is absorbed by said louver assembly and thus prevented from being transmitted by said partially silvered mirror to said camera module.
Applications Claiming Priority (3)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| US08/557,591 US5612734A (en) | 1995-11-13 | 1995-11-13 | Eye contact apparatus employing a directionally transmissive layer for video conferencing |
| US08/557,591 | 1995-11-14 | ||
| PCT/US1996/017973 WO1997018664A1 (en) | 1995-11-13 | 1996-11-06 | Eye contact apparatus employing a directionally transmissive layer for video conferencing |
Publications (2)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2237901A1 CA2237901A1 (en) | 1997-05-22 |
| CA2237901C true CA2237901C (en) | 2001-05-01 |
Family
ID=24226079
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002237901A Expired - Fee Related CA2237901C (en) | 1995-11-13 | 1996-11-06 | Eye contact apparatus employing a directionally transmissive layer for video conferencing |
Country Status (4)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| US (1) | US5612734A (en) |
| JP (1) | JPH11504780A (en) |
| CA (1) | CA2237901C (en) |
| WO (1) | WO1997018664A1 (en) |
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- 1995-11-13 US US08/557,591 patent/US5612734A/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
-
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- 1996-11-06 WO PCT/US1996/017973 patent/WO1997018664A1/en active Application Filing
- 1996-11-06 JP JP9518956A patent/JPH11504780A/en not_active Ceased
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| CA2237901A1 (en) | 1997-05-22 |
| US5612734A (en) | 1997-03-18 |
| WO1997018664A1 (en) | 1997-05-22 |
| JPH11504780A (en) | 1999-04-27 |
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