A device that provides an eye-to-eye video perspective for interactive television

Abstract

A device that allows individuals to engage in eye contact while interacting over two-way television is described. The apparatus consists of a television monitor and low light-level television camera housed within a cabinet containing a mirror system that resembles a combination beam splitter and periscope. Through the mirror system, the pick-up camera captures a reflected full-face eye-level image of the television viewer as he or she attends to the display monitor. The device is particularly useful for studying the nonverbal communication patterns of individuals engaged in social interaction. kind of eye-to-eye contact experienced in direct faceto-face encounters.The apparatus described here eliminates this problem by using a series of mirrors to supply each television camera with a visual perspective that is directly in line with the user's direction of gaze while oriented toward the television monitor. The components used at each communication terminal are shown in Figure 1. A piece of lightly silvered ("one-way") glass is placed directly in front of a television monitor at a 45-deg angle with respect to the user's line of sight. A cabinet, painted with light absorbing pigment and constructed around the silvered glass, allows the user to view the monitor through the glass while his/her image is reflected to a second reflective surface . The second surface Interactive or two-way television systems make "face-to-face" communication between individuals located outside of each other's physical presence possible by providing electronically mediated representations of each person's voice and visual presence. Conventional interactive television (fATV) systems generate and display video signals at communication terminals consisting of a television camera mounted on top of, below, or beside a television monitor. The video image received by the television monitor at one terminal is sent by the television camera located at the other terminal. Voice communication is accomplished by way of a "hands-free" intercom or telephone desk sets.

Portable apparatus for recording direct frontal views of conversing subjects’ faces

“…Also, one cannot obtain a direct frontal view of a subject's face, because the partner's head will be in the way, and as a result, it will always be somewhat difficult to score eye contact from videotape. Wellens (1978) has used an interactive TV system for obtaining direct frontal views, but the equipment is expensive and the two centered images of subjects' faces cannot readily be merged and recorded for playback on a single monitor.…”

The periscope box: A nonobtrusive method of providing an eye-to-eye video perspective

“…Both Wellens (1978) and Dabbs (1979) have previously suggested apparatuses for obtaining an eye-to-eye perspective in closed-circuit television interaction paradigms. The device described here can be used for this purpose when two units are employed, but it has the advantage in single subject paradigms of creating a situation in which subjects are unlikely to believe themselves to be under observation while it nonetheless provides an eye-to-eye perspective on the subject.…”