Eye contact video telephony

DETAILED DESCRIPTION One embodiment of the invention comprises means for projecting onto a flat display screen images that can be seen by a viewer or subscriber of the system.
The screen comprises a first array of first discrete regions for directing to the viewer the video display images, and a second array of second regions interspersed among the first regions.
The second array comprises means for transmitting the viewer's image to a video camera while simultaneously directing the video display images to the viewer.
The video camera is aligned with a position on the screen toward which the viewer looks to observe the video display images, whereby the viewer's image can be transmitted by the video camera to give an illusion of eye contact.
A similar system may be included at the locations of one or more other subscribers to the system, who also will have their images transmitted as they look directly into a camera when viewing their respective displays, thereby giving the illusion of eye contact among the various subscribers.
In one embodiment of the invention, the first array comprises an array of microlenses that forms the screen for the projected video display images, and the second array comprises an array of transparent regions in the screen interspersed among the microlenses for transmitting to the video camera the viewer's image.
The microlenses and the transparent regions are each too small to be separately resolvable by the human eye so that the microlenses do not interfere with the perceived quality of the transmitted viewer's image, and the transparent regions do not deteriorate noticeably the video display images projected to the viewer.
Such structures can be made with precision and at low cost by using recently developed technologies, as will be described below.
Various other embodiments, modifications, benefits, advantages and features of the invention will be better understood from a consideration of the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing