Video Conference System that Keeps Mutual Eye Contact Among Participants

A novel video conference system is developed. Suppose that three people A, B, and C attend the video conference, the proposed system enables eye contact among every pair. Furthermore, when B and C chat, A feels as if B and C were facing each other (eye contact seems to be kept among B and C). In the case of a triangle video conference, the respective video system is composed of a half mirror, two video cameras, and two monitors. Each participant watches other participants' images that are reflected by the half mirror. Cameras are set behind the half mirror. Since participants' image (face) and the camera position are adjusted to be the same direction, eye contact is kept and conversation becomes very natural compared with conventional video conference systems where participants' eyes do not point to the other participant. When 3 participants sit at the vertex of an equilateral triangle, eyes can be kept even for the situation mentioned above (eye contact between B and C from the aspect of A). Eye contact can be kept not only for 2 or 3 participants but also any number of participants as far as they sit at the vertex of a regular polygon