US5666155A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Eye contact video telephony
Assignee: Nokia of America Corp
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Filing: 1994-06-24
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Granted: 1997-09-09
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Expires: 2014-06-24
Abstract
Abstract An apparatus for creating an illusion of eye contact in a video telephony system includes a video camera and a display screen. The video camera is aligned with the display screen so the viewer's image is transmitted by the video camera with the illusion of eye contact. The display screen has an array of lenses defining part of a first optical path, for transmitting to a video camera a viewer's image. An array of regions interspersed among the array of lenses defines part of a second optical path, for directing to the viewer, displayed images. The array of lenses and the array of regions are each too small to be separately resolvable by the human eye, so that the lenses 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.
Inventors
- 👤 Keith Owen Mersereau
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-29 04:13
CPC Classifications
G; G02; G02B; G02B3/00; G02B3/0006; G02B3/0012; G02B3/0018; G02B27/00; G02B27/02; H; H04; H04N; H04N7/00; H04N7/14; H04N7/141; H04N7/142; H04N7/144; G02B3/0037; G02B3/0056
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 28
Claim 1
Independent Claim
192 words
A video display and image sensing system comprising: means for displaying video images that can be seen by a first viewer when the first viewer's eyes lie on a first optical path; image sensing means for generating a video signal representative of an image of the first viewer; the image sensing means being located on a second optical path that includes a part of the first optical path including the eyes of the first viewer so as to give to a second viewer viewing an image of the first viewer an illusion of eye contact; wherein the improvement is characterized in that: the display means comprises an array of lenses defining part of the first optical path, and an array of regions defining part of the second optical path; the array of regions are distributed among the array of lenses; and the array of regions and the array of lenses each have a length and a width of less than three hundred microns, whereby the array of regions and the array of lenses are so small as to be substantially unresolvable by the first or second viewers when viewing displayed video images.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
192 words
A video display and image sensing system comprising: means for displaying video images that can be seen by a first viewer when the first viewer's eyes lie on a first optical path; image sensing means for generating a video signal representative of an image of the first viewer; the image sensing means being located on a second optical path that includes a part of the first optical path including the eyes of the first viewer so as to give to a second viewer viewing an image of the first viewer an illusion of eye contact; wherein the improvement is characterized in that: the display means comprises an array of lenses defining part of the first optical path, and an array of regions defining part of the second optical path; the array of regions are distributed among the array of lenses; and the array of regions and the array of lenses each have a length and a width of less than three hundred microns, whereby the array of regions and the array of lenses are so small as to be substantially unresolvable by the first or second viewers when viewing displayed video images.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
51 words
The apparatus of claim 1 wherein: the array of lenses comprises means for transmitting part of the displayed video images and for blocking part of the viewer's image; and the array of regions comprises means for transmitting part of the viewer's image and for blocking part of the displayed video images.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
28 words
The apparatus of claim 2 wherein: the array of lenses and the array of regions comprise means for simultaneously transmitting the displayed video image and the viewer's image.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
38 words
The apparatus of claim 3 wherein: the array of lenses and the array of regions are formed in a first member; and the display means comprises a projection lens for imaging said video images onto said first member.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
32 words
The apparatus of claim 4 wherein: the first member is flat and has first and second sides; and the array of lenses is located on the first side of the first member.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
29 words
The apparatus of claim 5 wherein: the array of regions are substantially transparent regions; and the image sensing means is located adjacent the second side of the first member.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
13 words
The apparatus of claim 4 wherein: the array of regions comprises a mirror.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
13 words
The apparatus of claim 6 wherein: each lens comprises a substantially transparent microlens.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
40 words
The apparatus of claim 5 wherein: the array of regions comprises an array of substantially reflective regions in a first side of the first member; and the image sensing means is located adjacent a second side of the first member.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
49 words
The apparatus of claim 1 wherein: the image sensing means comprises a video camera; and the display means comprises a flat screen in which the array of regions and the array of lenses are defined, and a video projection system for imaging said video images onto said flat screen.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
50 words
The apparatus of claim 10 wherein: the array of lenses comprises an array of microlenses that define part of the first optical path, each microlens having a substantially circular periphery with a diameter of less than three hundred microns; and the microlenses are substantially uniformly distributed on the fiat screen.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
169 words
An eye contact video telephony system comprising: a display screen; means for projecting onto said display screen, video images that can be seen by a viewer; means comprising a video camera for sensing and transmitting an image of the viewer as the viewer watches video images; said display screen comprises an array of lenses and an array of regions, said array of regions being interspersed among the array of lenses; the array of lenses comprising means for directing to the viewer, video images; the array of lenses and the array of regions being too small to be individually resolvable when conventionally viewed by said viewer; and the array of regions comprising means for transmitting to the video camera said viewer's image, simultaneously with the projection of said video images to said viewer; said video camera being aligned with a position on the screen toward which the viewer looks to observe video images, whereby the viewer's image can be transmitted by the video camera with an illusion of eye contact.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
169 words
An eye contact video telephony system comprising: a display screen; means for projecting onto said display screen, video images that can be seen by a viewer; means comprising a video camera for sensing and transmitting an image of the viewer as the viewer watches video images; said display screen comprises an array of lenses and an array of regions, said array of regions being interspersed among the array of lenses; the array of lenses comprising means for directing to the viewer, video images; the array of lenses and the array of regions being too small to be individually resolvable when conventionally viewed by said viewer; and the array of regions comprising means for transmitting to the video camera said viewer's image, simultaneously with the projection of said video images to said viewer; said video camera being aligned with a position on the screen toward which the viewer looks to observe video images, whereby the viewer's image can be transmitted by the video camera with an illusion of eye contact.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
75 words
The apparatus of claim 12 wherein: the display screen directs video images from a first side thereof toward the viewer; the array of lenses define a first optical path from the projecting means to the viewer; the array of regions define a second optical path from the viewer to the video camera, part of the second path being displaced from the first path to allow the video camera to be displaced from the projecting means.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
37 words
The apparatus of claim 12 further comprising: means for forming video images; and wherein the projecting means comprises a lens between the forming means and the display screen for projecting video images substantially onto the display screen.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
27 words
The apparatus of claim 12 wherein: each lens of the array of lenses has a substantially circular periphery of less than about three hundred microns in diameter.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
31 words
The apparatus of claim 15 wherein: the array of lenses comprise an array of elements formed on a substrate by replicating the configurations of an array of meniscus shaped plastic material.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
57 words
The apparatus of claim 15 wherein: each of said lenses is a transparent lens; and the array of regions is a transparent region; the viewer is located on one side of the display screen, and the video camera and the means for projecting onto said display screen, are located on the opposite side of the display screen.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
52 words
The apparatus of claim 15 wherein: each of the lenses is transparent, and the array of regions is reflective; and the viewer and the camera are on one side of the display screen, and the means for projecting onto said display screen is located on the other side of the display screen.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
54 words
The apparatus of claim 12 wherein: the array of regions is a mirror; and the array of lenses is transparent; the viewer and the means for projecting onto said display screen are located on one side of the display screen, and the video camera is located on the opposite side of the display screen.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
30 words
The apparatus of claim 12 wherein: each lens of the array of lenses is a microlens which is separated from the other microlenses; and the array of regions are interconnected.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
182 words
A video telephony method comprising: projecting an image on a screen that can be seen by a first viewer when the first viewer's eyes are directed along a first optical path; sensing the image of the first viewer on a second optical path that includes a part of the first optical path upon which lie the first viewer's eyes; transmitting and displaying the image of the first viewer so as to give to a second viewer viewing an image of the first viewer an illusion of eye contact; wherein the improvement is characterized in that: the screen comprises an array of lenses defining part of the first optical path, and an array of regions defining part of the second optical path; the array of regions are distributed among the array of lenses; and the array of regions and the array of lenses each have a length and a width of less than three hundred microns, whereby the array of regions and the array of lenses are so small as to be substantially unresolvable by the first viewers when viewing displayed video images.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
182 words
A video telephony method comprising: projecting an image on a screen that can be seen by a first viewer when the first viewer's eyes are directed along a first optical path; sensing the image of the first viewer on a second optical path that includes a part of the first optical path upon which lie the first viewer's eyes; transmitting and displaying the image of the first viewer so as to give to a second viewer viewing an image of the first viewer an illusion of eye contact; wherein the improvement is characterized in that: the screen comprises an array of lenses defining part of the first optical path, and an array of regions defining part of the second optical path; the array of regions are distributed among the array of lenses; and the array of regions and the array of lenses each have a length and a width of less than three hundred microns, whereby the array of regions and the array of lenses are so small as to be substantially unresolvable by the first viewers when viewing displayed video images.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
43 words
The method of claim 21 wherein: the array of lenses transmits part of the displayed video images and blocks part of the viewer's image; and the array of regions transmits part of the viewer's image and blocks part of the displayed video images.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
25 words
The method of claim 22 wherein: the array of regions and the array of lenses simultaneously transmit the displayed video image and the viewer's image.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
30 words
The method of claim 23 wherein: the projecting step comprises the step of forming a first display and then using a lens to image the first display on said screen.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
39 words
The method of claim 21 wherein: the array of lenses comprises an array of microlenses that define part of the first optical path, each microlens having a substantially circular periphery with a diameter of less than three hundred microns.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2000-09-08 | 2001-03-10 | 2001-09-09 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2004-09-08 | 2005-03-10 | 2005-09-09 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2008-09-08 | 2009-03-10 | 2009-09-09 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |