ConnectBoard: A remote collaboration system that supports gaze-aware interaction and sharing

We present ConnectBoard, a new system for remote collaboration where users experience natural interaction with one another, seemingly separated only by a vertical, transparent sheet of glass. It overcomes two key shortcomings of conventional video communication systems: the inability to seamlessly capture natural user interactions, like using hands to point and gesture at parts of shared documents, and the inability of users to look into the camera lens without taking their eyes off the display. We solve these problems by placing the camera behind the screen, where the remote user is virtually located. The camera sees through the display to capture images of the user. As a result, our setup captures natural, frontal views of users as they point and gesture at shared media displayed on the screen between them. Users also never have to take their eyes off their screens to look into the camera lens. Our novel optical solution based on wavelength multiplexing can be easily built with off-the-shelf components and does not require custom electronics for projector-camera synchronization.