Method and Design for Optimum Camera and Display Alignment of Center of the Room Video Conferencing Systems

A method of simulating eye contact within a teleconferencing system, the method comprising:

• providing a support structure for placement on a surface;
• providing a camera device coupled to the support structure, the camera device having a first height along a first line orthogonal to the surface;
• providing one or more display surfaces disposed in a regular perimeter around the camera device, the one or more display surfaces including a first display surface having a top region, the top region having a second height along a second line parallel to the first line, the second height shorter than the first height;
• and
• capturing, using a the camera device, image data such that when eyes of a first participant are at a point within a predetermined distance from a central portion of the first display surface, and a third line orthogonal to the first display surface forms an angle with a fourth line from the camera device intersecting the point, the image data corresponding to the eyes of the first participant is renderable to a second display surface so as to be perceivable as making eye contact with a second participant viewing the second display surface, and the angle so formed is greater than zero degrees and less than or equal to twenty degrees.