Eye gaze is a useful element when communicating in group with three or more people. The eye gaze information is useful for the person talking, in order to direct his attention to a specific person and to get feedback from him; for the listeners, in order to understand who the speaker is talking to and whom (or what) the other listeners are looking at; and for turn-taking. As such, people can see each other (visibility), they know that other people can see them (awareness), and they know that the other people know that they can see them (accountability). The latter is referred to as social translucency.
In face-to-face conversations, the eye gaze of an individual is easy to detect. However, in today's multi-party video calls (Computer Mediated Communications), all participants are looking almost directly into their small monitor at the (mosaic of) other people whereby eye gaze direction is almost completely lost. As a result, each individual feels as if every other participant is looking directly at him. All participants therefore feel that they get much more attention than they would normally attract or deserve in the given social setting. The social translucency is completely lost.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds