Virtual conferencing

Traditional multi-party video and audio conferencing systems do not support completely natural communications between participants. Communication between people involves a combination of speech, facial expressions and body gestures. In a multi-party interaction these communication channels need to be directed towards particular participants. Spatial proximity and gaze direction are therefore important elements for effective conversational interactions that are largely unavailable in existing conferencing tools. Some of the more advanced audio conferencing systems do simulate presence in a shared environment by using a system of avatars to represent the people taking part in a meeting, but at present the keyboard and mouse need to be used to direct conversations to specific people or change the avatar in some way to simulate emotion