Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100131278 | Stereo to Mono Conversion for Voice Conferencing - Stereo to mono voice conferencing conversion is performed during a voice conference. Conferencing equipment receives audio for right and left channels and filters each of the channels into a plurality of bands. For each band of each channel, the equipment determines an energy level and compares each energy level for each band of the right channel to each energy level for each corresponding band of the left channel. Based on the comparison, the equipment determines which channel has more audio resulting from speech. Based on the determination, the equipment adjusts delivery of the audio from the right and left channels to a mono channel for transmission to endpoints only capable of mono audio in the voice conference. | 05-27-2010 |
20110069830 | Detection and Suppression of Returned Audio at Near-End - Audio from a near-end that has been acoustically coupled at the far-end and returned to the near-end unit is detected and suppressed at the near-end of a conference. First and second energy outputs for separate bands are determined for the near-end audio being sent from the near-end unit and for the far-end audio being received at the near-end unit. The near-end unit compares the first and second energy outputs to one another for each of the bands over a time delay range and detects the return of the sent near-end audio in the received far-end audio based on the comparison. The comparison can use a cross-correlation to find an estimated time delay used for further analysis of the near and far-end energies. The near-end unit suppresses any detected return by muting or reducing what far-end audio is output at its loudspeaker. | 03-24-2011 |
20120290305 | Scalable Audio in a Multi-Point Environment - Use of a scalable audio codec to implement distributed mixing and/or sender bit rate regulation in a multipoint conference is disclosed. The scalable audio codec allows the audio signal from each endpoint to be split into one or more frequency bands and for the transform coefficients within such bands to be prioritized such that usable audio may be decoded from a subset of the entire signal. The subset may be created by omitting certain frequency bands and/or by omitting certain coefficients within the frequency bands. By providing various rules for each endpoint in a conference, the endpoint can determine the importance of its signal to the conference and can select an appropriate bit rate, thereby conserving bandwidth and/or processing power throughout the conference. | 11-15-2012 |
20120320143 | Automatic Camera Selection for Videoconferencing - In videoconference camera selection, audio inputs associated with cameras for a videoconference are each processed into first and second audio energies respectively for first and second frequency ranges. The selection then determines which of the audio inputs has a greatest ratio of the first audio energy to the second audio energy and selects the associated camera view for outputting video for the videoconference. The selection can also process video inputs from the cameras either alone or in combination with the audio processing. Either way, the selection processes each of the video inputs for at least one facial characteristic and determines which of the video inputs has a greatest likelihood of framing a human face. In the end, the selection selects the associated camera view for outputting video for the videoconference based at least in part on this video-based determination. | 12-20-2012 |
20130106975 | Mobile Group Conferencing with Portable Devices | 05-02-2013 |
20130106976 | Portable Devices as Videoconferencing Peripherals | 05-02-2013 |
20130106977 | Pairing Devices in Conference Using Ultrasonic Beacon | 05-02-2013 |
20130108076 | Compensating for Different Audio Clocks Between Devices Using Ultrasonic Beacon | 05-02-2013 |
20130294612 | AUTOMATIC MICROPHONE MUTING OF UNDESIRED NOISES BY MICROPHONE ARRAYS - Methods and systems for cancelation of table noise in a speaker system used for video or audio conferencing are disclosed. Table noise is cancelled by using a vertical microphone array to distinguish the tilt angle of sound received by a microphone. If the sound is close to horizontal, the audio is muted. If the sound is above a given angle from horizontal, it is not muted, as this indicates a person speaking. This eliminates paper rustling, keyboard clicks and the like. | 11-07-2013 |
20140049595 | Videoconferencing System Having Adjunct Camera for Auto-Framing and Tracking - A videoconference apparatus and method coordinates a stationary view obtained with a stationary camera to an adjustable view obtained with an adjustable camera. The stationary camera can be a web camera, while the adjustable camera can be a pan-tilt-zoom camera. As the stationary camera obtains video, faces of participants are detected, and a boundary in the view is determined to contain the detected faces. Absence and presences of motion associated with the detected face is used to verify whether a face is reliable. To then capture and output video of the participants for the videoconference, the view of the adjustable camera is adjusted to a framed view based on the determined boundary. In the end, active video captured in the framed view with the adjustable camera can be sent to a far-end for the videoconference. | 02-20-2014 |
20140072143 | AUTOMATIC MICROPHONE MUTING OF UNDESIRED NOISES - Methods and systems for cancelation of table noise in a speaker system used for video or audio conferencing are disclosed. Table noise is cancelled in one embodiment by providing a signal or a message whenever a key is depressed on a keyboard or a mouse is clicked. When the key depression signal or message is received, the system evaluates whether speech is occurring. If speech is not occurring, then the microphone in the system is muted. However, if speech is occurring, the microphone is not muted for a period of time to allow the speech to be transmitted to the far end. This allows the conference to be continued in the presence of keyboard sounds if speech is occurring at the same time but also silences the keyboard sounds if speech is not occurring. | 03-13-2014 |
20140098950 | Detection and Suppression of Returned Audio at Near-End - Audio from a near-end that has been acoustically coupled at the far-end and returned to the near-end unit is detected and suppressed at the near-end of a conference. First and second energy outputs for separate bands are determined for the near-end audio being sent from the near-end unit and for the far-end audio being received at the near-end unit. The near-end unit compares the first and second energy outputs to one another for each of the bands over a time delay range and detects the return of the sent near-end audio in the received far-end audio based on the comparison. The comparison can use a cross-correlation to find an estimated time delay used for further analysis of the near and far-end energies. The near-end unit suppresses any detected return by muting or reducing what far-end audio is output at its loudspeaker. | 04-10-2014 |
20150030149 | Speech-Selective Audio Mixing for Conference - A conference apparatus reduces or eliminates noise in audio for endpoints in a conference. Endpoints in the conference are designated as a primary talker and as secondary talkers. Audio for the endpoints is processed with speech detectors to characterize the audio as speech or not and to determine energy levels of the audio. As the audio is written to buffers and then read from the buffers, decisions for the gain settings of faders for read audio of the endpoints being combined in the speech selective mix. In addition, the conference apparatus can mitigate the effects of a possible speech collision that may occur during the conference between endpoints. | 01-29-2015 |