Method and apparatus for predicting events in video conferencing and other applications
First Claim
1. A method for predicting an event using at least one of audio and video information, the method comprising the steps of:
- establishing a plurality of cues defining behavior characteristics that suggest that a given event; and
processing at least one of said audio and video information to identify one of said cues.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and apparatus are disclosed for predicting events using acoustic and visual cues. The present invention processes audio and video information to identify one or more (i) acoustic cues, such as intonation patterns, pitch and loudness, (ii) visual cues, such as gaze, facial pose, body postures, hand gestures and facial expressions, or (iii) a combination of the foregoing, that are typically associated with an event, such as behavior exhibited by a video conference participant before he or she speaks. In this manner, the present invention allows the video processing system to predict events, such as the identity of the next speaker. The predictive speaker identifier operates in a learning mode to learn the characteristic profile of each participant in terms of the concept that the participant “will speak” or “will not speak” under the presence or absence of one or more predefined visual or acoustic cues. The predictive speaker identifier operates in a predictive mode to compare the learned characteristics embodied in the characteristic profile to the audio and video information and thereby predict the next speaker.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. A method for predicting an event using at least one of audio and video information, the method comprising the steps of:
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establishing a plurality of cues defining behavior characteristics that suggest that a given event; and
processing at least one of said audio and video information to identify one of said cues. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method for tracking a speaker in a video processing system, said video processing system processing at least one of audio and video information, the method comprising the steps of:
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processing at least one of said audio and video information to identify one of a plurality of cues defining behavior characteristics that suggest that a person is about to speak; and
obtaining an image of said person associated with said identified cue. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A system for predicting an event using at least one of audio and video information, comprising:
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a memory for storing computer readable code; and
a processor operatively coupled to said memory, said processor configured to;
establish a plurality of cues defining behavior characteristics that suggest that a given event; and
process at least one of said audio and video information to identify one of said cues.
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23. A system for tracking a speaker in a video processing system, said video processing system processing at least one of audio and video information, comprising:
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a memory for storing computer readable code; and
a processor operatively coupled to said memory, said processor configured to;
process at least one of said audio and video information to identify one of a plurality of cues defining behavior characteristics that suggest that a person is about to speak; and
obtain an image of said person associated with said identified cue.
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24. An article of manufacture for predicting an event using at least one of audio and video information, comprising:
a computer readable medium having computer readable code means embodied thereon, said computer readable program code means comprising;
a step to establish a plurality of cues defining behavior characteristics that suggest that a given event; and
a step to process at least one of said audio and video information to identify one of said cues.
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25. An article of manufacture for tracking a speaker in a video processing system, said video processing system processing at least one of audio and video information, comprising:
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a computer readable medium having computer readable code means embodied thereon, said computer readable program code means comprising;
a step to process at least one of said audio and video information to identify one of a plurality of cues defining behavior characteristics that suggest that a person is about to speak; and
a step to obtain an image of said person associated with said identified cue.
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Specification