VIDEO COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS AND METHODS

• US 20080030621A1
• Filed: 08/04/2006
• Published: 02/07/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Computer Incorporated (Apple Inc.)
• Inventors: Knight, Kurt, Zhang, Chendi, Forstall, Scott, Ciudad, Jean-Pierre, Brunner, Ralph, Stochosky, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 8,294,823 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/586
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/147 Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals selecting H04Q

Abstract

An image of a background is stored and thereafter removed from a video stream. Substitute background video data is merged into the video stream and provided to videoconference participants.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

storing reference video data of a videoconference participant environment;

receiving video data of the videoconference participant environment;

subtracting the stored reference video data from the video data to generate subtracted video data;

adding background video data to the subtracted video data to generate composite video data; and

transmitting the composite video data to a videoconference.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prompting a user to select from a plurality of background video data items; and

receiving a selection for one of the background video data items to be added to generate the composite video data.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prompting a user to select one or more background video data items;

prompting a user to select one or more videoconference participants;

associating the one ore more background video data items with the one or more videoconference participants; and

for each videoconference participant, adding the associated background video data item to the subtracted video data to generate associated composite video data and transmitting the associated composite video data to the associated videoconference participant.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein:

the user is a videoconference participant.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing video data files;

storing image data files, and

prompting a user to select one of the stored video data files or one of the stored image data files as the background video data item.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

defining a time period;

receiving video frame data corresponding to the time period; and

subtracting the stored reference video data from the video frame data for each video frame.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving video frame data at a rate of substantially thirty frames per second; and

subtracting the stored background video data from the video frame data.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein:

subtracting the stored reference video data from the video data to generate subtracted video data comprises;

determining if a pixel of the video data matches a pixel of the stored reference video data; and

if the pixel of the video data matches a pixel of the stored reference video data, then replacing the pixel of the video data with a corresponding pixel of the background video data.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein:

subtracting the stored reference video data from the video data to generate subtracted video data comprises;

determining if a pixel of the video data matches a pixel of the stored reference video data; and

if the pixel of the video data matches a pixel of the stored reference video data, then designating the pixel as transparent data.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein:

subtracting the stored reference video data from the video data to generate subtracted video data comprises;

determining if a pixel of the video data matches a pixel of the stored reference video data; and

if the pixel of the video data matches a pixel of the stored reference video data, then designating the pixel as translucent data.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein:

adding background video data to the subtracted video data to generate composite video data comprises;

generating first layer data from the subtracted video data;

generating second layer data from the background video data item; and

merging the first layer data and the second layer data.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein:

storing reference video data of a videoconference participant environment comprises;

prompting a videoconference participant to move out of the videoconference participant environment; and

storing image data of the videoconference participant environment without the participant present.

13. The method of claim 12, comprising:

prompting the videoconference participant to indicate when the videoconference participant has moved out of the videoconference environment.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving selections of a plurality of background video data items; and

periodically selecting one of the selected plurality of background video data items for adding to the subtracted video data.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein:

adding background video data to the subtracted video data to generate composite video data comprises adding streamed video data to the subtracted video data.

16. A system, comprising:

a video camera configured to generate video data;

a data store storing background data files;

a communication subsystem to receive and transmit video data;

a video processing device configured to capture camera background data of a videoconference environment and receive video data of the video conference environment, and to remove the camera background data from the video data and substitute the background data files to generate composite video data and transmit the composite video data to a videoconference.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein:

the background data files comprise video data files and image data files.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein:

the background data files comprise slideshow data files.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein:

the video processing device is further configured to prompt a user to select one or more background data files and one or more video conference participants and associate the one or more background data files with the one or more videoconference participants and for each videoconference participant substitute the associated background data file to generate associated composite video data and transmit the associated composite video data to the videoconference participant.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein:

the processing device is further configured to prompt a user to select one or more background data files to define slideshow data and periodically select the one or more background data files from the slideshow data for substitution to generate the composite video data.

21. The system of claim 16, wherein:

the background video data comprises streamed video data received over the communication subsystem.

22. A method, comprising:

storing an image of a background;

receiving video frames of the background;

subtracting the image of the background video into the video frames; and

transmitting the merged video frames to a videoconference.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

prompting a user to select the substitute background video.

24. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

receiving selections for one or more background videos;

associating each of the selected background videos with a corresponding videoconference participant;

for each videoconference participant, merging the associated selected background video into the video frames to generate associated merged video frames; and

transmitting the associated merged video frames to the corresponding videoconference participants.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein:

the background video comprises video data or image data.

26. A system, comprising:

means for removing a background data from a videoconference stream;

means for adding substitute background data into the videoconference stream; and

means for transmitting the videoconference stream to videoconference participants.