TELECONFERENCING CONFIGURATION BASED ON PROXIMITY INFORMATION

• US 20080160976A1
• Filed: 12/27/2006
• Published: 07/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Selin, Jari, Virolainen, Jussi, Saunamaki, Jukka
• Granted Patent: US 8,503,651 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4038 with floor control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/765 intermediate
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2094 Proximity
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/18 wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/14 with services dependent on location where the service is an information service H04M2242/15; services independent of location H04M3/42229
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/30 Determination of the location of a subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/568 audio processing specific to telephonic conferencing, e.g. spatial distribution, mixing of participants echo suppression in two-way loud-speaking telephone systems H04M9/02; sound field processing per se H04S7/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Teleconferencing systems may adapt to changes associated with participating terminals by monitoring characteristics of the terminals and modifying audio streams in accordance with detected changes. A terminal moving from a location shared with one or more other participating terminals may be detected in a variety of ways. In response to the location change, a teleconference server may modify the audio stream transmitted to the terminal so that audio originating from the one or more other participating terminals is included in the stream. Additionally, audio streams transmitted to the one or more other terminals may also be modified to include audio signals originating from the moved terminal. Other changes to a terminal that may also affect audio processing include activating a muting function. Muting a terminal while the terminal is among a group of participating terminals may cause the audio signals from the other terminals to also be muted.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

detecting, at a teleconference server, a change corresponding to a terminal participating in a teleconference;

determining, at the teleconference server, whether the change corresponds to a location change of the terminal;

in response to determining that the change corresponds to the location change, identifying one or more audio streams that are to be reconfigured based on the location change; and

reconfiguring the identified one or more audio streams.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the change includes monitoring one or more context fingerprints of the terminal.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more context fingerprints include information associated with at least one of global positioning system (GPS) coordinates, camera sensor signals, acoustic sensor signals, wireless network characteristics, global system for mobile communications (GSM) base station identification information and BLUETOOTH neighborhood information.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying one or more audio streams that are to be reconfigured based on the location change is performed based on one or more predefined location groups of one or more terminals corresponding to the one or more audio streams.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the change corresponds to a location change of the terminal includes determining that the change corresponds to a switch, by the terminal, from a local mode to a stand-alone mode.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of identifying one or more audio streams that are to be reconfigured based on the location change includes identifying one or more other terminals associated with a location group previously associated with the terminal.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the location change corresponds to a manual mode change.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to determining that the change does not correspond to the location change, determining whether the change corresponds to an activation of a mute functionality;

in response to determining that the change corresponds to activation of the mute functionality;

determining a location group corresponding to the terminal; and

filtering out audio signals received from all terminals associated with the location group.

9. A computer readable medium storing computer executable instructions that, when executed, cause a processor to perform a method comprising:

detecting a change corresponding to a terminal participating in a teleconference;

determining whether the change corresponds to a location change of the terminal;

in response to determining that the change corresponds to the location change, identifying one or more audio streams that are to be reconfigured based on the location change; and

reconfiguring the identified one or more audio streams.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions for detecting the change includes further instructions for monitoring one or more context fingerprints of the terminal.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the one or more context fingerprints include information associated with at least one of global positioning system (GPS) coordinates, camera sensor signals, acoustic sensor signals, global system for mobile communications (GSM) base station identification information and BLUETOOTH neighborhood information.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions for identifying one or more audio streams that are to be reconfigured based on the location change are performed based on one or more predefined location groups of one or more terminals corresponding to the one or more audio streams.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions for determining whether the change corresponds to a location change of the terminal includes further instructions for determining that the change corresponds to a switch, by the terminal, from a local mode to a stand-alone mode.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions for identifying one or more audio streams that are to be reconfigured based on the location change include further instructions for identifying one or more other terminals associated with a location group previously associated with the terminal.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 9, further comprising instructions for:

in response to determining that the change does not correspond to the location change, determining whether the change corresponds to an activation of a mute functionality;

in response to determining that the change corresponds to activation of the mute functionality;

determining a location group corresponding to the terminal; and

filtering out audio signals received from all terminals associated with the location group.

16. An apparatus comprising:

a grouping module configured to;

monitor for a change in a terminal participating in a teleconference, the change corresponding to at least one of a location change and a function activation, and

determine whether the terminal is in a local mode or a stand-alone mode, wherein the local mode indicates that the terminal is in a first location with one or more other terminals participating in the teleconference and wherein the stand-alone mode indicates that the terminal is in a second location without the one or more other terminals; and

an audio mixing module configured to reconfigure one or more audio streams in response to the grouping module detecting the change in the terminal.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the grouping module is configured to monitor for the change based on context fingerprint information received from the terminal, wherein the context fingerprint information is derived from one or more sensor readings taken by the terminal.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the context fingerprint information includes at least one of global positioning system (GPS) coordinates, camera sensor signals, acoustic sensor signals, global system for mobile communications (GSM) base station identification information and BLUETOOTH neighborhood information.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the grouping module is further configured to identify a location group associated with the terminal in response to determining that the terminal is in a local mode.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the audio mixing module is configured to reconfigure the one or more audio streams in a manner based on the change in the terminal.

21. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the grouping module monitors for the change in the terminal using session initiation protocol (SIP).

22. An apparatus comprising:

means for detecting a change corresponding to a terminal participating in a teleconference;

means for determining whether the change corresponds to a location change of the terminal;

means for identifying one or more audio streams that are to be reconfigured based on the location change in response to determining that the change corresponds to the location change; and

means for reconfiguring the identified one or more audio streams.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the means for identifying one or more audio streams is further configured to identify one or more other terminals associated with a location group previously associated with the terminal