TELECOMMUNICATION AND MULTIMEDIA MANAGEMENT METHOD AND APPARATUS

• US 20090003536A1
• Filed: 05/27/2008
• Published: 01/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Voxer IP LLC (Voxer, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rebelvox LLC (Voxer, Inc.)
• Inventors: Katis, Thomas E., Panttaja, Mary G., Ranney, Matthew J., Panttaja, James T.
• Granted Patent: US 8,744,050 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/68
• CPC Class Codes: E04H 3/126 Foldable, retractable or tiltable tribunes E04H3/123 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/16 Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1831 Tracking arrangements for later retrieval, e.g. recording contents, participants activities or behavior, network status
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/10 Multimedia information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/216 Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/226 Delivery according to priorities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2503 Translation of Internet protocol [IP] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1083 In-session procedures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4015 where at least one of the additional parallel sessions is real time or time sensitive, e.g. white board sharing, collaboration or spawning of a subconference
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/752 adapting media to network capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/764 at the destination reformatting of additional data in video clients H04N21/4355
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/64 Automatic arrangements for answering calls; Automatic arrangements for recording messages for absent subscribers; Arrangements for recording conversations centralised dictation systems H04M11/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/00 Telephonic communication systems specially adapted for combination with other electrical systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/53 Centralised arrangements for recording incoming messages , i.e. mailbox systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5307 for recording messages comprising any combination of audio and non-audio components
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/147 Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals selecting H04Q
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/15 : Conference systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 : Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements

Abstract

A communication device for rendering one or more conversations. The communication device includes a receiver configured to receive media over a network and an encoder configured to encode media created using the communication device, where the received and encoded media are associated with the one or more conversations. A storage or memory element stores on the device both the received media and the encoded media. A conversation control element is provided for selecting one of the one or more conversations as current and for controlling the rendering of the media of the selected conversation. A rendering element, controlled by the conversation control element, is provided to render the media associated with the selected current conversation on the communication device in either (a) a near real-time mode where the received media associated with the selected current conversation is progressively rendered as it is received or (b) a time shifted mode where the received and encoded media associated with the selected current conversion is rendered at a time after it was encoded or received. The device further includes a transmitter configured to transmit the encoded media associated with the selected current conversation over the network to one or more remote communication devices.

Claims

1. A communication device, comprising:

a receiver configured to receive at the communication device media associated with one or more conversations over a network;

an encoder configured to encode media created using the communication device, the encoded media associated with the one or more conversations;

a storage or memory element configured to store on the communication device the received media associated with the one or more conversations as the media is received over the network and the encoded media associated with the one or more conversations;

a conversation control element configured to select on the communication device one of the one or more conversations as current; and

a rendering element, coupled to and controlled by the conversation control element, the rendering element further configured to render the media associated with the selected current conversation on the communication device in either;

(a) a near real-time mode where the received media associated with the selected current conversation is progressively rendered as it is received;

or

(b) a time shifted mode where the received and encoded media associated with the selected current conversion is rendered at a time after it was encoded or received; and

a transmitter configured to transmit the encoded media associated with the selected current conversation over the network to one or more remote communication devices.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the conversation control element is further configured to:

optionally shift the selected current conversation among the one or more conversations,

wherein the rendering element is further configured to render the received media and the encoded media of the shifted current conversation in either the near real-time mode or the time-shifted mode.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the conversation control element is further configured to cause the rendering element to selectively transition the rendering of the media associated with the selected current conversation back and forth between the near real-time and the time-shifted modes.

4. The device claim 1, wherein the selected current conversation further comprises an exchange of the received and encoded media among the participants of the selected current conversation.

5. The device claim 1, wherein the receiver and the rendering element are further configured to progressively render the received media associated with the selected current conversation as the media is received over the network in the near real-time rendering mode.

6. The device claim 1, wherein the storage or memory element and the rendering element are further configured to progressively render the media of the selected current conversation from the storage or memory element when in the time-shifted mode.

7. The device claim 1, wherein the conversation control element, the storage or memory element, and the rendering element are further configured to provide on the communication device the ability to selectively pause and then resume the rendering of the currently selected conversation, the storage or memory element continually storing the received media associated with the one or more conversations during the pause.

8. The device claim 1, wherein the conversation control element and the rendering element are further configured to render the media of the selected current conversation from the memory or storage element in the time-shifted mode starting at a previous point in time of the selected current conversation.

9. The device claim 1, wherein the conversation control element and the rendering element are further configured to provide the ability to review in the time-shifted mode the received media of the selected current conversation from a selected one participant of the current conversation by retrieving the received media from the selected one participant from the storage or memory element.

10. The device claim 1, wherein the conversation control element and the rendering element are further configured to provide the ability to review in the time-shifted mode the received media of the selected current conversation from two or more participants of the current conversation by retrieving the received media from the two or more participants from the storage or memory element.

11. The device claim 1, wherein the conversation control element further comprises an input element configured to receive a rendering point input which defines a previous point in time of the selected current conversation to begin the rendering of the selected current conversation in the time-shifted mode,

wherein the point in time is selected and input by a user of the communication device.

12. The device claim 1, wherein the rendering element is further configured to render multiple media streams on the communication device from multiple participants associated with the selected current conversation, each of the multiple streams of media including a plurality of time indexed media payloads, each time indexed media payload having time index information associated therewith,

the rendering element rendering the multiple media streams by overlapping the indexed media payloads per participant by time.

13. The device claim 1, wherein the conversation control element and the rendering element are further configured to transition the rendering of the received media of the selected current conversation from the time-shifted mode to the near real-time mode by:

rendering the retrieved media at an increased rendering rate from the storage or memory element until the retrieved media has caught up to and is substantially concurrent with the received media of the selected conversation as received over the network; and

then

rendering the media of the selected current conversation in the near real-time mode as it is being received over the network after the catch-up point.

14. The device claim 1, wherein the conversation control element further comprises a conversation select input configured to receive a conversation selection input and a rendering point input defining a point to render the media associated with the input selected conversation, the conversation control element further configured to cause the rendering element to render the input selected conversation starting at the input starting point.

15. The device claim 2, wherein the transmitter is further configured to transmit encoded media associated with each of the selected current conversations as selected by the conversation control element.

16. The device claim 1, wherein the media associated with the one or more conversations is segmented into messages.

17. The device claim 1, further comprising providing a plurality of rendering options for rendering the media of the one or more conversations, the rendering options including one or more of the following:

pause, replay, play faster, play slower, jump backward, jump forward, skip silence, catch up to the most recently received media, or jump to the most recently received media.

18. The device claim 1, further comprising progressively storing the encoded media as the media is being created before transmitting the encoded media.

19. The device claim 1, further comprising progressively transmitting the encoded media as the media is being created before storing the encoded media.

20. The device claim 1, further comprising concurrently and progressively rendering and storing the encoded media as the media is being created and encoded.

21. The device claim 1, further comprising storing the received media of the selected conversation, the received media being stored before rendering the received media in the near real-time mode.

22. The device claim 1, further comprising progressively rendering the received media associated with the selected current conversation in the near real-time mode, the received media being rendered before storing the received media.

23. The device claim 1, further comprising concurrently and progressively rendering and storing the received media associated with the selected current conversation as the media is being received.

24. The device claim 1, wherein transmitting over the network the encoded media created on the communication device further comprises:

ascertaining if the communication device is connected to the network when the media is encoded; and

progressively transmitting the media if the communication device is connected to the network,

wherein connected to the network is defined as the ability to transfer data between the communication device and the network.

25. The device claim 24, further comprising;

ascertaining the bandwidth rate of the connection between the network and the communication device when the media is being created; and

progressively transmitting the created media within the ascertained bandwidth rate.

26. The device claim 1, wherein transmitting over the network the encoded media created on the communication device further comprises:

ascertaining if the communication device is disconnected from the network when the media is encoded;

detecting when the first communication device reconnects to the network; and

transmitting the created media from storage or memory after the communication device reconnects to the network,

wherein connected and disconnected to the network is defined as the ability to transfer or not transfer data between the communication device and the network respectively.

27. The device claim 1, wherein transmitting over the network the encoded media created on the communication device further comprises:

ascertaining if network conditions are sufficiently poor to prevent the transmission when the media is created;

detecting when network conditions sufficiently improve to enable the transmission; and

transmitting the created media from storage or memory after detecting when the network conditions sufficiently improve.

28. The device claim 1, wherein the media further comprises one or more of the following types of media:

voice, video, text, sensor data, position or GPS information, radio signals, or a combination thereof.

29. The device claim 1, wherein the communication device comprises one of the following:

a, land-line phone, a wireless or cellular phone, a computer or a radio, a satellite phone or radio, or a tactical radio or phone.

30. The device claim 1, wherein the network comprises a packet-based network, a circuit-based network, a cellular network, a wireless network, a radio based network, a telephone network, a satellite network, a wired network, a fiber optic network, or a combination thereof.

31. The device claim 1, further comprising:

receiving urgent media at the communication device; and

rendering the urgent media before rendering other media associated with the one or more conversations.