Method and apparatus for virtual auditorium usable for a conference call or remote live presentation with audience response thereto

• US 20090067349A1
• Filed: 09/11/2007
• Published: 03/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/11/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: eJamming, Inc.
• Original Assignee: eJamming, Inc.
• Inventors: Glueckman, Alan Jay, Kantor, Gail Susan, Redmann, William Gibbens
• Granted Patent: US 9,131,016 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/260
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1059 End-user terminal functionalities specially adapted for real-time communication
• 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 65/4053 without floor control

Abstract

A method and apparatus are disclosed for providing a virtual auditorium for a remote, live performance to a remote, distributed audience, wherein the performers receive the reaction of the audience members in substantially real time. The live performance can itself be distributed geographically, as taught in the prior art, and may be multimedia in nature, for example audio (monophonic, stereo, or multi-channel) can be augmented by images, video, MIDI, text (e.g., commentary, lyrics), etc. Further, the distributed audience members can receive each other'"'"'s reaction, also in substantially real time, whereby the virtual auditorium is created wherein the distributed audience members constitute a virtual assembly.

The same virtual auditorium, sans performers, can be used as a venue to conduct a conference call of arbitrary size without the expense of a central voice bridge.

Claims

28. A method for providing a virtual auditorium comprising steps of:

a) providing a communication channel;

b) providing a station to each of a plurality of participants, each station having an input, an output, and an interface to said communication channel;

c) configuring each station for communication with at least another one of said plurality of stations;

d) capturing a signal from a first participant of said plurality of participants with the corresponding input of the corresponding station;

e) sending at least a portion of said signal to each other station for which said corresponding station is configured;

f) receiving at least a portion of said signal at each receiving station to which at least a portion of said signal is sent;

g) providing at least a portion of said signal to each participant corresponding to each receiving station with the corresponding output;

h) forwarding at least a portion of said signal from each receiving station to at least one station for which the receiving station is configured; and

,

i) repeatedly performing steps d), e), f), g) and h) with respect to each other participant;

whereby each participant is in communication with the stations for which corresponding station is configured and at least one additional station.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein configuration step c) is performed with at least one of a server and a distributed hash table.

30. A method for performing to a remote audience comprising the method of claim 28, wherein the first signal from capture step d) is a distributed performance and step g) propagates a response by the remote audience.

31. The method of claim 30 wherein configuration step c) is performed with at least one of a server and a distributed hash table.

32. A method for providing a performance in a virtual auditorium comprising the steps of:

a) providing a distributed performance having a plurality of performance stations;

b) providing a conference call, said conference call having a plurality of audience stations;

said conference call further having a connection to a first one of said plurality of performance stations;

c) producing content with said distributed performance;

d) sending said content from said distributed performance from the first performance station through said connection to said conference call, wherein each of said plurality of audience stations receives said content;

e) accepting a response with a first one of said plurality of audience stations, said response being from an audience member corresponding to the first audience station;

f) sending said response from the first audience station to the first performance station through said connection;

g) sending said response from the first audience station to each other one of the audience stations;

1. A station for use in a virtual auditorium, said station comprising:

an input, said input accepting a first signal from a participant;

an interface to a communication channel, said station having a configuration to communicate with a first plurality of remote stations with said interface through said communication channel;

an output, said output presenting to said participant a second signal received through said interface from one of said first plurality of remote stations; and

,

a mixer, said mixer providing a third signal representative of at least said first signal and said second signal, said station sending said third signal through said interface to each other one of said first plurality of remote stations; and

,

wherein said configuration is provided at least in part by an organizing entity.

2. The station of claim 1 wherein said input comprises a microphone and said output comprises at least one selected from the group of a headphone and a speaker.

3. The station of claim 2 wherein said input comprises a coder and said output comprises a decoder.

4. The station of claim 3 wherein said decoder comprises at least one CODEC selected from the group consisting of MP3 and AAC.

5. The station of claim 3 wherein said decoder comprises a CODEC optimized for VoIP.

6. The station of claim 3 wherein said second signal comprises an audio signal coded compatibly for said decoder.

7. The station of claim 6 wherein said second signal is stereo.

8. The station of claim 3 wherein said second signal is stereo.

9. The station of claim 2 wherein said second signal is stereo.

10. The station of claim 1 wherein said third signal is a copy of said second signal.

11. The station of claim 1 wherein said third signal comprises a sum including an attenuated copy of said second signal.

12. The station of claim 11 wherein said first signal is included in said sum.

13. The station of claim 1 wherein said communication channel comprises at least one network.

14. The station of claim 13 wherein said at least one network comprises the Internet.

15. The station of claim 1 wherein said organizing entity comprises a server.

16. The station of claim 1 wherein said organizing entity comprises a structured overlay network.

17. The station of claim 1 wherein said organizing entity comprises a distributed hash table.

18. The station of claim 1 wherein a latency between said second signal and said third signal is less than one second.

19. The station of claim 1 wherein a latency between said first signal and said third signal is less than one second.

20. A virtual auditorium comprising a second plurality of stations of claim 1, wherein the configurations corresponding to each of said second plurality of stations collectively produce an interconnection of said second plurality of stations such that said first signal produced at any one of said second plurality of stations is represented in the second signals corresponding to substantially every other one of said second plurality of stations.

21. The virtual auditorium of claim 20, wherein said interconnection is a conference call.

22. The virtual auditorium of claim 20, wherein the first signal corresponding to a one of said second plurality of stations comprises a performance and the corresponding second signal represents an audience response to said performance.

23. The virtual auditorium of claim 22, wherein said performance comprises a distributed performance.

24. The virtual auditorium of claim 20 wherein said organizing entity charges a fee.

25. The virtual auditorium of claim 20 wherein said organizing entity verifies that at least one of said station and corresponding participant have a subscription.

26. The virtual auditorium of claim 20 wherein said interconnection is a hierarchy.

27. The virtual auditorium of claim 20 wherein each configuration of each of said second plurality of stations is based on the position in a virtual world of a corresponding avatar.

33. The method of claim 32 further comprising the step of:

g) sending said response from the first audience station to each other one of the audience stations;

34. The method of claim 33 wherein said conference call comprises a distributed conference call.

35. The method of claim 33 wherein said conference call comprise a voice bridge.

36. The method of claim 32 wherein said conference call comprises a voice bridge.

35-1. The method of claim 32 wherein said conference call comprises a distributed conference call.