ENHANCED MULTIMEDIA CAPABILITES IN VIDEO CONFERENCING
First Claim
1. An Multimedia Messaging System (MMS) Engine configured to enable MMS capabilities in a video conference, including one or more video participants associated with a respective video conferencing End Point, and one or more audio participants associated with a respective MMS device, comprising:
- means for capturing video conferencing data from a data source originating from one or more video conferencing End Points or MCUs;
means for converting said video conferencing data to a MMS attachable format;
means for attaching said converted video conferencing data to a MMS message;
means for inserting into said MMS message an address associated with the respective MMS device;
means for transmitting said MMS message according to said inserted address; and
means for initiating said means for capturing, converting, attaching, inserting and transmitting periodically or at a predefined event.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention relates to video conferencing and multimedia messaging, and takes advantage of the capabilities of the communication system to which the audio participants are connected, in order to increase the performance of all the participants in a mixed conference. In a preferred embodiment, the audio participants are provided with a MMS device, and a MMS Engine captures periodically, or at certain events, video conference data attached to MMS messages and addressed to the MMS device. In the opposite direction, the MMS device provides multimedia data to the conventional video conference participants by attaching the multimedia data to MMS messages, which are sent to the IP-addressable MMS Engine. The MMS Engine separates the multimedia data and converts it to a format compatible with the video conference. The converted multimedia data is then provided to video conference participants, and treated like any other multimedia stream included in the video conference.
31 Citations
36 Claims
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1. An Multimedia Messaging System (MMS) Engine configured to enable MMS capabilities in a video conference, including one or more video participants associated with a respective video conferencing End Point, and one or more audio participants associated with a respective MMS device, comprising:
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means for capturing video conferencing data from a data source originating from one or more video conferencing End Points or MCUs; means for converting said video conferencing data to a MMS attachable format; means for attaching said converted video conferencing data to a MMS message; means for inserting into said MMS message an address associated with the respective MMS device; means for transmitting said MMS message according to said inserted address; and means for initiating said means for capturing, converting, attaching, inserting and transmitting periodically or at a predefined event. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. An Multimedia Messaging System (MMS) Engine configured to enable MMS capabilities in a video conference, including one or more video participants associated with a respective video conferencing End Point, and one or more audio participants associated with a respective MMS device, comprising:
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means for receiving a MMS message from the respective MMS device; means for separating multimedia data attached to the MMS message; means for converting said multimedia data to a format compatible with the video conference; means for transmitting said converted multimedia data to the respective video conferencing End Point; and means for initiating said means for converting and transmitting periodically or at a predefined event. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method enabling Multimedia Messaging System (MMS) capabilities in a video conference including one or more video participants associated with a respective video conferencing End Point, and one or more audio participants associated with a respective MMS device, comprising steps of:
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capturing, at an MMS engine, video conferencing data from a data source originating from one or more video conferencing End Points or MCUs; converting, at the MMS engine, said video conferencing data to a MMS attachable format; attaching, at the MMS engine, said converted video conferencing data to a MMS message; inserting, at the MMS engine, into said MMS message an address associated with a respective MMS device; transmitting, at the MMS engine, said MMS message according to said inserted address; and initiating, at the MMS engine, said steps of capturing, converting, attaching, inserting and transmitting periodically or at a predefined event. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 34)
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25. A method for enabling Multimedia Messaging System (MMS) capabilities in a video conference including one or more video participants associated with a respective video conferencing End Point, and one or more audio participants associated with a respective MMS device, comprising steps of:
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receiving, at a MMS engine, a MMS message from the respective MMS device; separating, at the MMS engine, multimedia data attached to the MMS message; converting, at the MMS engine, said multimedia data to a format compatible with the video conference; transmitting, at the MMS engine, said converted multimedia data to the respective video conferencing End Point; and initiating, at the MMS engine, said steps of converting and transmitting periodically or at a predefined event. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 35)
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31. A video conferencing system comprising:
a Multimedia Messaging System (MMS) engine configured to relay data between a video conference end point and a MMS device, said MMS engine including, means for capturing video conferencing data from a data source originating from the video conferencing end point, a first means for converting said video conferencing data to a MMS attachable format, means for attaching said converted video conferencing data to a first MMS message, means for inserting into said MMS message an address associated with the MMS device, a first means for transmitting said first MMS message according to said inserted address, means for receiving a second MMS message from the MMS device, means for separating multimedia data attached to the second MMS message, a second means for converting said multimedia data to a format compatible with the video conference, a second means for transmitting said converted multimedia data to the video conferencing end point, and means for initiating said means for capturing, said first means for converting, said second means for converting, said means for attaching, said means for inserting, said first means for transmitting, and said second means for transmitting periodically or at a predefined event. - View Dependent Claims (32)
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33. A method for enabling a Multimedia Messaging System (MMS) engine to relay data between a video conference end point and a MMS device, said MMS engine performing steps of:
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capturing, at the MMS engine, video conferencing data from a data source originating from a video conferencing end point; converting, at the MMS engine, said video conferencing data to a MMS attachable format; attaching, at the MMS engine, said converted video conferencing data to a first MMS message; inserting, at the MMS engine, into said MMS message an address associated with the MMS device; transmitting, at the MMS engine, said first MMS message according to said inserted address; receiving, at the MMS engine, a second MMS message from the MMS device; separating, at the MMS engine, multimedia data attached to the second MMS message; converting, at the MMS engine, said multimedia data to a format compatible with the video conference; transmitting, at the MMS engine, said converted multimedia data to the video conferencing end point; and initiating, at the MMS engine, said steps of capturing, converting, attaching, inserting, and transmitting, periodically or at a predefined event. - View Dependent Claims (36)
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Specification