APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR VIDEO CONFERENCING

• US 20110153738A1
• Filed: 12/17/2009
• Published: 06/23/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bedingfield, James Carlton
• Granted Patent: US 9,015,241 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1094 Inter-user-equipment sessions transfer or sharing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1096 Supplementary features, e.g. call forwarding or call holding systems providing special services or facilities to telephony subscribers H04M3/42
• 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: H04N 21/42202 environmental sensors, e.g. for detecting temperature, luminosity, pressure, earthquakes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4223 Cameras H04N23/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43615 Interfacing a Home Network, e.g. for connecting the client to a plurality of peripherals home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] data switching networks H04L12/2805
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/74 by influencing the scene brightness using illuminating means
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/142 Constructional details of the terminal equipment, e.g. arrangements of the camera and the display
• 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

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, an apparatus having a controller to capture one or more images of a conference room using a video camera, generate an illumination model for a plurality of lights associated with the conference room based on the images, and illuminate at least a portion of the lights based on the illumination model during a video conference call that utilizes the video camera, where the video conference call is implemented using an interactive television network. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A computer-readable storage medium comprising computer instructions to:

illuminate a plurality of lights in a conference room, the illumination being performed individually in sequence;

capture images of the conference room for each of the sequences, the images being captured by a video camera;

determine a lighting contribution for each of the lights based on the captured images;

generate an illumination model based on the lighting contribution for each of the lights; and

illuminate at least a portion of the lights based on the illumination model during a video conference call that utilizes the video camera, the video conference call being implemented using an interactive television network.

2. The storage medium of claim 1, comprising computer instructions to adjust at least a portion of the lights based on lighting effects on identified image components.

3. The storage medium of claim 2, wherein the identified image components comprise a face of a conference participant.

4. The storage medium of claim 1, comprising computer instructions to detect an undesired lighting condition during the video conference call using one or more images captured by the video camera and adjust one or more of the lights based on the detected undesired condition.

5. The storage medium of claim 4, wherein the adjustment to the one or more of the lights is based on the undesired lighting condition and the illumination model.

6. The storage medium of claim 1, comprising computer instructions to:

detect a target area in the conference room using one or more images captured by the video camera;

detect an undesired lighting condition associated with the target area during the video conference call using one or more images captured by the video camera; and

adjust one or more of the lights based on the detected undesired lighting condition.

7. The storage medium of claim 1, wherein the illumination of the lights is based on control signals transmitted via power line communication protocol.

8. The storage medium of claim 1, comprising computer instructions to detect presence of a user in the conference room, wherein the illumination of the lights based on the illumination model occurs only after the detection of the presence of the user.

9. An apparatus comprising a controller to:

capture one or more images of a conference room using a video camera;

generate an illumination model for a plurality of lights associated with the conference room based on the images; and

illuminate at least a portion of the lights based on the illumination model during a video conference call that utilizes the video camera, the video conference call being implemented using an interactive television network.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the controller is adapted to

illuminate the plurality of lights in sequence;

capture images of the conference room for each of the sequences using the video camera;

determine a lighting contribution for each of the lights based on the captured images; and

generate the illumination model based on the lighting contribution for each of the lights.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the illumination in sequence is individually for each of the lights.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the controller is adapted to detect presence of a user in the conference room, and wherein the illumination of the lights based on the illumination model occurs only after the detection of the presence of the user.

13. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the controller is adapted to adjust at least a portion of the lights based on lighting effects on identified image components.

14. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the controller is adapted to perform white balancing.

15. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein a light sensitivity of the video camera is adjusted based on the illumination model.

16. A method comprising:

capturing one or more images of a conference room using a video camera, wherein the video camera is adapted for use in conducting a video conference call;

determining a lighting contribution for each of a plurality of lights associated with the conference room based on the images; and

generating an illumination model for the plurality of lights based on the lighting contribution.

17. The method of claim 16, comprising illuminating at least a portion of the lights based on the illumination model during a video conference call that utilizes the video camera, the video conference call being implemented using an interactive television network.

18. The method of claim 16, comprising:

detecting presence of a user in the conference room; and

illuminating at least a portion of the lights based on the illumination model only after the detection of the presence of the user.

19. The method of claim 16, comprising

illuminating the plurality of lights in sequence;

capturing images of the conference room for each of the sequences using the video camera; and

determining the lighting contribution for each of the lights based on the captured images.

20. The method of claim 16, comprising:

detecting a target area in the conference room using one or more images captured by the video camera;

detecting an undesired lighting condition associated with the target area during the video conference call using one or more images captured by the video camera; and

adjusting one or more of the lights based on the detected undesired condition.