Multimedia Telecommunication Apparatus With Motion Tracking

• US 20120083314A1
• Filed: 02/17/2011
• Published: 04/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Ng, Hock M., Sutter, Edward L.
• Application Number:
  US13/029,326
• Publication Number:
  US 20120083314A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/557
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/11 Supports for sets, e.g. incorporating armrests
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/51 Housings
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/611 where the recognised objects include parts of the human body
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/661 Transmitting camera control signals through networks, e.g. control via the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/695 Control of camera direction for changing a field of view, e.g. pan, tilt or based on tracking of objects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/142 Constructional details of the terminal equipment, e.g. arrangements of the camera and the display
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/323 for loudspeakers H04R1/34 and H04R1/40 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2430/20 Processing of the output signals of the acoustic transducers of an array for obtaining a desired directivity characteristic H04R2203/12 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/005 for combining the signals of two or more microphones specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407

Abstract

A docking system for a personal communication terminal includes a base and a motorized mount joining the dock to the base and configured to rotate the dock about a vertical axis in response to a pan signal and about a horizontal axis in response to a tilt signal. The docking system further comprises a sensor array to produce signals indicative of the location of a user, a processor to convert the sensor output signals to tracking signals, and a controller to convert the tracking signals to pan and tilt signals, thereby to aim a camera.

Claims

1. Apparatus comprising:

a dock for a personal wireless communication terminal;

a base;

a motorized mount joining the dock to the base and configured to rotate the dock about a vertical axis in response to a pan signal and about a horizontal axis in response to a tilt signal;

a sensor array comprising at least two spatially separated microphones and configured to produce output signals indicative of the location of a user;

a processor configured to process the sensor output signals, thereby to at least partially convert the sensor output signals to tracking signals; and

a controller electrically connected to the motorized mount and configured to convert the tracking signals to pan and tilt signals, thereby to aim a camera that is permanently or removeably attached to the dock.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a personal wireless communication terminal emplaced in the dock.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the camera is part of the personal wireless communication terminal.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the personal wireless communication terminal is configured to receive tracking signals from a remote location for conversion to pan and tilt signals.

5. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the conversion of sensor output signals to tracking signals is done, at least in part, by a processor within the personal wireless communication terminal.

6. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the controller is implemented, at least in part, by a processor within the personal wireless communication terminal.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sensor array further comprises a thermal sensor and an ultrasonic sensor.

13. A system comprising two or more personal wireless communication terminals that are situated at respective geographically separated locations and are interconnected by a communication network, wherein:

one or more of the personal wireless communication terminals are emplaced in respective docking apparatuses as recited in claim 1;

at least one of the geographically separated locations includes a stereophonic loudspeaker array arranged to reproduce user speech detected by the sensor array of said docking apparatus;

at least one of the personal wireless communication terminals;

(a) is situated at a location that includes a stereophonic loudspeaker array, and (b) is configured so that in response to local user input, it will transmit tracking signals to at least one personal wireless communication terminal emplaced in a remote one of the docking apparatuses in order to aim a remote camera; and

the system further comprises a server configured to select at most one speaker at a time for video display by the personal wireless communication terminals.

8. A method performed using a personal wireless communication terminal emplaced in a dock, comprising:

transmitting a local user'"'"'s voice from the terminal;

transmitting, from the terminal, a video signal produced by a camera; and

controlling, from the terminal, pan and tilt orientations of the camera, wherein the controlling step comprises;

receiving tracking signals indicative of a desired motion of the camera from at least one of;

a local sensor array, a local manual control device, and a remote manual control device;

processing the tracking signals to produce pan and tilt signals; and

directing the pan and tilt signals to a motorized mount for the dock.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of receiving tracking signals comprises receiving output signals from the sensor array and processing the sensor output signals to determine desired rotational displacements for the camera.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising displaying, on a screen of the personal communication terminal, a video image of a remote user.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising displaying, on the screen, an inset image representing the video signal being transmitted by the camera.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising switching the transmitted video signal on and off in response to signaling from a remote location indicating respectively that the local user is or is not a currently designated speaker.