METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR UNIDIRECTIONAL SUMMING OF GROUP AUDITORY DATA

• US 20150079920A1
• Filed: 09/13/2013
• Published: 03/19/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/13/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Inventors: SHAHAF, MARK, MCDONALD, DANIEL J, FUMAROLO, ARTHUR L
• Granted Patent: US 9,654,643 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/404.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4038 with floor control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/568 audio processing specific to telephonic conferencing, e.g. spatial distribution, mixing of participants echo suppression in two-way loud-speaking telephone systems H04M9/02; sound field processing per se H04S7/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/10 Push-to-Talk [PTT] or Push-On-Call services

Abstract

A first group auditory data stream, from a transmitting subscriber device of a first group of subscriber devices or from a dispatch console and intended for the first group of subscriber devices, is received at a conference server. The conference server determines whether the first group auditory data stream generated for the first group of subscriber devices is of interest to a second group of subscriber devices, and if so, sums the first group auditory data stream with a second group auditory data stream intended for the second group of subscriber devices to form a summed group auditory data stream. The conference server then forwards the summed group auditory data stream towards the second group of subscriber devices and forwards the first group auditory data stream towards the first group of subscriber devices.

Claims

1. A method for unidirectional summing of group auditory data, the method comprising:

receiving, at the conference server, a first portion of a first group auditory data stream, from one of a transmitting subscriber device of a first group of subscriber devices and a dispatch console, for the first group of subscriber devices;

determining, by the conference server, whether group auditory data generated for the first group of subscriber devices is of interest to a second group of subscriber devices;

receiving, at the conference server, a first portion of a second group auditory data stream from a transmitting subscriber device of the second group of subscriber devices; and

responsive to determining, by the conference server, that group auditory data generated for the first group of subscriber devices is of interest to the second group of subscriber devices;

forwarding, by the conference server, the first portion of the first group auditory data stream towards the first group of subscriber devices;

summing, by the conference server, the first portion of the second group auditory data stream with the first portion of the first group auditory data stream to form a summed group auditory data stream; and

forwarding, by the conference server, the summed group auditory data stream towards the second group of subscriber devices.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, responsive to determining, by the conference server, that group auditory data generated for the first group of subscriber devices is not of interest to the second group of subscriber devices:

forwarding, by the conference server, the first portion of the second group auditory data stream towards the second group of subscriber devices; and

forwarding, by the conference server, the first portion of the first group auditory data stream towards the first group of subscriber devices.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising,

receiving, at the conference server before the first portion of the first group auditory data stream, a second portion of the first group auditory data stream from the transmitting subscriber device of the first group of subscriber devices, and forwarding the second portion of the first group auditory data stream towards the first group of subscriber devices.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first group of subscriber devices are members of a first talkgroup, and wherein the second group of subscriber devices are members of a second talkgroup different from the first talkgroup.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the first talkgroup operates on a first assigned traffic channel at a first trunked base station and the second talkgroup operates on a second assigned traffic channel at a second trunked base station.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining that the first group auditory data is of interest to the second group of subscriber devices by determining, at the conference server, one of (i) that the first group auditory data stream includes emergency group auditory data and (ii) that the first group is a higher priority group than the second group.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising determining that the first group auditory data stream includes emergency group auditory data by decoding one of a call request preceding the first group auditory data stream and a header appended to or embedded in the first group auditory data stream.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the group auditory data generated for the first group of subscriber devices is of interest to the second group of subscriber devices comprises determining, by the conference server, that the first group of subscriber devices is a higher priority group of subscriber devices than the second group of subscriber devices by accessing an inter-group priority mapping from a data store of priority information and determining, from the inter-group priority mapping, that the first group of subscriber devices is a higher priority group of subscriber devices than the second group of subscriber devices.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the group auditory data generated for the first group of subscriber devices is of interest to the second group of subscriber devices comprises determining, by the conference server, that the second group of subscriber devices is subscribed to receive auditory data from the first group of subscriber devices by accessing an inter-group subscription mapping from a data store of subscription information and determining, from the inter-group subscription mapping, that the second group of subscriber devices is subscribed to receive auditory data from the first group of subscriber devices.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first group of subscriber devices operates on a first frequency at a first conventional base station, and the second group of subscriber devices operate on a second frequency at a second conventional base station different from the first conventional base station.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising refraining from summing the first portion of the second group auditory data stream into the first group auditory data stream prior to forwarding, by the conference server, the first group auditory data stream to the first group of subscriber devices.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the conference server, a first portion of a third group auditory data stream from a first transmitting subscriber device of a third group of subscriber devices;

determining, by the conference server, whether the first portion of the third group auditory data stream is of interest to one or both of the first and second groups of subscriber devices; and

selectively summing the first portion of the third group auditory data stream with auditory data received for one or both of the first and second groups of subscriber devices in accordance with the determination of whether the first portion of the third group auditory data stream is of interest to one or both of the first and second groups of subscriber devices.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising forwarding, by the conference server, the first portion of the third group auditory data stream towards the third group of subscriber devices.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising, responsive to determining that group auditory data generated for the first group of subscriber devices is of interest to the second group of subscriber devices:

continuing to sum, by the conference server, group auditory data generated for the first group of subscriber devices with group auditory data generated for the second group of subscriber devices for a threshold period of time, and forwarding the summed group auditory data to the second group of subscriber devices during the threshold period of time; and

after the threshold period of time, refraining from summing group auditory data generated for the first group of subscriber devices with group auditory data generated for the second group of subscriber devices, and instead, forwarding group auditory data generated for the second group of subscriber devices to the second group of subscriber devices without summing group auditory data generated for the first group of subscriber devices.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the threshold period of time is between 5 and 300 seconds.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein summing, by the conference server, the first portion of the first group auditory data stream with the first portion of the second group auditory data stream to form summed group auditory data comprises summing the first portion of the first group auditory data stream with the first portion of the second group auditory data stream in the parametric domain.

17. A conference server for unidirectional summing of group auditory data, the server comprising:

a transceiver;

a data store; and

one or more processors configured to;

receive, via the transceiver, a first portion of a first group auditory data stream, from one of a transmitting subscriber device of a first group of subscriber devices and a dispatch console, for the first group of subscriber devices;

determine whether group auditory data generated for the first group of subscriber devices is of interest to a second group of subscriber devices;

receive, via the transceiver, a first portion of a second group auditory data stream from a transmitting subscriber device of the second group of subscriber devices; and

responsive to determining, via the data store, that group auditory data generated for the first group of subscriber devices is of interest to the second group of subscriber devices;

forwarding, via the transceiver, the first portion of the first group auditory data stream towards the first group of subscriber devices;

summing the first portion of the second group auditory data stream with the first portion of the first group auditory data stream to form a summed group auditory data stream; and

forwarding, via the transceiver, the summed group auditory data stream towards the second group of subscriber devices.

18. The conference server of claim 17, wherein the one or more processors includes a digital signal processor (DSP) configured to sum the first portion of the second group auditory data stream with the first portion of the first group auditory data stream to form the summed group auditory data stream.

19. The conference server of claim 17, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

responsive to determining, via the data store, that group auditory data generated for the first group of subscriber devices is not of interest to the second group of subscriber devices;

forward, via the transceiver, the first portion of the second group auditory data stream towards the second group of subscriber devices; and

forward, via the transceiver, the first portion of the first group auditory data stream towards the first group of subscriber devices.

20. The conference server of claim 17, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

receive, via the transceiver and before the first portion of the first group auditory data stream, a second portion of the first group auditory data stream from the transmitting subscriber device of the first group of subscriber devices, and forward, via the transceiver, the second portion of the first group auditory data stream towards the first group of subscriber devices.