VIDEO CONFERENCE SYSTEM USING VOICE-SWITCHED CAMERAS

• US 3,601,530 A
• Filed: 04/29/1969
• Issued: 08/24/1971
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/1969
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Doren Mitchell, George P. Reid, Robert C. Edson
• Original Assignee: Doren Mitchell, George P. Reid, Robert C. Edson
• Inventors: Edson, Robert C., Mitchell, Doren, REID, George P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Richardson, Robert L.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pecori, P. M.
• Application Number:
  US04/820,131
• Time in Patent Office: 847 Days
• Field of Search: 178/5.6,5.8,6TM,6PD,6,6.8,7.2ST 179/1H,1CN,2TV 235/51,52
• US Class Current: 348/14.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/15 Conference systems

Abstract

This disclosure relates to a video conference system for a plurality of groups of remotely located conferees. At each group location, a plurality of video cameras are used and the field of each is restricted to a small number of persons in the group. Voice voting and switching are used to determine the location of the person in the group who is talking and to '"'"''"'"''"'"''"'"'enable'"'"''"'"''"'"''"'"' the appropriate camera, in response thereto, so that the talker will be seen at the remote location. As different people in the group speak, the appropriate cameras covering the same are successively enabled so that the outgoing video signal matches the audio signal. Operational features include a graphic mode, for the remote display of written or graphic material, and a conference leader mode, in which the system is biased in favor of the leader so as to give him substantial control over the conference.

Claims

1. In a video system for conference connecting a plurality of groups of remotely located conferees, a plurality of video cameras disposed at a group location so that the field of view of each camera is respectively restricted to a small number of persons in the group, a plurality of microphones positioned before said group with the microphones being equal in number to said plurality of video cameras, the microphone positions with respect to said group corresponding to the fields of view of the cameras, means for transmitting video signals from said group location to one or more remote group locations, and voice voting and switching means coupled to said microphones for determining the location of the person in the group who is talking and in response thereto preempting connecting the camera covering the talker to the video-transmitting means.

2. A video system as defined in claim 1 including means for controlling the rapidity with which successive camera-switching connections are established in response to speech by different people at different locations in said group.

3. A video system as defined in claim 2 including means to prevent the initiation of a camera-switching connection in response to short-duration nonspeech sounds.

4. A video system as defined in claim 1 including monitor means at said group location for displaying the video signal that is being transmitted to said one or more remote group locations.

5. A video system as defined in claim 1 including an overview camera whose field of view encompasses the whole of said group, and means for alternatively connecting said overview camera to the video-transmitting means in the presence of a sustained silence of predetermined duration at said group location.

6. A video system as defined in claim 5 including control means for determining the duration of sustained silence that is required before an overview camera-switching connection is initiated.

7. A video system as defined in claim 1 including a video camera dedicated to the production of video signals of graphic and written material disposed in the field of view thereof.

8. A video system as defined in claim 7 including means for establishing a locked connection from the dedicated graphic camera to the video-transmitting means and for preempting all other connections while said locked connection is maintained.

9. A video system as defined in claim 7 including means for alternatively connecting the dedicated graphic camera to the video-transmitting means in the presence of a sustained silence of predetermined duration in selected fields or sections of the group.

10. A video system as defined in claim 9 including control means for determining the duration of sustained silence that is required before the dedicated graphic camera-switching connection is initiated.

11. A video system as defined in claim 10 including means for establishing a preference in favor of said graphic camera switch connection so that sustained speech in one of said fields of said group is required before said graphic camera connection is discontinued.

12. A video system as defined in claim 1 wherein a conference leader position is selected within the field of view of a predetermined one of said cameras, and means for alternatively connecting the conference leader directed camera to the video-transmiTting means in the presence of a sustained silence of predetermined duration in the other fields of said group location.

13. A video system as defined in claim 12 including control means for determining the duration of sustained silence that is required before the conference leader camera-switching connection is initiated.

14. A video system as defined in claim 13 including means for establishing a preference in favor of the conference leader camera switch connection so that sustained speech in one of the other fields is required before the latter switching connection is discontinued.

15. A video system as defined in claim 1 including means for coupling the speech signals picked up by the microphones to said transmitting means so that the audio signals are transmitted along with said video signals.

16. A video system as defined in claim 15 including means for displaying at said group location the video signals received from a remote group location, and means for reproducing at said group location speech signals from the remote group location.

17. A video system as defined in claim 1 wherein the fields of view of the cameras overlap so that some conferees lie in the fields of view of two adjacent cameras.

18. A video system as defined in claim 17 including means for connecting a given camera of two adjacent cameras to the video-transmitting means in response to speech from the overlap region of two adjacent cameras, the camera selected being the one of said two adjacent cameras that was last connected to the video-transmitting means.

19. A television system for conference-connecting a plurality of groups of remotely located conferees comprising a plurality of video cameras disposed at a group location so that the field of view of each camera is respectively restricted to a small number of persons in the group, a plurality of microphones positioned before said group with the microphones being equal in number to said plurality of video cameras, the microphone positions with respect to said group corresponding to the fields of view of the cameras, means for transmitting audio and video signals from said group location to one or more remote group locations, voice-voting means coupled to said microphones for determining the field of view location of the person in the group who is talking, switching means operative in response to the output of said voice-voting means for establishing a mutually exclusive switching connection between the camera covering the talker and the transmitting means, monitor means at said group location for displaying the video signal being transmitted therefrom, means for coupling the audio signals at said group location to said transmitting means, receiver display means at said group location for displaying video signals received from a remote group location, and means for reproducing at said group location audio signals received from a remote group location.

20. A television system as defined in claim 19 including an overview camera whose field of view encompasses the whole of said group, and means for alternatively connecting said overview camera to said transmitting means in the presence of a sustained silence of predetermined duration at said group location.

21. A television system as defined in claim 19 including a video camera dedicated to the production of video signals of graphic and written material disposed in the field of view thereof.

22. A television system as defined in claim 21 including means for establishing a locked connection from the dedicated graphic camera to said transmitting means and for preempting all other connections while said locked connection is maintained.

23. A television system as defined in claim 21 including means for alternatively connecting the dedicated graphic camera to said transmitting means in the presence of a sustained silence of predetermined duration in selected fields or sections of the group.

24. A television system as defined in claim 23 including means for establishing a preferEnce in favor of said graphic camera switch connection so that sustained speech in a selected field of said group is required before said graphic camera connection is discontinued.

25. A television system as defined in claim 19 wherein a conference leader position is selected within the field of view of a predetermined one of said cameras, and means for alternatively connecting the conference leader directed camera to said transmitting means in the presence of a sustained silence of predetermined duration in the other fields of said group location.

26. A television system as defined in claim 25 including means for establishing a preference in favor of the conference leader camera switch connection so that sustained speech in said other fields is required before the latter switching connection is discontinued.

27. A television system as defined in claim 19 wherein the fields of view of the cameras overlap so that some conferees lie in the fields of view of two adjacent cameras.

28. A television system as defined in claim 27 including means for connecting a given camera of two adjacent cameras to said transmitting means in response to speech from the overlap region of two adjacent cameras, the camera selected being the one of said two adjacent cameras that was last connected to said transmitting means.

29. In a multigroup video conferencing system which includes a plurality of video cameras disposed at a group location so that the field of view of each camera is respectively restricted to a small number of persons in the group and the fields of view of the cameras overlap so that some conferees lie in the fields of view of two adjacent cameras;

a plurality of microphones positioned before said group with the microphones being equal in number to the plurality of video cameras, the microphone positions with respect to said group corresponding to the fields of view of the cameras, a rectifier means respectively connected to each microphone, a first series of transistors connected in a common emitter configuration such that conduction therein is mutually exclusive, a second series of transistors also connected in a common emitter configuration to provide mutually exclusive conduction therein, the number of transistors in each of said first and second series being equal to the number of said microphones, and means for connecting the bases of said first and second series of transistors to said rectifier means in a manner such that operative output signals are respectively provided at the collectors of preselected transistors in said first and second series in response to speech signals from predetermined respective fields of the group location and operative output signals are provided at the collectors of a predetermined pair of said preselected transistors in response to speech signals from a given region of field overlap.

30. A video system as defined in claim 29 including means for varying the effective region of field overlap.