Multilocation video conference terminal including controllable conference location reconfiguration
First Claim
1. Apparatus for transmitting video signals to a plurality of remote locations including,means for controllably selecting video information supplied by said locations to be transmitted to others of said locations, andmeans for controllably adding or deleting said remote locations to or from a conference comprisingmeans for monitoring information transmission from said locations to determine if satisfactory transmission exists, andmeans for inhibiting selection of video information from any one of said locations when transmission from the location is unsatisfactory.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
In a multilocation video conference system, conference locations are dynamically added to or deleted from an ongoing conference without disrupting it. This is realized by controllably enabling or disabling communications ports assigned to the conference locations in a Multilocation Conference Terminal (MLCT). Both audio information and control channel information transmitted from a conference location assigned to a port are monitored to determine if the audio information is satisfactory and if the control channel communication is "good". If the audio information is unsatisfactory, it is muted and selection of the video from that location as a one-and-only-one talker is inhibited. If the control channel communication is not good the video signal from the conference location is excluded from the conference.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. Apparatus for transmitting video signals to a plurality of remote locations including,
means for controllably selecting video information supplied by said locations to be transmitted to others of said locations, and means for controllably adding or deleting said remote locations to or from a conference comprising means for monitoring information transmission from said locations to determine if satisfactory transmission exists, and means for inhibiting selection of video information from any one of said locations when transmission from the location is unsatisfactory.
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6. In apparatus for transmitting video signals to a plurality of remote locations,
means for dynamically adding and deleting conference locations from a conference, wherein each of the conference locations generates audio information and control channel information, said adding and deleting means including means for monitoring audio information received from the conference locations to determine whether the audio information is satisfactory, means for monitoring control channel information from the conference locations to determine whether good control channel communication exists, and means responsive to outputs from said audio monitoring means and said control channel monitoring means for controllably inhibiting selection of a video signal from a conference location for transmission to any of the other conference locations when the control channel communication is determined to be not good or when the audio information from the location is determined to be unsatisfactory.
Specification