Multimedia collaboration system with separate data network and A/V network controlled by information transmitting on the data network

• US 5,617,539 A
• Filed: 06/07/1996
• Issued: 04/01/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/1993
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Pragmatus AV LLC (Pragmatus, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Vicor Corporation
• Inventors: Lantz, Keith A., Lauwers, J. Chris, Burns, Emmett R., Burnett, Gerald J., Ludwig, Lester F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Thomas C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): DINH, DUNG C
• Application Number:
  US08/660,460
• Time in Patent Office: 298 Days
• Field of Search: 395/200.02, 370/62, 348/12, 348/15, 348/16
• US Class Current: 709/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1813 for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms instant messaging H04L51/04; protocols for multimedia communication H04L65/1101; arrangements for multi-party communication H04L65/403; telephonic conference arrangements H04M3/56; television conference systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1818 Conference organisation arrangements, e.g. handling schedules, setting up parameters needed by nodes to attend a conference, booking network resources, notifying involved parties
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1822 Conducting the conference, e.g. admission, detection, selection or grouping of participants, correlating users to one or more conference sessions, prioritising transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1827 Network arrangements for conference optimisation or adaptation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1831 Tracking arrangements for later retrieval, e.g. recording contents, participants activities or behavior, network status
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1836 with heterogeneous network architecture
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/185 with management of multicast group membership
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/10 Multimedia information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4038 with floor control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/38 Displays
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/5018 Initiating a conference during a two-party conversation, i.e. three-party-service or three-way-call computer conference organisation arrangements H04L12/1818
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/5027 Dropping a party from a conference conducting a computer conference, e.g. admission detection H04L12/1822
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42221 : Conversation recording systems at the subscriber's set H04M1/656
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42323 : PBX's with CTI arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4285 : Notifying, informing or entertaining a held party while on hold, e.g. Music On Hold
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5307 : for recording messages comprising any combination of audio and non-audio components
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/562 : where the conference facilities are distributed
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/563 : User guidance or feature selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/564 : whereby the feature is a sub-conference
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/567 : Multimedia conference systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 : Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/12 : for working between exchanges having different types of switching equipment, e.g. power-driven and step by step or decimal and non-decimal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/147 : Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals selecting H04Q
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/148 : Interfacing a video terminal to a particular transmission medium, e.g. ISDN
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/15 : Conference systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/152 : Multipoint control units therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/1305 : Software aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13093 : Personal computer, PC
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13175 : Graphical user interface [GUI], WWW interface, visual indication
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/1319 : Amplifier, attenuation circuit, echo suppressor
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/1322 : PBX
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/1324 : Conference call
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/1326 : Consultation call, broker's call, call hold, toggling
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/1332 : Logic circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13337 : Picturephone, videotelephony
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13389 : LAN, internet

Abstract

A multimedia collaboration system that integrates separate real-time and asynchronous networks--the former for real-time audio and video, and the latter for control signals and textual, graphical and other data--in a manner that is interoperable across different computer and network operating system platforms and which closely approximates the experience of face-to-face collaboration, while liberating the participants from the limitations of time and distance. These capabilities are achieved by exploiting a variety of hardware, software and networking technologies in a manner that preserves the quality and integrity of audio/video/data and other multimedia information, even after wide area transmission, and at a significantly reduced networking cost as compared to what would be required by presently known approaches. The system architecture is readily scalable to the largest enterprise network environments. It accommodates differing levels of collaborative capabilities available to individual users and permits high-quality audio and video capabilities to be readily superimposed onto existing personal computers and workstations and their interconnecting LANs and WANs. In a particular preferred embodiment, a plurality of geographically dispersed multimedia LANs are interconnected by a WAN. The demands made on the WAN are significantly reduced by employing multi-hopping techniques, including dynamically avoiding the unnecessary decompression of data at intermediate hops, and exploiting video mosaicing, cut-and-paste and audio mixing technologies so that significantly fewer wide area transmission paths are required while maintaining the high quality of the transmitted audio/video.

Claims

1. A teleconferencing system for conducting a teleconference among a plurality of participants comprising:

(a) a plurality of workstations each having

a monitor for displaying visual images, and

AV capture and reproduction capabilities for capturing and reproducing video images and spoken audio of the participants;

(b) a first network providing a data path along which data can be shared among a plurality of the workstations;

(c) a data conference manager for managing a data conference, during which the shared data is displayed on the workstation monitors of a plurality of the participants;

(d) a second network providing an AV path, logically separate from the data path, along which AV signals representing video images and spoken audio of the participants are carried between the workstations to define a videoconference;

(e) an AV conference manager; and

(f) a first software layer, at each workstation, configured to communicate with the AV conference manager over the first network to co-operate with, and thereby enable, the AV conference manager to control the reproduction of both the video image and spoken audio of one or more of the participants at the workstation of another of the participants by utilizing a network operating system and a protocol of the first network.

2. The teleconferencing system of claim 1, wherein the first software layer co-operates with the AV conference manager by communicating with the AV conference manager over the first network before AV signals are carried along the AV path to define a videoconference.

3. The teleconferencing system of claim 2, wherein data moves along the data network in packets or cells.

4. The teleconferencing system of claim 3, wherein the first and second networks employ physically separate paths.

5. The teleconferencing system of claim 4 wherein the AV signals carried among the workstations are either analog or digital signals or a combination of analog and digital signals.

6. The teleconferencing system of claim 1 wherein the AV and data paths are implemented with unshielded twisted pair wiring.

7. The teleconferencing system of claim 6 wherein the AV path is implemented with the remaining two pairs of an existing four-pair unshielded twisted pair wiring installation, one pair of which implements the data path.

8. The teleconferencing system of claim 1 further comprising:

(a) at least one signal router for routing at least the AV signals among the participant'"'"'s workstations so as to optimize the carrying of AV signals between the workstations.

9. The teleconferencing system of claim 8, wherein the router optimizes the signal routing based on any one or more criteria from the group of criteria consisting of the actual state of the AV path, the anticipated state of the AV path, the cost of use of the AV path and the direction of the AV signals flow on the AV path.

10. The teleconferencing system of claim 1 wherein the AV and data signals are multiplexed on the same physical path.

11. A method of conducting a teleconference among a plurality of participants comprising the steps of:

(a) capturing video images and spoken audio of the participants;

(b) reproducing captured video images and, audio at a plurality of participant workstations, each having a monitor and including a videoconferencing control software layer, to create a videoconference;

(c) sharing data among the plurality of the workstations along a first network;

(d) managing a data conference, during which the shared data is displayed on the workstation monitors of the participants; and

(e) establishing communication between a central AV conference manager and the videoconferencing control software layer over the first network to enable the AV conference manager to control the reproduction of both the video image and spoken audio of one or more of the participants at the workstation of another of the participants, by utilizing a data network operating system and a data network protocol of the first network.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of multiplexing the AV and data signals on the same physical path.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of:

routing at least the AV signals among participant'"'"'s workstations in such a way so as to optimize the carrying of AV signals between the workstations.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the signals are routed based on any one or more criteria from the group of criteria consisting of the actual state of the AV path, the anticipated state of the AV path, the cost of use of the AV path and the direction of the AV signals flow on the AV path.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein communication between the videoconferencing control software layer and the AV conference manager is established over the first network before the videoconference is created.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of sharing data includes the substep of moving data along the first network in packets or cells.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the AV signals carried among the workstations are either analog or digital signals or a combination of analog and digital signals.