Video conferencing system
First Claim
1. A video conferencing system wherein a local site is networked with at least one remote site to interchange audio and video information, the at least one remote site having a video camera, a video monitor, a loudspeaker and a microphone, the local site having a video camera, a loudspeaker and a microphone, and further having:
- a controller, comprising;
an interconnected video display section and control section, for controlling distribution of generated audio and video information among the sites selectively in accordance with electrical signals fed to the control section in response to a tactile command from a podium speaker to the video display section, wherein the video display section includes, in a first mode of operation preview display section includes, in a first mode of operation preview and presentation video display areas, wherein video information from a first video source, selected from a plurality of different video sources including video cameras at the remote and local sites, being displayed in the presentation area is distributed to the video monitor at the at least one remote site, and wherein the control section, in response to a command from the podium speaker, causes video information from a second video source selected from the video sources, being displayed in the preview area to be distributed to the video monitor at the at least one remote site in place of the previously distributed, first mentioned video information from the first selected video source.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A video conferencing system wherein a director controller is adapted for disposition on a lecture podium. The controller includes an interconnected control section and a video display section for controlling the distribution of generated audio and video information signals among a local and remote sites selectively in accordance with command signals fed to the controller by a podium speaker. The system is adapted to operate in one of two operating modes: a "Main-screen" mode and a "Mark-up" mode. In the "Main-screen" mode, the video display section is made up of two display areas; a "presentation" display area, and a "preview" display area. The "presentation" display area displays the video information which typically is currently being viewed by the audience/participants at the remote and local sites. The "preview" video display area is privately viewable by the podium speaker, displays video information signals from a second podium speaker selected one of the video sources. In the "Mark-up" mode, the "preview" area is removed and the size of the "presentation" area is increased. The image in the enlarged "presentation" area is adapted for editing/annotation by the podium speaker. The edited/annotated image is distributed to the local and remote sites.
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Citations
67 Claims
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1. A video conferencing system wherein a local site is networked with at least one remote site to interchange audio and video information, the at least one remote site having a video camera, a video monitor, a loudspeaker and a microphone, the local site having a video camera, a loudspeaker and a microphone, and further having:
a controller, comprising;
an interconnected video display section and control section, for controlling distribution of generated audio and video information among the sites selectively in accordance with electrical signals fed to the control section in response to a tactile command from a podium speaker to the video display section, wherein the video display section includes, in a first mode of operation preview display section includes, in a first mode of operation preview and presentation video display areas, wherein video information from a first video source, selected from a plurality of different video sources including video cameras at the remote and local sites, being displayed in the presentation area is distributed to the video monitor at the at least one remote site, and wherein the control section, in response to a command from the podium speaker, causes video information from a second video source selected from the video sources, being displayed in the preview area to be distributed to the video monitor at the at least one remote site in place of the previously distributed, first mentioned video information from the first selected video source.- View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A video conferencing system wherein a local site is networked with at least one remote site to interchange audio and video information, the at least one remote site having a video camera, a video monitor, a loudspeaker and a microphone, the local site having a video camera, a loudspeaker and a microphone, and further having:
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a controller, comprising;
an interconnected control panel section, video display section, and computer for causing distribution of generated audio and video information among the local and the at least one remote sites selectively in accordance with command signals fed to the controller by a director, the controller video display section displaying video information generated by a selected one of a plurality of video sources, including video cameras at the remote and local sites, and causing distribution of the video information from the selected one of the video sources to the video monitor at the at least one remote site and to the video display section; and
,a zoom control, responsive to a tactile command by the director on the video display section identifying a portion of the video information displayed on the controller video display section, for commanding the one of the video sources generating the video information on the video display section to zoom in on the selected identified portion. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A video conferencing system wherein a local site is networked with at least one remote site to interchange audio and video information, the local site and the at least one remote site having a video camera, a video monitor, a loudspeaker and a microphone, the local site having:
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a controller, comprising;
an interconnected control panel section, video display section, and computer, for causing distribution of generated audio and video information among the sites selectively in accordance with command signals fed to the controller by a director, the controller video display section displaying video information generated by a selected one of a plurality of video sources, the video sources including video cameras at the remote and local sites, the controller further for causing distribution of the video information from the selected one of the video sources to the video monitors at the local and remote sites,the controller video display section comprising a plurality of different display regions, one of said display regions being adapted to display presentation video information being distributed to the video monitors at the remote and local sites, another of said regions being adapted to display preview video information from a second selected one of the plurality of video sources, wherein the controller, in response to a director command, causes the preview video information to replace the presentation video information being distributed to the video monitors at the local and remote sites. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A video conferencing system wherein a local site is networked with at least one remote site to interchange audio and video information, the local site and the at least one remote site having a video camera, a video monitor, a loudspeaker and a microphone, the local site having:
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a controller, comprising;
an interconnected control panel section, video display section, and computer, for causing distribution of generated audio and video information among the sites selectively in accordance with command signals fed to the controller by a podium speaker, the controller video display section displaying video information from a selected one of a plurality of video sources, the video sources including video cameras at the remote and local sites, the controller further for causing distribution of the video information from the selected one of the video sources to the video monitors at the local and remote sites; andan editor, responsive to the podium speaker structured to allow the podium speaker to annotate video information on the controller video display section and then distribute the annotated information to remote sites, the editor being structured to hold the video information displayed on the controller video display section for annotation in response to a hold command and to distribute the held video information to the video monitor at the at least one remote site in response to a go live command.
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28. A video conferencing system wherein a local site is networked with at least one remote site to interchange audio and video information, the at least one remote site having a video camera, a video monitor, a loudspeaker and a microphone, the local site having a video camera a loudspeaker and a microphone, such system having:
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a bridge, responsive to audio signals produced by the microphones at the local and remote sites, adapted to select that one of the video signals produced by the video camera at the site corresponding to the loudest audio signal for presentation on the video monitor at the at least one remote site during a teach/direct mode; and a controller, at the local site, comprising;
an interconnected control panel section, video display section, and computer for overriding the video signal selected by the bridge in the teach/director mode and for causing distribution of generated video information among the sites selectively in accordance with a director/teach command mode signal fed to the controller by a podium speaker.
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29. A method of operating a video conferencing system wherein a local site is networked with at least one remote site to interchange audio and video information, the local site and the at least one remote site having a video camera, a video monitor, a loudspeaker and a microphone, comprising:
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providing a controller at the local site, such controller having an interconnected video display section and control section, wherein the video display section includes, in a first mode of operation, preview and presentation video display areas; and controlling distribution of generated audio and video information among the remote and local sites selectively in accordance with electrical signals fed to the control section in response to a tactile command from a podium speaker to the video display section, including; displaying in the presentation area and distributing to the video monitor at the at least one remote site video information from a first video source selected from a plurality of different video sources, including video cameras at the remote and local sites, displaying in the preview area video information from a second video source selected from the video sources, and causing, in response to a command from the podium speaker, the video information being displayed in the preview area to be distributed to the video monitor at the at least one remote site in place of the previously distributed, first mentioned video information from the first selected video source. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. A method of operating a video conferencing system wherein a local site is networked with at least one remote site to interchange audio and video information, the at least one remote site having a video camera, a video monitor, a loudspeaker and a microphone, the local site having a video camera, a loudspeaker and a microphone, comprising:
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providing, at the local site, a controller, comprising;
an interconnected control panel section, video display section, and computer for distributing generated audio and video information among the local and the at least one remote sites selectively in accordance with command signals fed to the controller by a director, a display area of the controller video display section displaying video information generated by a selected one of a plurality of video sources, including video cameras at the remote and local sites, and causing distribution of the video information from the selected one of the video sources to the video monitor at the at least one remote site; and
,commanding the one of the video sources generating the video information on the video display section to zoom in on a selected portion in response to a tactile command by the director on the video display section identifying the selected portion of the video information displayed on the controller video display section. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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44. A method of operating a video conferencing system wherein a local site is networked with at least one remote site to interchange audio and video information, the local site and the at least one remote site having a video camera, a video monitor, a loudspeaker and a microphone, comprising:
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providing a controller, comprising;
an interconnected control panel section, computer and video display section, the video display section including a plurality of different display regions;distributing audio and video information among the local and remote sites selectively in accordance with command signals fed to the controller by a director, including; displaying presentation video information from a selected one of a plurality of video sources, including video cameras at the remote and local sites, on one of said display regions of the controller video display section; causing distribution of the presentation video information from the selected one of the video sources to the video monitors at the local and remote sites; displaying preview video information from a second selected one of the plurality of video sources on another of said display regions of the controller video display section; and
,causing the preview video information to replace the presentation video information on the video monitors at the local and remote sites and on the first mentioned display region upon receipt of a selected command signal from the director. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
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53. A method of operating a video conferencing system wherein a local site is networked with at least one remote site to interchange audio and video information, the local site and the at least one remote site having a video camera, a video monitor, a loudspeaker and a microphone, comprising:
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providing a controller at the local site, comprising;
an interconnected control panel section, video display section, and computer, for causing distribution of generated audio and video information among the local and remote sites selectively in accordance with command signals fed to the controller by a podium speaker;displaying video information from a selected one of a plurality of video sources, the video sources including video cameras at the remote and local sites, on the controller video display section; and causing distribution of the selected one of the video sources to the video monitors at the local and remote sites; and
,editing the video information displayed on the controller video display section with an editor responsive to editing commands fed to the editor by the podium speaker, including holding the video information displayed on the controller video display section for annotation in response to a hold command and distributing the held video information to the video monitor at the at least one remote site in response to a go live command.
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54. A method of operating a video conferencing system wherein a local site is networked with at least one remote site to interchange audio and video information, the at least one remote site having a video camera, a video monitor, a loudspeaker and a microphone, the local site having a video camera, a loudspeaker and a microphone, comprising:
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providing a bridge, responsive to audio signals produced by the microphones at the local and remote sites, adapted to select that one of the video signals produced by the video camera at the site corresponding to the loudest audio signal for presentation on the video monitors at the local and remote sites during a teach/direct mode; and providing a controller, at the local site, comprising;
an interconnected control panel section, video display section, and computer for overriding the video signal selected by the bridge in the teach/director mode and for causing distribution of generated video information among the local and remote sites selectively in accordance with a director/teach command mode signal fed to the controller by a podium speaker.
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55. A video conferencing system wherein a local site is networked with at least one remote site to interchange audio and video information, the local site and the at least one remote site having a video camera, a video monitor, a loudspeaker and a microphone, the local site having:
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a controller, comprising a video display section being interconnected with a control section, for controlling distribution of generated audio and video information among the local and remote sites selectively in accordance with electrical signals fed to the control section in response to a tactile command from a podium speaker to the video display section, the control section comprising; a video selector having a plurality of input ports and a plurality of output ports, for coupling a selected one, or ones, of the input ports to a selected one, or ones, of the output ports in accordance with a control signal, and; a computer for producing the control signal in response to the tactile command a picture in picture unit having a pair of input ports and an output port, a first one of the pair of input ports of the unit being coupled to the computer, a second one of the pair of input ports of the unit being coupled to one of the output ports of the selector and the output port of the unit being coupled to one of the input ports of the video selector. - View Dependent Claims (56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62)
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63. A video conferencing system wherein a local site is networked with at least one remote site to interchange audio and video information, the local site and the at least one remote site having a video camera, a video monitor, a loudspeaker and a microphone, the local site having:
a controller, comprising a video display section being interconnected with a control section, for controlling distribution of generated audio and video information among the local and remote sites selectively in accordance with electrical signals fed to the control section in response to a tactile command from a podium speaker to the video display section, the control section comprising; a video selector having a plurality of input ports and a plurality of output ports, for coupling a selected one, or ones, of the input ports to a selected one, or ones, of the output ports in accordance with a control signal, and; a computer for producing the control signal in response to the tactile command, the computer having a video section having an output coupled to the video display section, wherein the video section of the computer includes a pair of video capture/display cards and a VGA video card. - View Dependent Claims (64, 65)
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66. A method of operating a video conferencing system wherein a local site is networked with at least one remote site to interchange audio and video information, the at least one remote site having a video camera, a video monitor, a loudspeaker and a microphone, the local site having a video cameras, a loudspeaker and a microphone, comprising:
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providing, at the local site, a controller, comprising;
an interconnected video display section and control section, for controlling distribution of generated audio and video information among the local and remote sites selectively in accordance with electrical signals fed to the control section in response to a tactile command from a podium speaker to the video display section; andoperating the controller in a "Round Robin" mode to automatically couple video information generated from each one of the local and remote sites to the video display section, including displaying on the controller video display section video information from each of the local and remote sites in sequence after a specified amount of time.
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67. A video conferencing system wherein a local site is networked with at least one remote site to interchange audio and video information, the at least one remote site having a video camera, a video monitor, a loudspeaker and a microphone, the local site having a video camera, a loudspeaker and a microphone, and further having:
a controller, comprising;
an interconnected video display section and control section, for controlling distribution of generated audio and video information among the local and remote sites selectively in accordance with electrical signals fed to the control section in response to a tactile command from a podium speaker to the video display section, the controller video display section displaying video information from a selected one of a plurality of video sources including video cameras at the remote and local sites, wherein in a mark-up mode of operation, the control section edits the video information displayed on the controller video display section in response to a command from the podium speaker such that the video information displayed on the controller video display section is held for annotation in response to a hold command and the held video information is distributed to the video monitor at the at least one remote site in response to a go live command.
Specification