Apparatus and method for storage and playback of video images and audio messages in multipoint videoconferencing
DCFirst Claim
Patent Images
1. A multipoint control unit for conferencing a plurality of audiovisual terminals comprising:
- means for connecting the audiovisual terminals in an active conference;
means for placing at least one of the audiovisual terminals in a conference queue outside of the active conference;
a memory for storing video data comprising a video greeting; and
a processor coupled to the memory having means for retrieving the video data from the memory and transmitting the video data to the at least one of the audiovisual terminals in the conference queue.
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Abstract
In a multipoint control unit for conferencing audiovisual terminals, conference participants are greeted with audio and video welcome messages and then placed in an automated queue. The automated queue is a holding queue from which a conference operator can select the next available conference participant in the queue and conduct a subconference. Apparatus in the multipoint control unit includes a memory for storing video data and a processor coupled to the memory for controlling playback of the video data to a connected terminal during conference setup.
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Citations
32 Claims
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1. A multipoint control unit for conferencing a plurality of audiovisual terminals comprising:
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means for connecting the audiovisual terminals in an active conference; means for placing at least one of the audiovisual terminals in a conference queue outside of the active conference; a memory for storing video data comprising a video greeting; and a processor coupled to the memory having means for retrieving the video data from the memory and transmitting the video data to the at least one of the audiovisual terminals in the conference queue. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. In a video teleconferencing system having a plurality of user sites and a multipoint control unit for conferencing the user sites, apparatus at an operator site connected to the multipoint control unit, comprising:
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a codec for conferencing the operator site with user sites; and a workstation for controlling a conference having a conference control interface, the interface comprising; a user site window listing user sites connected to the multipoint control unit; selector means for selecting one of the listed user sites; a first button for connecting a selected user site to the codec for a subconference; and a second button for disconnecting the selected user site from the subconference. - View Dependent Claims (8)
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9. In a video teleconferencing system having a plurality of audiovisual terminals and a multipoint control unit for conferencing the terminals, a method for operating the teleconferencing system comprising the steps of:
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storing video data comprising a video greeting in a memory of the multipoint control unit; connecting the terminals to the multipoint control unit to form an active conference; placing at least one of the terminals in a conference queue outside of the active conference; and retrieving the video data from the memory and transmitting the video data to the at least one of the terminals in the conference queue for display. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12)
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13. A video teleconferencing system comprising:
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a plurality of user sites, each site having an audiovisual terminal; a multipoint control unit for conferencing the audiovisual terminals, the multipoint control unit having a memory for storing video data and a processor for controlling playback of the video data; and an operator site connected to the multipoint control unit for controlling a conference, the operator site having means for placing the terminals in an operator queue; wherein the processor retrieves the video data from memory and transmits the video data to the queued terminals during conference setup. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method for operating a video teleconferencing system comprising the steps of:
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providing an operator site for controlling a conference; providing a plurality of user sites, each site having an audiovisual terminal; providing a multipoint control unit for conferencing the audiovisual terminals and the operator site; storing video data in a memory of the multipoint control unit; connecting one of the audiovisual terminals to the multipoint control unit; placing the connected audiovisual terminal into an operator queue at the operator site; and retrieving the video data from memory and transmitting the video data to the queued terminal. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A multipoint control unit for conferencing a plurality of audiovisual terminals connected to the multipoint control unit comprising:
a plurality of processing units, each processing unit assigned to a respective audiovisual terminal, each processing unit comprising; means for receiving a first uncompressed audio stream; a memory storing second compressed audio data; a decoder coupled to the memory for decoding the second compressed audio data to a second uncompressed stream; a selector for selecting between the first uncompressed audio stream and the second uncompressed audio stream; and an encoder for encoding the selected uncompressed audio stream to match the assigned audiovisual terminal. - View Dependent Claims (26)
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27. In a multipoint control unit for conferencing a plurality of connected audiovisual terminals, a method comprising the steps of:
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providing a plurality of processing units in the multipoint control unit; assigning each processing unit to a respective audiovisual terminal; in each processing unit, performing the steps of; storing first compressed audio data coded according to a first coding algorithm in a memory; retrieving the first compressed audio data from memory; decoding the first compressed audio data to uncompressed audio data; selecting a second coding algorithm to match the assigned audiovisual terminal; and encoding the uncompressed audio data to second compressed audio data according to the second coding algorithm. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29)
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30. In a videoconferencing system having plural audiovisual terminals and a multipoint control unit connecting the plural audiovisual terminals in an active conference, a method for operating the videoconferencing system comprising the steps of:
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storing video data comprising a video greeting in memory of the multipoint control unit; transmitting a first stream of frames of video and audio data to one of the plural audiovisual terminals; removing the one audiovisual terminal from the active conference and interrupting the first stream of frames at the multipoint control unit; retrieving the video data from memory and placing the video data into frames to form a second stream; and transmitting the second stream of frames to the removed audiovisual terminal. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32)
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Specification