Teleconferencing robot with swiveling video monitor
First Claim
1. A teleconferencing robot, for enabling a remote conferee to project a sense of presence into a group meeting, the teleconferencing robot comprising:
- a base comprising an upper stage and a lower stage and wherein the lower and upper stages are rotatable relative to one another about a substantially vertical axis;
one and only one video monitor is secured to the upper stage and the upper stage is rotatably mounted to the lower stage, said video monitor receiving and displaying a life-sized image of the remote conferee'"'"'s face;
a video camera movably mounted on the base;
control means mounted on the base for moving the video monitor secured to the upper stage and the video camera in response to an input control signal;
a sound location system for generating a speaker location signal in response to which the control means can automatically swivel said video monitor with said image of the remote conferee'"'"'s face to look at another conferee speaking in an automatic mode;
and wherein said upper stage to which said video monitor and said video camera are secured is moved in response to one of said input control signal to enable the remote conferee to project a sense of presence into the group meeting in a manual mode, and the speaker location signal generated by said sound location system in the automatic mode.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
This invention relates to an apparatus for the projection of a remote conferee'"'"'s presence into a group meeting environment by using a combination of videoconferencing/teleconferencing and robotics technology. The remote conferee'"'"'s face is shown substantially life-size on a video monitor. The remote conferee'"'"'s eyes appear to be looking directly at the viewer. The video monitor can turn left or right to point at the person speaking, automatically or by manual control, to give the impression that the remote conferee is turning his head to look at the person speaking. The video screen can be raised and lowered to give the impression that the remote conferee is standing up and sitting down. An attention-getting mechanism prompts the attention of the other conferees when the remote conferee wants to interrupt or enter a conversation.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A teleconferencing robot, for enabling a remote conferee to project a sense of presence into a group meeting, the teleconferencing robot comprising:
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a base comprising an upper stage and a lower stage and wherein the lower and upper stages are rotatable relative to one another about a substantially vertical axis;
one and only one video monitor is secured to the upper stage and the upper stage is rotatably mounted to the lower stage, said video monitor receiving and displaying a life-sized image of the remote conferee'"'"'s face;
a video camera movably mounted on the base;
control means mounted on the base for moving the video monitor secured to the upper stage and the video camera in response to an input control signal;
a sound location system for generating a speaker location signal in response to which the control means can automatically swivel said video monitor with said image of the remote conferee'"'"'s face to look at another conferee speaking in an automatic mode;
and wherein said upper stage to which said video monitor and said video camera are secured is moved in response to one of said input control signal to enable the remote conferee to project a sense of presence into the group meeting in a manual mode, and the speaker location signal generated by said sound location system in the automatic mode. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A teleconferencing robot for enabling a remote conferee to project a sense of presence into a group meeting, said remote conferee located remotely from said group meeting, the teleconferencing robot comprising:
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a base comprising an upper stage and a lower stage and wherein the lower stage and upper stage are rotatably related to one another about a substantially vertical axis;
one and only one video monitor secured to the upper stage and video monitor secured to the upper stage and movably mounted to the lower stage, said video monitor receiving and displaying a life-sized image of the remote conferee'"'"'s face;
the base includes means for vertically displacing the upper and lower parts relative to one another;
a video camera;
control means including a rotating drive unit for rotating the upper stage containing the video monitor relative to the lower stage in response to an input control signal derived from the remote signal generated by the remote conferee;
a sound location system for generating a speaker location signal in response to which control means can automatically swivel said video monitor with said image of the remote conferee'"'"'s face to look at another conferee speaking in an automatic mode;
and wherein said video monitor moves in response to one of said input control signal to enable the remote conferee to project a sense of presence into the group meeting in a manual mode, and a speaker location signal generated by said sound location system in the automatic mode.
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Specification