Teleconferencing arrangement

• US 7,420,935 B2
• Filed: 09/26/2002
• Issued: 09/02/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Virolainen, Jussi
• Primary Examiner(s): Chan; Wing F.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mais; Mark A.
• Application Number:
  US10/259,819
• Publication Number:
  US 20030063574A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,168 Days
• Field of Search: 370259-261, 370/263, 370265-271, 370/352, 370/353, 370/354, 370/355, 370/356, 370353- 56, 379158-160, 379/202.01, 379/203.01, 379/204.01, 379/205.01, 379/207.01
• US Class Current: 370/263
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/561 by multiplexing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/568 audio processing specific to telephonic conferencing, e.g. spatial distribution, mixing of participants echo suppression in two-way loud-speaking telephone systems H04M9/02; sound field processing per se H04S7/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/569 using the instant speaker's algorithm speech detection per se G10L25/78

Abstract

A method and an apparatus for controlling a conference call is a system which comprises a conference bridge for combining several audio signals arriving from terminals and for transmitting the combined signal further to at least one of the terminals using at least one transmitting codec. The conference bridge comprises a spatialization unit for creating a spatial effect. The number of simultaneously active audio components, such as speech signals, is determined from the audio signals of the conference bridge inputs. At least one transmitting codec is selected for use on the basis of the number of simultaneously active audio components and the combined signal is transmitted to at least one terminal using the selected transmitting codec.

Claims

1. A method of controlling a conference call in a system which comprises a conference bridge for combining several audio signals arriving from terminals and transmitting the combined signal further to at least one of said terminals using at least one transmitting codec, the conference bridge comprising a spatialization unit for creating a spatial effect, the method comprising

determining the number of substantially simultaneously active pre-determined audio components, such as speech signals, from the audio signals of said conference bridge inputs,

selecting, from a group of codecs comprising at least two different codecs, at least one transmitting codec for use on the basis of said number of simultaneously active pre-determined audio components,

transmitting said combined signal encoded by a low bit rate audio codec to said at least one terminal in response to the fact that there is only one simultaneously active pre-determined audio component;

or

transmitting said combined signal encoded by a high bit rate audio codec to said at least one terminal in response to the fact that there is more than one simultaneously active pre-determined audio component.

2. A method according to claim 1, further comprising

processing said combined signal in the spatialization unit included in the conference bridge so that a spatial effect can be created of the conference call participants in said at least one terminal by means of said combined signal.

3. A method according to claim 2, further comprising

performing spatialization of the combined signal in at least two different steps, which are divided between the conference bridge and the receiving terminal.

4. A method according to claim 1, further comprising alternatively

transmitting said combined signal to said at least one terminal as a single-channel audio signal and spatializing the received single-channel audio signal in said terminals in response to there being only one simultaneously active speech signal;

or

transmitting said combined and spatialized signal to said at least one terminal as a multi-channel audio signal in response to there being more than one simultaneously active speech signal.

5. A method according to claim 4, wherein said single-channel audio signal is generated alternatively by

combining said active speech signal from the audio signals of the conference bridge inputs and control signals from the other inputs without transcoding in response to the fact that the same receiving codec and transmitting codec and their same mode are used in the conference bridge;

or

combining said active speech signal from the audio signals of the conference bridge inputs and control signals from the other inputs by transcoding said audio signals of the inputs in response to the fact that different receiving and transmitting codecs or their different modes are used in the conference bridge.

6. A method according to claim 1, comprising

determining the number of simultaneously active predetermined audio components by means of the VAD units included in the conference bridge inputs.

7. A method according to claim 1, comprising

determining the number of simultaneously active predetermined audio components by means of ACD units which determine the audio content and are included in the conference bridge inputs.

8. A method according to claim 1, comprising

determining the number of simultaneously active predetermined audio components by means of the meta data or control information included in the received audio signals, the meta data or control information determining the type of the audio components included in the audio signals.

9. A method according to claim 1, comprising

determining the number of simultaneously active predetermined audio components from the outputs of an audio processing unit included in the conference bridge by means of a mono/stereo estimator.

10. A method according to claim 1, comprising

using for selecting said at least one transmitting codec the spatialization information used for said conference call participants in the spatialization unit in addition to said number of simultaneously active predetermined audio components.

11. A method according to claim 1, wherein

said transmitting codec is arranged to encode all audio channels of the stereo/n-channel combined audio signal by the same audio codec.

12. A method according to claim 1, comprising

selecting said transmitting codec to be used according to the terminal on the basis of the audio codecs supported by each terminal.

13. A method according to claim 1, wherein

said transmitting codec is one of the following:

GSM EFR/FR/HR speech codec, AMR speech codec, Wideband AMR speech codec, G.711, G.722, G722.1, G.723.1, G.728 or a codec according to MPEG1/2/4, such as an AAC codec or CELP+AAC.

14. An apparatus for controlling a conference call (conference bridge) which is arranged to combine several audio signals arriving from terminals and transmit the combined signal further to at least one of said terminals using at least one transmitting codec, the apparatus comprising a spatialization unit for creating a spatial effect, wherein said apparatus is arranged to

determine the number of substantially simultaneously active predetermined audio components, such as speech signals, from the audio signals of the inputs of said device,

select, from a group of codecs comprising at least two different codecs, for use at least one transmitting codec on the basis of said number of simultaneously active predetermined audio components,

transmit said combined signal encoded by a low bit rate audio codec to said at least one terminal in response to the fact that there is only one simultaneously active predetermined audio component;

or

transmit said combined signal encoded by a high bit rate audio codec to said at least one terminal in response to the fact that there is more than one simultaneously active predetermined audio component.

15. An apparatus according to claim 14, wherein

said combined signal is arranged to be processed in the spatialization unit of the apparatus so that a spatial effect of the conference call participants can be created in said at least one terminal by means of said combined signal.

16. An apparatus according to claim 15, wherein

spatialization of the combined signal is arranged to be performed in at least two different steps, at least some of which are arranged to be performed in said apparatus and the others in the receiving terminal.

17. An apparatus according to claim 14, wherein alternatively

said combined signal is arranged to be transmitted to said at least one terminal as a single-channel audio signal and the received single-channel audio signal is spatialized in said terminal in response to the fact that there is only one simultaneously active speech signal;

or

said combined and spatialized signal is arranged to be transmitted to said at least one terminal as a multi-channel audio signal in response to the fact that there is more than one simultaneously active speech signal.

18. An apparatus according to claim 17, wherein said single-channel audio signal is arranged to be alternatively produced such that

said active speech signal from the audio signals of the conference bridge inputs and the control signals of other inputs are arranged to be combined without transcoding in response to the fact that the conference bridge uses the same receiving and transmitting codec and their same mode;

or

said active speech signal from the audio signals of the conference bridge inputs and the control signals of other inputs are arranged to be combined by transcoding said audio signals of the inputs in response to the fact that the conference bridge uses different receiving and transmitting codecs or their different mode.

19. An apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the number of simultaneously active predetermined audio components is arranged to be determined by means of VAD units included in the conference bridge inputs.

20. An apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the number of simultaneously active predetermined audio components is arranged to be determined by means of ACD units which are included in the conference bridge inputs and determine the audio content.

21. An apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the number of simultaneously active predetermined audio components is arranged to be determined by means of the meta data or control information included in the received audio signals, the meta data or control information determining the type of the audio components included in the audio signals.

22. An apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the number of simultaneously active predetermined audio components is arranged to be determined from the outputs of the audio processing unit included in the conference bridge by means of a mono/stereo estimator.

23. An apparatus according to claim 14, wherein in addition to said number of simultaneously active predetermined audio components, the spatialization information used for said conference call participants in the spatialization unit is arranged to be used in the selection of said at least one transmitting codec.

24. A teleconferencing system which comprises a conference bridge, which is arranged to combine several audio signals arriving from terminal and transmit the combined signal further to at least one of said terminals using at least one transmitting codec, the conference bridge comprising a spatialization unit for creating a spatial effect, in which system the conference bridge is arranged to

determine the number of substantially simultaneously active audio components, such as speech signals, from the audio signals of the conference bridge inputs,

select, from a group of codecs comprising at least two different codecs, at least one transmitting codec for use on the basis of said number of simultaneously active predetermined audio components,

transmit said combined signal encoded by a low bit rate audio codec to said at least one terminal in response to the fact that there is only one simultaneously active predetermined audio component, or

transmit said combined signal encoded by a high bit rate audio codec to said at least one terminal in response to the fact that there is more than one simultaneously active predetermined audio component.

25. A teleconferencing system according to claim 24, wherein

the combined signal is arranged to be spatialized so that the terminal can create a spatial effect of the conference call participants, the spatialization being arranged to be performed in at least two different steps, at least some of which are arranged to be performed in said apparatus and the others in the receiving terminal.

26. A teleconferencing system according to claim 24, wherein

said system also comprises at least one terminal, which is arranged to receive control information from the terminals participating in the conference call and control said conference call together with said conference bridge.