Remote microphone teleconferencing configurations

• US 8,107,645 B2
• Filed: 10/16/2007
• Issued: 01/31/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rateze Remote Mgmt. L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: SF IP Properties 50 LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Posa, John, Schwab, Barry H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chin, Vivian
• Assistant Examiner(s): SUTHERS, DOUGLAS JOHN
• Application Number:
  US11/873,120
• Publication Number:
  US 20080037802A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,568 Days
• Field of Search: 455/66.1, 455/556.1, 348/14.02, 348/14.08, 348/14.09, 381/122, 381/111, 381/92
• US Class Current: 381/122
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6033 for providing handsfree use or a loudspeaker mode in telephone sets arrangements for preventing acoustic echo H04M9/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/142 Constructional details of the terminal equipment, e.g. arrangements of the camera and the display

Abstract

Systems and methods for electronic teleconferencing are disclosed. A telecommunications device includes a video teleconferencing system including a base unit and one or more cameras configured to capture user images for transmission through a telecommunications network. The system may include remote units and may be configured to transmit a wireless signal for transsponding by the remote units, through which determination of distance from the remote units to the base unit can be made. Based at least in part upon distance and/or position between the base unit and the remote units, the telecommunications device can include additional capabilities such as automatic pan/tilt, zoom, focusing, and depth-of-field for single or multiple speakers.

Claims

1. A telecommunications apparatus, comprising:

a base unit including an interface to a telecommunications network;

at least one wireless remote microphone in wireless communication with the base unit and configured to enable a user of the microphone to speak to a listener through the base unit and telecommunications network, wherein the base unit comprises part of a video teleconferencing system including a video camera having a plurality of pixels for capturing images of the user for transmission to the listener through the telecommunications network;

a wireless locator signal transmitter located at the base unit; and

a pan, tilt, or zoom capability effectuated by selecting a subset of the plurality of pixels gathered by the camera, thereby enabling the video camera to visually track a moving user,

wherein the at least one wireless remote microphone is configured to receive and re-transmit a locator signal to the base unit and enable the base unit to determine a positional aspect of the user of the microphone.

2. The telecommunications apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a plurality of wireless remote microphones configured to re-transmit the locator signal to the base unit; and

circuitry configured to distinguish the signals received by each microphone so that the camera tracks a particular user when that user is speaking.

3. The telecommunications apparatus of claim 2, wherein the circuitry configured to distinguish the signals received by each microphone so that the camera follows a particular user includes a different carrier frequency associated with each microphone.

4. The telecommunications apparatus of claim 2, wherein the circuitry configured to distinguish the signals received by each microphone includes microphone identification circuitry located at the base unit.

5. The telecommunications apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a plurality of wireless locator signal transmitters;

wherein each remote microphone is configured to retransmit one of the locator signals to the base unit and enable the base unit to determine a positional aspect of each user.

6. The telecommunications apparatus of claim 1, further including:

an auto-focusing capability for the video camera to control depth-of-field associated with one or more users.

7. The telecommunications apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wireless signal transmitter located at the base unit transmits an inaudible acoustic signal.

8. The telecommunications apparatus of claim 1, further including:

circuitry for evaluating signal quality from the microphone and activating an alarm if the signal quality indicates that the microphone is being carried away by the user.

9. A telecommunications apparatus, comprising:

a base unit including an interface to a telecommunications network;

a plurality of wireless remote microphones in wireless communication with the base unit enabling a user of the microphone to speak to a listener through the base unit and telecommunications network, each wireless microphone communicating with the base unit using a different carrier frequency;

the base unit forming part of a video teleconferencing system including a video camera having a plurality of pixels for capturing images of the user for transmission to the listener through the telecommunications network;

an antenna located at the base unit along with circuitry operative to determine the position aspect of a microphone user through triangulation; and

a pan, tilt or zoom capability associated with the video camera which is controlled as a function of the positional aspect, enabling the video camera to visually track a moving user.

10. The telecommunications apparatus of claim 9, further comprising:

an auto-focusing capability for the video camera that is controlled as a function of the positional aspect.

11. The telecommunications apparatus of claim 9, wherein the pan, tilt, or zoom capabilities are effectuated by selecting a subset of pixels from a larger number of pixels in an image gathered by the camera.

12. The telecommunications apparatus of claim 9, further comprising:

an auto-focusing capability for the video camera that is controlled as a function of the positional aspect of each user to control depth-of-field associated with each user.

13. The telecommunications apparatus of claim 9, further comprising circuitry configured to evaluate signal quality from the microphone and activate an alarm if the signal quality indicates that the microphone is being carried away by the user.