Method and system for tele-conferencing with simultaneous interpretation and automatic floor control

• US 8,175,244 B1
• Filed: 12/08/2011
• Issued: 05/08/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/22/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ZipDX LLC
• Original Assignee: David P. Frankel
• Inventors: Frankel, David P.
• Primary Examiner(s): HONG, HARRY S
• Application Number:
  US13/314,838
• Time in Patent Office: 152 Days
• Field of Search: 370260-262, 370/264, 370/265, 379/88.05, 379/88.06, 379/93.21, 37920201-20601, 455/416, 704/2, 704/3, 704/7, 704/8, 704/9, 709/204, 709/205, 348 1408- 141
• US Class Current: 379/202.01
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/58 Use of machine translation, e.g. for multi-lingual retrieval, for server-side translation for client devices or for real-time translation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1827 Network arrangements for conference optimisation or adaptation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2061 Language aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/5045 Selection of bridge/multipoint control unit network arrangements for computer conference optimisation H04L12/1827
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/12 Language recognition, selection or translation arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/58 including a multilanguage function
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/563 User guidance or feature selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/566 relating to a participants right to speak arrangements for multi-party communication with floor control, e.g. for conferences, H04L65/4038, H04L65/4046, H04L65/4053
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/15 Conference systems

Abstract

A system and method for conducting a conference between a plurality of geographically-dispersed participants, with simultaneous interpretation in a plurality of languages, wherein the method comprises establishing an audio bridge for each of the languages, connecting through a network each participant of a plurality of participants to an appropriate one of the bridges based upon a preferred language of the respective participant, and connecting an interpreter to a first one of the bridges and a second one of the bridges, wherein the interpreter simultaneously listens to a speaking one of the participants through the first one of the bridges and speaks a translation into the second one of the bridges, and wherein the audio connections within the system are configured automatically according to the language being spoken and the abilities of the interpreters. Order is maintained by allowing a participant to make a request to speak, and by granting said requests in turn.

Claims

1. A method for interpretation comprising:

establishing a plurality of teleconference bridges, wherein each bridge of the plurality of teleconference bridges is associated with a respective language of a plurality of languages;

connecting each participant communications device of a plurality of participant communications devices to a respective bridge of the plurality of teleconference bridges based upon the respective language associated with the respective bridge of the plurality of teleconference bridges, wherein each participant of a plurality of participants is associated with a respective one of the plurality of participant communications devices;

connecting an interpreter communications device to a first one of the plurality of teleconference bridges and a second one of the plurality of teleconference bridges based upon language capabilities of an interpreter associated with the interpreter communications device; and

conducting a conference between the participants, wherein the interpreter associated with the interpreter communications device simultaneously listens to a speaking one of the participants through the first one of the plurality of teleconference bridges and speaks an interpretation into the second one of the plurality of teleconference bridges.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising selectively designating one of the participants as a floor-holder of the conference, wherein each of the participants are blocked from transmitting audio to the plurality of teleconference bridges except for the one of the participants currently designated as the floor-holder, and wherein the connections of the interpreter communications device are automatically configured such that the floor-holder is heard by the interpreter capable of interpreting the preferred language of the floor-holder and the remaining participants hear a resulting interpretation.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a preferred language of a participant of the plurality of participants is automatically detected and the communication device associated with the participant is automatically connected to a respective bridge of the plurality of teleconference bridges based upon the detected preferred language of the participant.

4. A method for remote interpretation comprising:

establishing a plurality of teleconference bridges, wherein each bridge of the plurality of teleconference bridges is associated with one of a plurality of languages;

connecting each participant of a plurality of participants to an appropriate one of the plurality of teleconference bridges based upon a preferred language of the respective participant;

connecting an interpreter to a first one of the plurality of teleconference bridges and a second one of the plurality of teleconference bridges based upon language capabilities of the interpreter; and

;

receiving a plurality of speaking requests from at least one of the plurality of participants; and

iteratively granting a speaking request of a select participant of the plurality of participants, wherein the interpreter simultaneously listens to the select participant through the first one of the plurality of teleconference bridges and speaks an interpretation into the second one of the plurality of teleconference bridges.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising configuring an interconnection of each of the plurality of teleconference bridges in response to a spoken language of the select participant such that the language received through the first one of the bridges is within the language capabilities of the interpreter.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising selectively blocking each of the plurality of participants from transmitting audio to the bridges except for the select participant.

7. A conferencing system supporting simultaneous interpretation in a plurality of languages, comprising:

a) a plurality of first audio connections, wherein each of the plurality of first audio connections is associated with at least one participant of a plurality of participants;

b) a second audio connection associated with a first interpreter;

c) a plurality of teleconference bridges, wherein each of the plurality of first audio connections is associated with at least one of the plurality of teleconference bridges based upon a preferred language of a respective participant of the plurality of participants and wherein the second audio connection is associated with a first bridge and a second bridge of the plurality of teleconference bridges based upon language capabilities of the first interpreter; and

d) a processor in communication with each of the plurality of

teleconference bridges, the

processor configured to;

i) receive a plurality of requests for the floor from a plurality of requesting participants of the plurality of participants; and

ii) iteratively grant the floor to a select participant of the plurality of requesting participants in response to a respective request for the floor, wherein the first interpreter simultaneously listens to a select participant currently granted the floor through the first bridge and speaks an interpretation into the second bridge.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein each of the participants not granted the floor is blocked from sending audio to an associated one of the teleconference bridges.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the request for the floor is received from a telephone keypad input.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the select participant relinquishes the floor by a telephone keypad input.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the select participant receives automatic notification of the grant.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the select participant receives automatic notification when the select participant no longer has the floor.

13. The system of claim 7, further comprising a third audio connection associated with a second interpreter, wherein the third audio connection is associated with the first bridge and the second bridge of the plurality of bridges based upon language capabilities of the second interpreter.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured to notify one of the first interpreter and the second interpreter whether the other is actively interpreting or is idle.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured to control an interconnection of each of the bridges in response to a spoken language of the select participant such that the spoken language received through a teleconference bridge associated with one of the interpreters is within the language capabilities of the respective interpreter.

16. The system of claim 7, wherein one of the plurality of participants is a group of individuals located in the same room.

17. The system of claim 7, wherein the processor is configured to automatically queue and sequentially grant at least a portion of the plurality of requests for the floor.

18. The system of claim 7, wherein at least one of the audio connections is via the conventional telephone network.

19. The system of claim 7, wherein at least one of the audio connections is via voice-over-internet-protocol.

20. The system of claim 7, further comprising a control panel in communication with the processor, the control panel providing a visual feedback indicating information regarding each of the plurality of participants, the first interpreter, the requests for the floor, and grants of the floor.