Method and apparatus for identifying and eliminating the source of background noise in multi-party teleconferences
First Claim
1. A conference call noise identification and reduction system comprising:
- a block module adapted to block audio from one or more conference call participants, the blocking occurring at one or more of a near-end and a conference bridge to allow a conference call participant to identify a source of noise; and
one or more of a tune module, filter module and mute module selectively operable at the conference bridge for each conference call participant identified by the blocking to reduce the source of noise associated with the conference call participants identified by the blocking, wherein when a first conference call participant selectively operates one or more of the one or more of the tune module, filter module and mute module, the selective operation only affects the audio to the first conference call participant, with the audio to other conference call participants remaining unchanged, and, if the first conference call participant sounds acceptable to a second conference call participant, but does not sound acceptable to a third conference call participant, then the third conference call participant can adjust the first conference call participant to the third conference call participant transmission parameters without affecting the first conference call participant to the second conference call participant transmissions.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A mechanism is provided that allows participants on the conference call to identify, and then mute or filter, a participant(s) responsible for introducing the noise, regardless of whether the noise is caused by transmission impairments or by the participant(s) being in a noisy location. For example, individual users could be able to press a “test” button that could block each of the participants one at a time. This would allow the source of the noise to be identified. This “test button” could be one or more of provided at the endpoint(s), be enabled through a web interface or, for example, through a dedicated conference call interface at the endpoint(s) or at the conference bridge. The blocking of each participant could occur through interaction with the main PBX using, for example, in-band signaling to the PBX. Once the source(s) of the noise is identified, noise mitigation can be applied as needed.
262 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A conference call noise identification and reduction system comprising:
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a block module adapted to block audio from one or more conference call participants, the blocking occurring at one or more of a near-end and a conference bridge to allow a conference call participant to identify a source of noise; and one or more of a tune module, filter module and mute module selectively operable at the conference bridge for each conference call participant identified by the blocking to reduce the source of noise associated with the conference call participants identified by the blocking, wherein when a first conference call participant selectively operates one or more of the one or more of the tune module, filter module and mute module, the selective operation only affects the audio to the first conference call participant, with the audio to other conference call participants remaining unchanged, and, if the first conference call participant sounds acceptable to a second conference call participant, but does not sound acceptable to a third conference call participant, then the third conference call participant can adjust the first conference call participant to the third conference call participant transmission parameters without affecting the first conference call participant to the second conference call participant transmissions. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A conference call noise identification and reduction method comprising:
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blocking audio from one or more conference call participants, the blocking occurring at one or more of a near-end and a conference bridge to allow a conference call participant to identify a source of noise; one or more of selectively tuning, filtering and muting at the conference bridge each conference call participant identified by the blocking to reduce the source of noise associated with the conference call participants identified by the blocking, wherein when a first conference call participant selectively operates one or more of the one or more of the tune module, filter module and mute module, the selective operation only affects the audio to the first conference call participant, with the audio to other conference call participants remaining unchanged, and, if the first conference call participant sounds acceptable to a second conference call participant, but does not sound acceptable to a third conference call participant, then the third conference call participant can adjust the first conference call participant to the third conference call participant transmission parameters without affecting the first conference call participant to the second conference call participant transmissions. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification