Systems and methods for computer and voice conference audio transmission during conference call via VoIP device

• US 8,296,364 B2
• Filed: 03/08/2010
• Issued: 10/23/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GOTO Group Incorporated (LogMeIn, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Inventors: Alexandrov, Albert, Winterstein, Florian
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, MINH CHAU
• Application Number:
  US12/719,495
• Publication Number:
  US 20100262268A1
• Time in Patent Office: 960 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/567 Multimedia conference systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0027 Collaboration services where a computer is used for data transfer and the telephone is used for telephonic communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 9/082 using echo cancellers echo cancellers per se H04B3/23

Abstract

A new approach is proposed that contemplates systems and methods to support canceling audio streams leaked from a speaker to a microphone so that a clean audio stream of a presenter or viewer speaking at a conference call is transmitted. Here, the audio streams being canceled includes the computer audio stream of an application being run or a material being presented online during a web conference and/or the audio stream received from the rest of the group of participants at the conference call. The computer audio stream is then transmitted in addition to the presenter or viewer audio stream, and separate from any other audio stream captured by the hosting device during the conference call.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a host associated with a presenter, which in operation, runs an application or presents a material;

a computer audio engine executing on or included in the host, which in operation, captures and transmits an outgoing computer audio stream of the application or the material to a conference clean of echo and feedback from other audio sources; and

a voice audio engine executing on or included in the host, which in operation, provides an incoming conference audio stream from a viewer at the conference to the presenter; and

captures, processes, and transmits an outgoing presenter audio stream of the presenter to the conference clean of echo and feedback from other audio sources;

wherein the presenter host is a computing device, a communication device, a storage device, or any electronic device capable of running a software component.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the voice audio engine provides the conference audio stream to a speaker and captures the presenter audio stream via a microphone.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein:

the voice audio engine further comprises at least a receiving component, which in operation, accepts, processes, and outputs the conference audio stream to the speaker.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein:

the voice audio engine further comprises at least a transmitting component, which in operation,

captures via the microphone one or more of;

the presenter audio stream and the computer audio stream leaked from the speaker;

captures the computer audio stream from the computer audio engine;

cancels the computer audio stream from the one or more audio streams captured by the microphone;

transmits the clean presenter audio stream to the conference.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a host associated with the viewer;

a computer audio engine executing on or included in the viewer host, which in operation, accepts and outputs the incoming computer audio stream of the application or the material;

a voice audio engine executing on or included in the viewer host, which in operation,

provides the presenter audio stream to the viewer and captures an outgoing viewer audio stream of the viewer;

transmits the outgoing viewer audio stream to the conference to the conference clean of echo and feedback from other audio sources;

wherein the viewer host is a computing device, a communication device, a storage device, or any electronic device capable of running a software component.

6. The system of claim 5, further comprising:

a display component executing on or included in the viewer host, which in operation, receives and displays the presentation material originated by the presenter.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein:

the voice audio engine further comprises at least a transmitting component, which in operation,

captures via a microphone one or more of;

the viewer audio stream and the computer audio stream leaked from the speaker;

captures the computer audio stream from the computer audio engine;

cancels the computer audio stream from the one or more streams captured by the microphone;

transmits a clean viewer audio stream to the conference.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a voice conference bridge hosting the conference executing on or included in a computing device, a communication device, a storage device, or any electronic device capable of running a software component, which in operation, accepts and transmits the presenter and conference audio streams between the presenter and the viewers at the conference.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a display component executing on or included in the presenter host, which in operation enables the presenter to display, manipulate, and share the application or the presentation material.

10. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

enabling a presenter to run and share an application or a material at a conference call;

capturing and transmitting an outgoing computer audio stream of the application or the presentation material to a conference clean of echo and feedback from other audio sources;

enabling the presenter to listen to an incoming conference audio stream from a viewer at the conference and speak an outgoing presenter audio stream to the conference;

processing and transmitting the outgoing presenter audio stream to the conference clean of echo and feedback from other audio sources.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

capturing via a microphone one or more of;

the presenter audio stream and the computer audio stream leaked from the speaker;

capturing the computer audio stream from the computer audio engine;

canceling the computer audio stream from the one or more audio streams captured by the microphone;

transmitting the clean presenter audio stream to the conference.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving and displaying the presentation material originated by the presenter.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

capturing via a microphone one or more of;

the viewer audio stream and the computer audio stream leaked from the speaker;

capturing and cancelling the computer audio stream from the one or more streams captured by the microphone;

transmitting a clean viewer audio stream to the conference;

capturing via the microphone one or more of;

the audio stream of the viewer and the mix of the conference audio stream and the computer audio stream leaked from the speaker;

capturing from the receiving component a mix of the conference audio stream and the computer audio stream;

canceling the mix of the conference audio stream and the computer audio stream from the one or more streams captured by the microphone.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

accepting and transmitting the presenter and conference audio streams between the presenter and the viewers at the conference.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

enabling the presenter to display, manipulate, and share the application or the presentation material.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

enabling the presenter to listen to the conference audio stream via a speaker and speaks the presenter audio stream via a microphone.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

accepting and outputting the conference audio stream to the speaker.

18. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

accepting and outputting the incoming computer audio stream of the application or the presentation material;

enabling the viewer to listen to the presenter audio stream and speak an outgoing viewer audio stream to the conference;

transmitting an outgoing viewer audio stream to the conference clean of echo and feedback from other audio sources to the conference.

19. A system, comprising:

means for enabling a presenter to run and share an application or a material at a conference call;

means for capturing and transmitting an outgoing computer audio stream of the application or the presentation material clean of echo and feedback from other audio sources to a conference;

means for enabling the presenter to listen to an incoming conference audio stream from a viewer at the conference and speak an outgoing presenter audio stream to the conference;

means for processing and transmitting the outgoing presenter audio stream clean of echo and feedback from other audio sources to the conference.