Telecommunication and multimedia management method and apparatus

• US 8,762,566 B2
• Filed: 05/27/2008
• Issued: 06/24/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Voxer IP LLC (Voxer, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Voxer IP LLC (Voxer, Inc.)
• Inventors: Katis, Thomas E., Panttaja, James T., Panttaja, Mary G., Ranney, Matthew J.
• Primary Examiner(s): BARQADLE, YASIN M
• Application Number:
  US12/127,619
• Publication Number:
  US 20090003247A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,219 Days
• Field of Search: 709203-206, 709217-232, 370/260
• US Class Current: 709/232
• CPC Class Codes: E04H 3/126 Foldable, retractable or tiltable tribunes E04H3/123 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/16 Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1831 Tracking arrangements for later retrieval, e.g. recording contents, participants activities or behavior, network status
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/10 Multimedia information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/216 Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/226 Delivery according to priorities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2503 Translation of Internet protocol [IP] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1083 In-session procedures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4015 where at least one of the additional parallel sessions is real time or time sensitive, e.g. white board sharing, collaboration or spawning of a subconference
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/752 adapting media to network capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/764 at the destination reformatting of additional data in video clients H04N21/4355
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/64 Automatic arrangements for answering calls; Automatic arrangements for recording messages for absent subscribers; Arrangements for recording conversations centralised dictation systems H04M11/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/00 Telephonic communication systems specially adapted for combination with other electrical systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/53 Centralised arrangements for recording incoming messages , i.e. mailbox systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5307 for recording messages comprising any combination of audio and non-audio components
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/147 Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals selecting H04Q
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/15 : Conference systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 : Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements

Abstract

A communication device for simultaneously rendering one or more conversations. The device includes a receiver for receiving over a network media associated with the one or more conversations and a rendering element for simultaneously rendering the media of the one or more conversations as the media is received over the network. The device also includes a media creation device for creating media for the conversations and a transmitter for transmitting the created media over the network to other participants of the one or more conversations. A memory or storage device stores the received and created media associated with the one or more conversations. A rendering control element is provided to control the rendering element to (i) pause the simultaneous rendering of the media received over the network associated with the one or more conversations and (ii) select for review during the pause one of the one or more conversations by rendering the received and/or created media associated with the selected conversation. During the review period, the received media of the other conversations is stored, but not rendered. After the review of the selected conversation, the simultaneous rendering of the plurality of conversations may be resumed. By storing the media of all the conversations during the review period, the non-rendered media received during the pause may be later reviewed.

Claims

1. A communication device, comprising:

a receiver element configured to receive at the communication device streaming voice media associated with two or more conversations over a network;

a rendering element configured to simultaneously render the received streaming voice media associated with the two or more conversations as the streaming voice media is received over the network, the rendering element including a mixer configured to mix the received streaming voice media associated with the two or more conversations to be simultaneously rendered;

a media creation element configured to selectively create streaming voice media on the communication device for the two or more conversations respectively;

a transmitter element configured to transmit over the network the created streaming voice media for the two or more conversations, wherein the transmitter element is further configured to transmit the created streaming voice media progressively as the streaming voice media is created;

a memory or storage element configured to store the received and created streaming voice media associated with the two or more conversations; and

a rendering control element configured to control the rendering element, the rendering control element further including;

(i) a pause function which pauses the simultaneous rendering of the streaming voice media received over the network associated with the two or more conversations;

(ii) a selection element configured to select for review during the pause one of the two or more conversations being simultaneously rendered, the review of the selected conversation including the rendering of the received and/or created streaming voice media associated with the selected conversation;

wherein,

the memory or storage element further configured to continuously store, without interruption, the streaming voice media received over the network and associated with the two or more conversations while the selected conversation is reviewed during the pause;

the rendering control element further configured to resume the rendering of the received streaming voice media associated with the two or more conversations as the received streaming voice media is received over the network after the pause and review of the selected conversation.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the memory or storage element is further configured to continuously store, without interruption, the streaming voice media received over the network and associated with the non-selected conversations while the streaming voice media associated with the selected one conversation is reviewed during the pause of the simultaneous rendering of the two or more conversations.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein the rendering control element is further configured to receive a starting point input which defines a starting point to review the streaming voice media of the selected conversation during the pause, the rendering control element further configured to cause the streaming voice media starting at the starting point to be retrieved from the storage or memory element and to be rendered on the rendering element starting from the starting point.

4. The device of claim 3, wherein the rendering control element is further configured to control the rendering element to render the retrieved streaming voice media at a rate faster than the streaming voice media was originally encoded and to ascertain a catch-up point when the rendering of the retrieved streaming voice media at the faster rate has caught up to and is substantially concurrent with the streaming voice media of the selected one conversation as the streaming voice media of the selected one conversation is received over the network.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein each of the two or more conversations further comprise an exchange of the received and transmitted streaming voice media among participants of each of the two or more conversations respectively.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the received and the created streaming voice media associated with each of the two or more conversations is segmented into messages respectively.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the received and the created streaming voice media associated with each of the two or more conversations further comprise a plurality of streaming voice media payloads, each of the plurality of streaming voice media payloads having time-index information associated therewith.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein the rendering element is further configured to simultaneously render the received streaming voice media associated with the two or more conversations by ascertaining the time-index of the received streaming voice media payloads associated with the two or more conversations to be simultaneously rendered and simultaneously rendering overlapping time-indexed streaming voice media of the streaming voice media payloads according to the time-indexed order.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the rendering control element is programmable allowing a user of the communication device to define the two or more conversations to be simultaneously rendered.

10. The device of claim 1, wherein the rendering control element is preconfigured to define the two or more conversations to be simultaneously rendered.

11. The device of claim 1, wherein the rendering control element is programmable allowing a participant of the two or more conversations to define the two or more conversations to be simultaneously rendered.

12. The device of claim 1, wherein the transmitter element is further configured to transmit created streaming voice media for a selected one of the two or more conversations that are simultaneously rendered.

13. The device of claim 1, wherein the rendering element is further configured to simultaneously render only the received streaming voice media from one source when the streaming voice media is received only from the one source or overlapping the rendering of the received streaming voice media when the received streaming voice media is received from two or more sources at the same time.

14. The device of claim 1, wherein the rendering control element is further configured to resume the simultaneous rendering of the received streaming voice media associated with the two or more conversations after the pause as the received streaming voice media is received over the network without first reviewing the stored streaming voice media received during the pause.

15. The device of claim 1, wherein the rendering control element is further configured to resume the rendering of the streaming voice media received as received over the network just for the selected conversation after the pause.

16. The device of claim 1, wherein the rendering control element is further configured to resume the simultaneous rendering of the received streaming voice media associated with the two or more conversations after the pause starting at the point the simultaneous rendering of the streaming voice media associated with the two or more conversations was paused by rendering the streaming voice media received during the pause from the storage or memory element.

17. The device of claim 1, wherein the rendering control element is further configured to resume the simultaneous rendering of the received streaming voice media associated with the two or more conversations after the pause starting at a selected previous point in time defined by a user of the communication device.

18. The device of claim 1, further comprising an encoder configured to encode the created streaming voice media created using the media creation element.

19. The device of claim 1, wherein the streaming voice media associated with the two or more conversations is segmented into messages.

20. The device of claim 1, further comprising providing a plurality of rendering options for rendering the streaming voice media of the one or more conversations, the rendering options including one or more of the following:

pause, replay, play faster, play slower, jump backward, jump forward, skip silence, catch up to the most recently received streaming voice media, or jump to the most recently received streaming voice media.

21. The device of claim 1, wherein transmitting over the network the streaming voice media created on the communication device further comprises:

ascertaining if the communication device is connected to the network when the streaming voice media is created; and

progressively transmitting the streaming voice media if the communication device is connected to the network,

wherein connected to the network is defined as the ability to transfer data between the communication device and the network.

22. The device of claim 21, further comprising;

ascertaining the bandwidth rate of the connection between the network and the communication device when the streaming voice media is created; and

progressively transmitting the created streaming voice media within the ascertained bandwidth rate.

23. The device of claim 1, wherein transmitting over the network the streaming voice media created on the communication device further comprises:

ascertaining if the communication device is disconnected from the network when the streaming voice media is created;

detecting when the first communication device reconnects to the network; and

transmitting the created streaming voice media from storage or memory after the communication device reconnects to the network,

wherein connected and disconnected to the network is defined as the ability to transfer or not transfer data between the communication device and the network respectively.

24. The device of claim 1, wherein transmitting over the network the streaming media created on the communication device further comprises:

ascertaining if network conditions are sufficiently poor to prevent the transmission when the streaming voice media is created;

detecting when network conditions sufficiently improve to enable the transmission; and

transmitting the created streaming voice media from storage or memory after detecting when the network conditions sufficiently improve.

25. The device of claim 1, further comprising, in addition to the streaming voice media, streaming one or more of the following types of streaming media:

video, sensor data, position or GPS information, radio signals, or a combination thereof.

26. The device of claim 1, wherein the communication device comprises one of the following:

a, land-line phone, a wireless or cellular phone, a computer or a radio, a satellite phone or radio, or a tactical radio or phone.

27. The device of claim 1, wherein the network comprises a packet-based network, a circuit-based network, a cellular network, a wireless network, a radio based network, a telephone network, a satellite network, a wired network, a fiber optic network, or a combination thereof.

28. The device of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving urgent streaming voice media at the communication device; and

rendering the urgent streaming voice media before rendering other media associated with the one or more conversations.

29. A communication application embedded in a non-transitory computer readable medium when executed on a communication device, the communication application comprising:

a receiver module configured to receive at the communication device streaming voice media associated with two or more conversations over a network;

a rendering module configured to simultaneously render the received streaming voice media associated with the two or more conversations as the streaming voice media is received over the network, the rendering module including a mixer configured to mix the received streaming voice media associated with the two or more conversations to be simultaneously rendered;

a media creation module configured to selectively create streaming voice media on the communication device for the two or more conversations respectively;

a transmitter module configured to transmit over the network the created streaming voice media for the two or more conversations, wherein the created streaming voice media is transmitted progressively as the streaming voice media is created;

a storage module configured to store the received and created streaming voice media associated with the two or more conversations in a memory; and

a rendering control module configured to control the rendering module, the rendering control module further including;

(i) a pause function which pauses the simultaneous rendering of the streaming voice media received over the network associated with the two or more conversations;

(ii) a selection module configured to select for review during the pause one of the two or more conversations simultaneously rendered, the review of the selected conversation including the rendering of the received and/or created streaming voice media associated with the selected conversation;

wherein,

the storage module further configured to continuously store, without interruption, the streaming voice media received over the network and associated with the two or more conversations while the selected conversation is reviewed during the pause;

the rendering control module further configured to resume the rendering of the received streaming voice media associated with the two or more conversations as the received streaming voice media is received over the network after the pause and review of the selected conversation; and

wherein the receiver module, the rendering module, the media creation module, the transmitter module and the rendering control module are all embedded in the non-transitory computer readable medium.

30. The application of claim 29, wherein the memory or storage module is further configured to continuously store, without interruption, the streaming voice media received over the network and associated with the non-selected conversations while the streaming voice media associated with the selected one conversation is reviewed during the pause of the simultaneous rendering of the two or more conversations.

31. The application of claim 29, wherein the rendering control module is further configured to receive a starting point input which defines a starting point to review the streaming voice media of the selected conversation during the pause, the rendering control module further configured to cause the streaming voice media starting at the starting point to be retrieved from the storage or memory module and to be rendered on the rendering module starting from the starting point.

32. The application claim 31, wherein the rendering control module is further configured to control the rendering module to render the retrieved streaming voice media at a rate faster than the streaming voice media was originally encoded and to ascertain a catch-up point when the rendering of the retrieved streaming voice media at the faster rate has caught up to and is substantially concurrent with the streaming voice media of the selected one conversation as the streaming voice media of the selected one conversation is received over the network.

33. The application of claim 29, wherein each of the two or more conversations further comprise an exchange of the received and transmitted streaming voice media among participants of each of the two or more conversations respectively.

34. The application of claim 29, wherein the received and the created streaming voice media associated with each of the two or more conversations is segmented into messages respectively.

35. The application of claim 29, wherein the received and the created streaming voice media associated with each of the two or more conversations further comprise a plurality of streaming voice media payloads, each of the plurality of streaming voice media payloads having time-index information associated therewith.

36. The application of claim 35, wherein the rendering module is further configured to simultaneously render the received streaming voice media associated with the two or more conversations by ascertaining the time-index of the received streaming voice media payloads associated with the two or more conversations to be simultaneously rendered and simultaneously rendering overlapping time-indexed streaming voice media of the streaming voice media payloads according to the time-indexed order.

37. The application of claim 29, wherein the rendering control module is programmable allowing a user of the communication device to define the two or more conversations to be simultaneously rendered.

38. The application of claim 29, wherein the rendering control module is preconfigured to define the two or more conversations to be simultaneously rendered.

39. The application of claim 29, wherein the rendering control module is programmable allowing a participant of the two or more conversations to define the two or more conversations to be simultaneously rendered.

40. The application of claim 29, wherein the transmitter module is further configured to transmit created streaming voice media for a selected one of the two or more conversations that are simultaneously rendered.

41. The application of claim 29, wherein the rendering module is further configured to simultaneously render only the received streaming voice media from one source when the streaming voice media is received only from the one source or overlapping the rendering of the received streaming voice media when the received streaming voice media is received from two or more sources at the same time.

42. The application of claim 29, wherein the rendering control module is further configured to resume the simultaneous rendering of the received streaming voice media associated with the two or more conversations after the pause as the received streaming voice media is received over the network without first reviewing the stored streaming voice media received during the pause.

43. The application of claim 29, wherein the rendering control module is further configured to resume the rendering of the streaming voice media received as received over the network just for the selected conversation after the pause.

44. The application of claim 29, wherein the rendering control module is further configured to resume the simultaneous rendering of the received streaming voice media associated with the two or more conversations after the pause starting at the point the simultaneous rendering of the streaming voice media associated with the two or more conversations was paused by rendering the streaming voice media received during the pause from the storage module.

45. The application of claim 29, wherein the rendering control module is further configured to resume the simultaneous rendering of the received streaming voice media associated with the two or more conversations after the pause starting at a selected previous point in time defined by a user of the communication device.

46. The application of claim 29, further comprising an encoder configured to encode the created streaming voice media created using the media creation module.

47. The application of claim 29, wherein the streaming voice media associated with the two or more conversations is segmented into messages.

48. The application of claim 29, further comprising providing a plurality of rendering options for rendering the streaming voice media of the two or more conversations, the rendering options including one or more of the following:

pause, replay, play faster, play slower, jump backward, jump forward, skip silence, catch up to the most recently received streaming voice media, or jump to the most recently received streaming voice media.

49. The application of claim 29, wherein the transmitter module is further configured to:

ascertain if the communication device is connected to the network when the streaming voice media is created; and

progressively transmit the streaming voice media if the communication device is connected to the network,

wherein connected to the network is defined as the ability to transfer data between the communication device and the network.

50. The application of claim 49, wherein the transmitter module is further configured to:

ascertain the bandwidth rate of the connection between the network and the communication device when the streaming voice media is created; and

progressively transmit the created streaming voice media within the ascertained bandwidth rate.

51. The application of claim 29, wherein transmitting over the network the streaming voice media created on the communication device further comprises:

ascertaining if the communication device is disconnected from the network when the streaming voice media is created;

detecting when the first communication device reconnects to the network; and

transmitting the created streaming voice media from storage or memory after the communication device reconnects to the network,

wherein connected and disconnected to the network is defined as the ability to transfer or not transfer data between the communication device and the network respectively.

52. The application of claim 29, wherein transmitting over the network the streaming media created on the communication device further comprises:

ascertaining if network conditions are sufficiently poor to prevent the transmission when the streaming voice media is created;

detecting when network conditions sufficiently improve to enable the transmission; and

transmitting the created streaming voice media from storage or memory after detecting when the network conditions sufficiently improve.

53. The application of claim 29, further comprising, in addition to the streaming voice media, streaming one or more of the following types of streaming media:

video, sensor data, position or GPS information, radio signals, or a combination thereof.

54. The application of claim 29, wherein the communication device comprises one of the following:

a, land-line phone, a wireless or cellular phone, a computer or a radio, a satellite phone or radio, or a tactical radio or phone.

55. The application of claim 29, wherein the network comprises a packet-based network, a circuit-based network, a cellular network, a wireless network, a radio based network, a telephone network, a satellite network, a wired network, a fiber optic network, or a combination thereof.

56. The application of claim 29, further comprising:

receiving urgent streaming voice media at the communication device; and

rendering the urgent streaming voice media before rendering other media associated with the one or more conversations.