Method, apparatus, system, and storage medium for video call and video call control

• US 9,686,506 B2
• Filed: 04/09/2015
• Issued: 06/20/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tencent Technology Company Limited (Tencent Holdings Limited)
• Original Assignee: Tencent Technology Company Limited (Tencent Holdings Limited)
• Inventors: Wang, Fei, Yang, Qing
• Primary Examiner(s): SMITH, CREIGHTON H
• Application Number:
  US14/682,450
• Publication Number:
  US 20150215579A1
• Time in Patent Office: 803 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/147 Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals selecting H04Q

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a video call method, including: sending, by a first video terminal associated with a first account, a video call connection request to a video call control apparatus, to request to establish a video call connection with a second video terminal associated with a second account; receiving, by the first video terminal, video call preview information of the second account returned by the video call control apparatus; and displaying, in a video call interface of the first video terminal, the video call preview information of the second account, while the video call connection is being established. As such, video call preview information of a user may be displayed in advance when establishing a video call connection. The present disclosure further provides a video call apparatus, a video call control method and apparatus, a video call system, and a storage medium.

Claims

1. A video call method, comprising:

sending, by a first video terminal associated with a first account, a video call connection request to a video call control apparatus, so as to request to establish a video call connection with a second video terminal associated with a second account;

receiving, by the first video terminal, video call preview information of the second account returned by the video call control apparatus in response to the video call connection request; and

displaying, in a video call interface of the first video terminal, the video call preview information of the second account, while the video call connection is being established;

wherein;

when the first video terminal established video call connection with the second video terminal in a previous time, historical data of the video call preview information of the second account acquired from the previous time is used to be displayed in the video call interface of the first video terminal, unless a user of the second account actively changes the video call preview information.

2. The video call method according to claim 1, wherein before the step of sending, by the first video terminal associated with the first account, the video call connection request to the video call control apparatus, the method further comprises:

acquiring video call preview information of the first account;

performing a serialization operation on the acquired video call preview information of the first account according to a requirement of network transmission; and

sending the serialized video call preview information of the first account to the video call control apparatus.

3. The video call method according to claim 1, further comprising:

performing a deserialization operation on the video call preview information of the second account returned by the control apparatus according to a requirement of network transmission, and

performing separate processing according to a different data type of the video call preview information of the second account.

4. The video call method according to claim 1, wherein the first video terminal and the second video terminal run in a same host or run separately in different hosts.

5. The video call method according to claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the second video terminal, video call preview information of the first account returned by the video call control apparatus in response to the video call connection request; and

displaying, in a second video call interface, the video call preview information of the first account, while the video call connection is being established.

17. The video call method according to claim 2, wherein:

the video call preview information of the first account includes a text inputted by a user of the first account.

18. The video call method according to claim 2, wherein:

the video call preview information of the first account includes an image, an audio, or a video from content stored in a host where the first video terminal runs, and content stored in a network.

19. The video call method according to claim 2, wherein:

the video call preview information of the first account includes an image, an audio, or a video from content obtained through real-time recording with a camera or a microphone of a host of the first video terminal.

6. A video call apparatus, comprising:

a video call module, configured to send a video call connection request to a video call control apparatus, so as to request to establish a video call connection with a second video terminal associated with a second account;

a preview information transceiver module, configured to receive video call preview information of the second account returned by the video call control apparatus in response to the video call connection request; and

a display module, configured to display, in a video call interface, the video call preview information of the second account, while the video call connection is being established;

wherein;

when the video call apparatus established video call connection with the second video terminal in a previous time, historical data of the video call preview information of the second account acquired from the previous time is used to be displayed in the video call interface of the video call apparatus, unless a user of the second account actively changes the video call preview information.

7. The video call apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising:

a preview information acquisition module, configured to acquire video call preview information of a first account before the video call module sends the video call connection request to the video call control apparatus; and

a preview information processing module, configured to perform a serialization operation on the video call preview information of the first account acquired by the preview information acquisition module according to a requirement of network transmission, where

the preview information transceiver module is further configured to send the video call preview information of the first account to the video call control apparatus.

8. The video call apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the preview information processing module is further configured to perform a deserialization operation on the video call preview information of the second account received by the preview information transceiver module according to a requirement of network transmission, and perform separate processing according to a different data type of the video call preview information of the second account.

9. The video call apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the preview information processing module comprises:

a text processing unit, an image processing unit, an audio processing unit, and a video processing unit, respectively configured to process data in a text format, data in an image format, data in an audio format, and data in a video format.

10. The video call system comprising the video call apparatus according to claim 6, wherein:

the system further comprises a video call control apparatus, and

the video call control apparatus is configured to;

receive the video call connection request of the video call apparatus associated with the first account, and forward the video call connection request to the second video terminal associated with the second account;

determine whether video call preview information of the first account exists; and

forward, when it is determined that the video call preview information of the first account exists, the video call preview information of the first account to the second video terminal.

11. A video call control apparatus, comprising:

a video call control module, configured to receive a video call connection request of a first video terminal associated with a first account, and forward the video call connection request to a second video terminal associated with a second account;

a preview information query module, configured to query whether video call preview information of the first account exists in response to the video call connection request; and

a preview information transceiver module, configured to forward, if it is determined that the video call preview information of the first account exists, the video call preview information of the first account to the second account;

wherein;

when the first video terminal established video call connection with the second video terminal in a previous time, historical data of the video call preview information of the second account acquired from the previous time is used to be displayed in the video call interface of the first video terminal, unless a user of the second account actively changes the video call preview information.

12. The video call control apparatus according to claim 11, wherein

the preview information query module is further configured to:

query whether video call preview information of the second account exists in response to the video call connection request; and

the preview information transceiver module is further configured to forward, if it is determined that the video call preview information of the second account exists, the video call preview information of the second account to the first video terminal.

13. The video call control apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the preview information query module is further configured to query, in a video call preview information database, whether there is the video call preview information of the first account.

14. The video call control method according to claim 11, further comprising:

a preview information storage module, configured to receive the video call preview information uploaded by the first video terminal, and

storing the video call preview information uploaded by the first video terminal in a video call preview information database.

15. The video call control apparatus according to claim 12, wherein:

the video call preview information of the first account and the video call preview information of the second account are separately transmitted to each other for displaying, while the video call connection is being established.

16. The video call system comprising the video call control apparatus according to claim 11,

wherein the system further includes a video call apparatus, and

wherein the video call apparatus is configured to:

enable the first video terminal associated with the first account to send the video call connection request to the video call control apparatus, so as to request to establish a video call connection with the second video terminal associated with the second account;

enable the first video terminal to receive video call preview information of the second account returned by the video call control apparatus; and

display, in a video call interface of the first video terminal, the video call preview information of the second account, while the video call connection is being established.