Method and apparatus for motion based participant switching in multipoint video conferences

• US 9,723,264 B2
• Filed: 07/16/2015
• Issued: 08/01/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/03/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bebbington, Conrad, Bright-Thomas, Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): El-Zoobi, Maria
• Application Number:
  US14/801,145
• Publication Number:
  US 20150326825A1
• Time in Patent Office: 747 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/139 Analysis of motion vectors, e.g. their magnitude, direction, variance or reliability
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/152 Multipoint control units therefor

Abstract

In one embodiment, an apparatus comprises a memory that stores executable instructions and a processor that executes the instructions in order to determine, for plural received compressed video inputs, at least one motion vector included in each of the plural compressed video inputs; calculate, based on the determined motion vectors, a motion value corresponding to each of the plural compressed video inputs, the motion values representing a level of motion over several frames for each of the plural compressed video inputs; and select, based on the calculated motion values, at least one of the plural compressed video inputs to be displayed.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a memory that stores executable instructions; and

a processor that executes the instructions in order to;

determine, for a plurality of video inputs, motion vectors associated with a macroblock;

calculate a summation of magnitudes of the motion vectors for the macroblock;

calculate, based on the summation of motion vectors, a motion value corresponding to each of the plurality of video inputs, the motion values representing a level of motion over several frames;

scale the calculated motion values based on a resolution of corresponding frames in the plurality of video inputs;

select, based on an ordered list of scaled motion values, at least one of the plurality of video inputs that exhibits a highest level of motion with respect to others of the plurality of video inputs; and

display the selected at least one of the plurality of video inputs.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the highest level of motion represents sign language.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to:

determine at least one motion vector by extracting the at least one motion vector from at least one of the plurality of video inputs.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to:

select a dummy value as the motion value for a macroblock that lacks a motion vector.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein two or more of the plurality of video inputs selected from the ordered list are displayed.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the processor is configured to:

promote a predetermined number of video inputs to be concurrently displayed in a video conference.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to:

scale the motion values based on a floating average of minimum and maximum motion values.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the plurality of video inputs from the ordered list that exhibits the highest level of motion is displayed in a large window size or a window for the video in a particular location.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the plurality of video inputs from the ordered list that exhibits the highest level of motion is displayed as a sole window.

10. A method comprising:

determining, by a processor, for a plurality of video inputs, motion vectors associated with macroblocks in a video frame;

calculating, by the processor, a summation of magnitudes of the motion vectors for each macroblock in the video frame;

calculating, by the processor, based on the summation of magnitudes, a motion value corresponding to each of the plurality of video inputs, the motion values representing a level of motion over several frames;

scaling, by the processor, the motion values based on a resolution of corresponding frames in the plurality of video inputs; and

selecting, by the processor, based on an ordered list of scaled motion values, at least one of the plurality of video inputs having a higher level of motion with respect to at least one other video input.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the higher level of motion with respect to other video inputs includes sign language.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the at least one motion vector is extracted from at least one of the plurality of video inputs.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

in response to a macroblock included in one of the plurality of video inputs not including a motion vector, using a dummy value as the motion value.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

scaling the motion values based on a floating average of minimum and maximum motion values.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

displaying two or more of the plurality of video inputs selected from the ordered list.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the at least one of the plurality of video inputs from the ordered list that exhibits the higher level of motion is displayed in a large window size or a window for the video in a particular location.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein at least one of the plurality of video inputs from the ordered list that exhibits the higher level of motion is displayed as a sole window.

18. A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored therein that when executed by a processor causes a computer to perform a method comprising:

determining, by a processor, for a plurality of video inputs, motion vectors associated with macroblocks in a video frame;

calculating, by the processor, a summation of magnitudes of the motion vectors for each macroblock in the video frame;

calculating, by the processor, based on the summation of magnitudes, a motion value corresponding to each of the plurality of video inputs, the motion values representing a level of motion over several frames;

scaling, by the processor, the motion values based on a resolution of corresponding frames in the plurality of video inputs; and

selecting, by the processor, based on an ordered list of scaled motion values, at least one of the plurality of video inputs having a higher level of motion with respect to other video inputs.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the higher level of motion with respect to other video inputs includes sign language.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein two or more of the plurality of video inputs selected from the ordered list are displayed.