System and associated methodology for enhancing communication sessions between multiple users

• US 9,954,909 B2
• Filed: 08/27/2013
• Issued: 04/24/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2013
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Al, Smiling, Ye, David, Li, Jin
• Primary Examiner(s): Avellino, Joseph E
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ngankam, Patrick
• Application Number:
  US14/011,489
• Publication Number:
  US 20150067023A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,701 Days
• Field of Search: 709203, 348 1408, 348 141
• 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 65/765 intermediate

Abstract

In one embodiment, a video frame is received from an external source, one or more users are extracted from the video frame, and user attendee data is generated based on the one or more extracted users and stored in a database. The user attendee data and video frame are transmitted to the client device and a communication session of the client device is updated based on the video frame and attendee data.

Claims

1. A system for managing a teleconference session, the system comprising:

at least one database;

a first server having

a first interface to receive a video frame from an external device, and

a first processor programmed to

encrypt the video frame,

extract a plurality of user images from the encrypted video frame,

calculate user information based on the one or more user images,

transmit, to a client device, a first set of separate video feeds representing each of the plurality of user images extracted from the encrypted video frame via the first interface, and

transmit the encrypted video frame, the extracted plurality of user images, and the user information to a second server via the first interface; and

the second server having

a second interface to receive the encrypted video frame, the extracted plurality of user images, and the user information from the first server, and

a second processor programmed to

generate user attendee data based on the user information,

store the user attendee data in the at least one database, and

transmit a second set of separate video feeds representing each of the plurality user images, the encrypted video frame, and at least a portion of the user attendee data to the client device via the second interface;

wherein a communication session of the client device is updated based on the video frame and attendee data after performing synchronization matching between the encrypted video frame transmitted from the first server to the client device, and the encrypted video frame transmitted from the second server to the client device.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the video frame is received from a telepresence server and corresponds to a plurality of users in a single room.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the user attendee data includes in part locations of faces of extracted users within the encrypted video frame and corresponding user identification information.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the attendee data includes in part source location information of each user.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the communication session is updated by identifying the user images extracted from the encrypted video frame as separate attendees within the communication session.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein each user is separately displayed within the communication session along with corresponding identification information.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein, in response to a match between the two encrypted video frames, the communication session is updated based on the attendee data and the video frame.

8. The system according to claim 1, wherein the user attendee data includes in part speaker location information of a speaking user corresponding to the encrypted video frame.

9. A method for managing a teleconference session, the method comprising:

receiving, at a first server of a system via a first interface, a video frame from an external device, wherein the video frame contains a plurality of users;

encrypting, by the first server, the video frame;

extracting, via a first processor of the first server, images for the plurality of users individually from the encrypted video frame;

calculating, via the first processor of the first server, user information based on the one or more extracted user images;

transmitting, by the first server, a first set of separate video feeds representing each of the plurality of user images extracted from the encrypted video frame to a client device via the first interface;

transmitting, by the first server, the encrypted video frame, the plurality of user images, and the user information to a second server of the system via the first interface;

generating, via a second processor of the second server, user attendee data based on the user information received from the first server;

storing, via the second processor of the second server, the user attendee data in at least one database; and

transmitting, by the second server, a second set of separate video feeds representing each of the extracted images, the encrypted video frame, and at least a portion of the user attendee data to the client device via a second interface of the second server,

wherein a communication session of the client device is updated based on the video frame and attendee data after performing synchronization matching between the encrypted video frame transmitted from the first server to the client device, and the encrypted video frame transmitted from the second server to the client device.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the communication session is updated by identifying one or more users of the plurality of users from the video frame as separate attendees within the communication session.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein, in response to a match between the two encrypted video frames, the communication session is updated based on the attendee data and the video frame.

12. The method according to claim 9, wherein the user attendee data includes in part speaker location information of a speaking user corresponding to the encrypted video frame.

14. The method according to claim 9, wherein the video frame depicts a plurality of users in a single room.

15. The method according to claim 9 further comprising:

identifying, via the processor, the location of each of the plurality of users within the encrypted video frame; and

identifying, via the processor, a set of coordinates for each of the plurality of users in the encrypted video frame from which to extract the individual images.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions thereon that when executed by a computer configured to manage a teleconferencing session causes the computer to execute a method comprising:

receiving, at a first server of the computer via a first interface, a video frame from an external device;

encrypting, by the first server, the video frame;

extracting, by the first server, a plurality of images of users from the encrypted video frame;

calculating, by the first server, user information based on the one or more extracted user images;

transmitting, by the first server via the first interface, a first set of separate video feeds representing each of the plurality of user images extracted from the encrypted video frame to a client device via the first interface;

transmitting, by the first server, the encrypted video frame, the plurality of user images, and the user information to a second server of the computer via the first interface;

generating, by the second server, user attendee data based on the user information received from the first server;

storing, by the second server, the user attendee data in at least one database; and

transmitting, by the second server, a second set of separate video feeds representing the plurality of extracted images of users, the encrypted video frame, and at least a portion of the user attendee data to the client device via a second interface of the second server,

wherein a communication session of the client device is updated based on the video frame and attendee data after performing synchronization matching between the encrypted video frame transmitted from the first server to the client device, and the encrypted video frame transmitted from the second server to the client device.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the video frame is received from a telepresence server and corresponds to a plurality of users in a single room.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the user attendee data includes in part locations of faces of extracted users within the encrypted video frame and corresponding user identification information.