REMOTE MICROPHONE TELECONFERENCING CONFIGURATIONS

• US 20080037802A1
• Filed: 10/16/2007
• Published: 02/14/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rateze Remote Mgmt. L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: SF IP Properties 50 LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Posa, John, Schwab, Barry
• Granted Patent: US 8,107,645 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/77
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6033 for providing handsfree use or a loudspeaker mode in telephone sets arrangements for preventing acoustic echo H04M9/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/142 Constructional details of the terminal equipment, e.g. arrangements of the camera and the display

Abstract

Electronic teleconferencing configurations use one or more remote microphones for added functionality. A base unit includes an interface to a telecommunications network and at least one remote microphone in wireless communication with the base unit, enabling a carrier of the microphone to speak to a listener through the base unit over the telecommunications network. The base unit may form part of a telephone, and would preferably further include a docking station to receive the remote microphone along with electrical contacts causing the telephone to enter into a speakerphone mode when the remote microphone is removed for use. A speaker may either be provided in the base unit, or may be disposed in the housing of the remote microphone, for example, in the form of a headset. With multiple wireless microphones audio processing circuitry may be added for level control or microphone/speaker discrimination. The inventive apparatus may also form part of a video teleconferencing system, in which case one or more cameras would be employed to capture user images for transmission through the telecommunications network. As a further option, the system may transmit a wireless signal for transponding by the remote units, enabling the determination of distance to the base unit. Particularly with the use of separate frequencies, the location of each remote microphone may also be determined using multiple antennas and triangulation. By knowing distance and/or position, additional capabilities are possible by virtue of the invention, including automatic pan/tilt, zoom, focusing, and depth-of-field for single or multiple speakers.

Claims

1-17. -17. (canceled)

18. Telecommunications apparatus, comprising:

a base unit including an interface to a telecommunications network;

at least one wireless remote microphone in wireless communication with the base unit, enabling a user of the microphone to speak to a listener through the base unit and telecommunications network, the base unit forming part of a video teleconferencing system including a video camera having a plurality of pixels for capturing images of the user for transmission to the listener through the telecommunications network;

a wireless locator signal transmitter located at the base unit;

the remote microphone being configured to receive and re-transmit the locator signal to the base unit, enabling the base unit to determine a positional aspect of the user of the microphone; and

a pan, tilt, or zoom capability effectuated by selecting a subset of the plurality of pixels gathered by the camera, thereby enabling the video camera to visually track a moving user.

19. The telecommunications apparatus of claim 18, further including:

a plurality of wireless remote microphones, each re-transmitting the locator signal to the base unit; and

circuitry for distinguishing the signals received by each microphone so that the camera tracks a particular user when that user is speaking.

20. The telecommunications apparatus of claim 19, wherein the circuitry for distinguishing the signals received by each microphone so that the camera follows a particular user includes a different carrier frequency associated with each microphone.

21. The telecommunications apparatus of claim 19, wherein the circuitry for distinguishing the signals received by each microphone includes microphone identification circuitry located at the base unit.

22. The telecommunications apparatus of claim 18, further including:

a plurality of wireless locator signal transmitters; and

wherein each remote microphone re-transmits one of the locator signals to the base unit, enabling the base unit to determine a positional aspect of each user.

23. The telecommunications apparatus of claim 18, further including:

an auto-focusing capability for the video camera to control depth-of-field associated with one or more users.

24. The telecommunications apparatus of claim 18, wherein the wireless signal transmitter located at the base unit transmits an inaudible acoustic signal.

25. The telecommunications apparatus of claim 18, further including:

circuitry for evaluating signal quality from the microphone and activating an alarm if the signal quality indicates that the microphone is being carried away by the user.

26. Telecommunications apparatus, comprising:

a base unit including an interface to a telecommunications network;

a plurality of wireless remote microphones in wireless communication with the base unit enabling a user of the microphone to speak to a listener through the base unit and telecommunications network, each wireless microphone communicating with the base unit using a different carrier frequency;

the base unit forming part of a video teleconferencing system including a video camera having a plurality of pixels for capturing images of the user for transmission to the listener through the telecommunications network;

an antenna located at the base unit along with circuitry operative to determine the position aspect of a microphone user through triangulation; and

a pan, tilt or zoom capability associated with the video camera which is controlled as a function of the positional aspect, enabling the video camera to visually track a moving user.

27. The telecommunications apparatus of claim 26, further including:

an auto-focusing capability for the video camera which is controlled as a function of the positional aspect.

28. The telecommunications apparatus of claim 26, wherein the pan, tilt, or zoom capabilities are effectuated by selecting a subset of pixels from a larger number of pixels in an image gathered by the camera.

29. The telecommunications apparatus of claim 26, further including:

an auto-focusing capability for the video camera which is controlled as a function of the positional aspect of each user to control depth-of-field associated with each user.

30. The telecommunications apparatus of claim 26, further including circuitry for evaluating signal quality from the microphone and a activating an alarm if the signal quality indicates that the microphone is being carried away by the user.