TELECONFERENCE GROUP FORMATION USING CONTEXT INFORMATION

• US 20080160977A1
• Filed: 12/27/2006
• Published: 07/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Pasanen, Antti, Ahmaniemi, Ali, Virolainen, Jussi
• Granted Patent: US 7,973,857 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1822 Conducting the conference, e.g. admission, detection, selection or grouping of participants, correlating users to one or more conference sessions, prioritising transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1827 Network arrangements for conference optimisation or adaptation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/189 in combination with wireless systems selective distribution or broadcast in wireless communication networks H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion telephones including GPS signal receivers H04M2250/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/56 Arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities video conference systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/562 where the conference facilities are distributed
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services

Abstract

Teleconferencing and, in particular, distributed teleconferencing may use methods and systems for location grouping to reduce feedback and other audio anomalies. Terminals and users connected to the same teleconference and in the same location might not need to receive audio signals from the other terminals and users in the same location. As such, by detecting and analyzing the location of each participating terminal, the terminals (and thus, the users thereof) may be organized into location groups to provide proper audio mixing. In one example, first and second terminals in the same location might not receive each other'"'"'s audio in a downstream teleconference signal. The location and grouping of terminals may be processed using context fingerprint information derived from sensor readings of each terminal. Sensors may include GPS sensors, cameras, BLUETOOTH sensors and the like. Context fingerprint information may further be synchronized to enhance location determination and grouping.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining one or more participating terminals connected to a teleconference;

receiving, at a teleconference server, context fingerprints from each of the one or more participating terminals;

evaluating, at the teleconference server, the context fingerprints to determine location similarities between the one or more participating terminals; and

grouping, by the teleconference server, the one or more participating terminals into one or more location groups based on the evaluations of the context fingerprints.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the context fingerprints include at least one of global positioning system (GPS) coordinates, camera sensor signals, acoustic sensor signals, wireless network characteristics, global system for mobile communications (GSM) base station identification information and BLUETOOTH neighborhood information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the context fingerprints are received automatically from the one or more participating terminals prior to initiation of audio routing in the teleconference.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising the step of requesting the context fingerprints from at least one of the one or more participating terminals that has not provided the context fingerprints automatically.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising initiating audio routing in the teleconference once the one or more participating terminals have been grouped.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein initiating audio routing includes filtering out an audio signal originating from a first terminal in a first location group from a downstream signal for a second terminal in the first location group.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting a synchronization message to the one or more participating terminals for synchronizing the context fingerprints prior to receiving context fingerprints from each of the one or more participating terminals.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the synchronization message includes a predefined event configured to trigger one or more sensor readings associated with the context fingerprints.

9. A computer readable medium storing computer readable instructions that, when executed, cause a processor to perform a method comprising:

identifying one or more participating terminals connected to a teleconference;

receiving context fingerprints from each of the one or more participating terminals;

evaluating the context fingerprints to determine location similarities between the one or more participating terminals; and

grouping the one or more participating terminals into one or more location groups based on the evaluations of the context fingerprints.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the context fingerprints include at least one of global positioning system (GPS) coordinates, camera sensor signals, acoustic sensor signals, wireless network characteristics, global system for mobile communications (GSM) base station identification information and BLUETOOTH neighborhood information.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the context fingerprints are received automatically from the one or more participating terminals prior to initiation of audio routing for the teleconference.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 11, further comprising instructions for requesting the context fingerprints from at least one of the one or more participating terminals that has not provided the context fingerprints automatically.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 9, further comprising instructions for initiating audio routing in the teleconference once the one or more participating terminals have been grouped.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions for initiating audio routing include further instructions for filtering out an audio signal originating from a first terminal in a first location group from a downstream signal for a second terminal in the first location group.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 9, further comprising instructions for transmitting a synchronization message to the one or more participating terminals for synchronizing the context fingerprints prior to receiving context fingerprints from each of the one or more participating terminals.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the synchronization message includes a predefined event configured to trigger one or more sensor readings associated with the context fingerprints.

17. An apparatus comprising:

a transmitter;

a receiver;

a grouping module configured to;

receive, through the receiver, context fingerprints from one or more terminals participating in a teleconference,

evaluate the context fingerprints to determine location similarities between the one or more participating terminals, and

group the one or more participating terminals into one or more location groups based on the evaluations of the context fingerprints.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising an audio mixing module configured to generate downstream audio signals to the one or more terminals based on the one or more location groups.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the context fingerprints include at least one of global positioning system (GPS) coordinates, camera sensor signals, acoustic sensor signals, wireless network characteristics, global system for mobile communications (GSM) base station identification information and BLUETOOTH neighborhood information.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the teleconference is a distributed teleconference network.

21. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the grouping module is further configured to synchronize the context fingerprints by transmitting a synchronization message to each of the one or more participating terminals, the synchronization message includes a predefined event for triggering sensor readings corresponding to the context fingerprints.

22. An apparatus comprising:

means for identifying one or more participating terminals connected to a teleconference;

means for receiving context fingerprints from each of the one or more participating terminals;

means for evaluating the context fingerprints to determine location similarities between the one or more participating terminals; and

means for grouping the one or more participating terminals into one or more location groups based on the evaluations of the context fingerprints.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, further comprising means for transmitting a synchronization message to the one or more participating terminals for synchronizing the context fingerprints prior to receiving context fingerprints from each of the one or more participating terminals.