Individual Adjustment of Audio and Video Properties in Network Conferencing

• US 20090086013A1
• Filed: 05/30/2008
• Published: 04/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Optical Fusion Inc.
• Inventors: Thapa, Mukund
• Granted Patent: US 9,060,094 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/14.80
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1089 by adding media; by removing media
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1093 by adding participants; by removing participants
• 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 65/4038 with floor control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4046 with distributed floor control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/764 at the destination reformatting of additional data in video clients H04N21/4355
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/562 where the conference facilities are distributed
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/564 whereby the feature is a sub-conference
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/568 audio processing specific to telephonic conferencing, e.g. spatial distribution, mixing of participants echo suppression in two-way loud-speaking telephone systems H04M9/02; sound field processing per se H04S7/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/04 Synchronising for television systems using pulse code modulation H04N7/56
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/15 Conference systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/155 involving storage of or access to video conference sessions tracking arrangements for later retrieval of a computer conference content or participants activities H04L12/1831

Abstract

Individual adjustment of audio volume and video properties in a computer network conference environment is provided. For audio adjustment, a buffer collects incoming streams; a stream decoder decodes the buffered audio streams, a gain adjustment applies a gain increase or decrease to the individual audio stream, and a mixer combines each of the individual signals together. The gain adjustment module receives input from a user interface control associated with each participant, and adjusts the volume of that participant'"'"'s stream accordingly. If a requested increase in gain would cause an overflow of the signal, only a gain increase that will avoid such overflow is applied. Video properties such as brightness, contrast and saturation are also adjustable. Properties of the user'"'"'s transmitted audio and video streams are also adjustable.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for conducting a videoconference between at least three participants, the method comprising:

receiving a first audio stream from a first participant, the first audio stream having a first gain;

receiving a second audio stream from a second participant, the second audio stream having a second gain;

a third participant adjusting the first gain independent of the second gain; and

the third participant playing the received first and second audio streams, the first audio stream played at the adjusted first gain, and the second audio stream played at the second gain.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the third participant adjusting the second gain independent of the first gain and playing the second audio stream at the adjusted second gain.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the first gain is adjusted via a user interface of a videoconference client application.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

the third participant transmitting a third audio stream; and

the third participant adjusting an gain of the third audio stream independent of the first gain and the second gain.

5. A computer-implemented method for conducting a videoconference between at least three participants, the method comprising:

receiving a first audio stream from a first participant, the first audio stream having a first gain;

receiving a second audio stream from a second participant, the second audio stream having a second gain;

receiving an instruction to adjust the first gain by a multiplier;

adjusting the first gain by the multiplier to produce an adjusted first audio stream;

mixing the adjusted first audio stream and the second audio stream; and

outputting the mixed streams.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the instructed adjustment is a decrease in gain.

7. The method of claim 37 further comprising:

determining that the instructed adjustment by the multiplier would cause the first audio stream to overflow; and

automatically adjusting the first gain by a modified multiplier, the modified multiplier chosen to prevent the first audio stream from overflowing.

8. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

determining a frequency with which the first audio stream overflows;

responsive to the frequency exceeding a threshold level, automatically decreasing the first gain by a modified multiplier, the modified multiplier chosen to prevent the first audio stream from overflowing with a frequency exceeding the threshold level.

9. The method of claim 5 wherein the received instruction is an instruction to automatically adjust the first gain to provide audio output at a volume equal to a volume associated with the gain of the second stream.

37. The method of claim 5 wherein the instructed adjustment is an increase in gain.

10. A system for conducting a videoconference between at least three participants, comprising:

a stream decoder, adapted to receive a first audio stream from a first participant and a second audio stream from a second participant, the first audio stream having a first gain and the second audio stream having a second gain;

a gain adjustment module, coupled to the stream decoder, adapted to;

receive an instruction to adjust the first gain by a multiplier; and

adjust the first gain by the multiplier to produce an adjusted first audio stream; and

a mixer, coupled to the gain adjustment module, adapted to mix the adjusted first audio stream and the second audio stream.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising a sound card, coupled to the mixer, adapted to receive and output the mixed audio streams.

12. A computer-implemented method for conducting a videoconference between at least three participants, the method comprising:

receiving a first video stream from a first participant, the first video stream having a first image attribute level;

receiving a second video stream from a second participant, the second video stream having a second image attribute level;

adjusting the first image attribute level independent of the second image attribute level; and

playing the received first and second video streams, the first video stream played at the adjusted first image attribute level, and the second audio stream played at the second image attribute level.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising the third participant adjusting the second image attribute level independent of the first image attribute level and playing the second video stream at the adjusted second image attribute level.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the first image attribute level is adjusted via a user interface of a videoconference client application.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein adjusting the first image attribute level further comprises automatically adjusting the first image attribute level to equal the second image attribute level.

16. The method of claim 12 wherein the first image attribute level is a brightness level.

17. The method of claim 12 wherein the first image attribute level is a contrast level.

18. The method of claim 12 wherein the first image attribute level is a saturation level.

19. The method of claim 12 wherein the first image attribute level is a sharpness level.

20. The method of claim 12 wherein the first image attribute level is a hue level.

21. The method of claim 12 wherein the first image attribute level is a zoom level.

22. The method of claim 12 wherein the first image attribute level is a display size.

23. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

the third participant transmitting a third video stream; and

the third participant adjusting an image attribute level of the third video stream independent of the first image attribute level and the second image attribute level.

24. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

responsive to receiving an indication that one of the participants is a key participant, automatically adjusting the image attribute level of the video stream received from the key participant.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein the automatic adjustment is an increase in brightness level.

26. A computer-implemented method for conducting a videoconference between at least three participants, the method comprising:

receiving a first video stream from a first participant, the first video stream having a first image attribute level;

receiving a second video stream from a second participant, the second video stream having a second video attribute level;

receiving an instruction to adjust the first image attribute level by a multiplier;

adjusting the first image attribute level by the multiplier to produce an adjusted first video stream; and

outputting the adjusted first video stream and the received second video stream.

27. The method of claim 26 wherein the instructed adjustment is a decrease in the image attribute level.

28. The method of claim 26 wherein the instructed adjustment is an increase in the image attribute level.

29. The method of claim 28 further comprising:

determining that the instructed adjustment by the multiplier would cause the first video stream to overflow; and

adjusting the first image attribute level by a modified multiplier, the modified multiplier chosen to prevent the first video stream from overflowing.

30. A system for conducting a videoconference between at least three participants, comprising:

a video stream decoder, adapted to receive a first video stream from a first participant and a second video stream from a second participant, the first video stream having a first image attribute level and the second video stream having a second image attribute level;

an image adjustment module, coupled to the video stream decoder, adapted to;

receive an instruction to adjust the first image attribute level by a multiplier; and

adjust the first image attribute level by the multiplier to produce an adjusted first video stream.

31. The method of claim 30 further comprising a video card, coupled to the image adjustment module, adapted to receive and output the adjusted video stream.

32. A computer-implemented method for conducting a videoconference between at least three participants, the method comprising:

receiving a first video stream from a first participant, the first video stream having a first image orientation;

receiving a second video stream from a second participant, the second video stream having a second image orientation;

adjusting the first image orientation independent of the second image orientation; and

playing the received first and second video streams, the first video stream played at the adjusted first image orientation, and the second audio stream played at the second image orientation.

33. The computer-implemented method of claim 32 wherein adjusting the first image orientation further comprises applying a mirroring function to the first image.

34. The computer-implemented method of claim 32 wherein adjusting the first image orientation further comprises applying a vertical flipping function to the first image.

35. The computer-implemented method of claim 32 wherein adjusting the first image orientation further comprises applying rotation function to the first image.

36. A system for conducting a videoconference between at least two participants, comprising:

a video stream decoder, adapted to receive a video stream from a participant, the video stream having an image attribute level; and

an image adjustment module, coupled to the video stream decoder, adapted to;

receive an instruction to adjust the image attribute level by a multiplier; and

adjust the image attribute level by the multiplier to produce an adjusted video stream.