Viewing data as part of a video conference

• US 9,065,667 B2
• Filed: 09/05/2006
• Issued: 06/23/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/05/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Codian Limited (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Codian Limited (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Pepperell, Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Rashid, Harunur
• Application Number:
  US11/515,631
• Publication Number:
  US 20080059581A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,213 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 709/231
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1827 Network arrangements for conference optimisation or adaptation

Abstract

The integration of data and video conference data allows presentations to be given more effectively and people to write down things which are hard to deliver using speech alone, for example mathematical formulae. Often when giving a presentation though it can be advantageous to be able to interact not only with a person verbally but also on a written level, for example a user may wish to draw on slides being used in a presentation to illustrate a point. At present only one user can transmit this type of data to the participants at any one time and only to participants having an H.239 compatible endpoint. The presentation invention enables multiple users to interact using written rather than spoken means without having to pass permission to transmit written data from one participant to another.

Claims

1. A video conference system, comprising:

a Multi-Conference Unit (MCU) to communicatively couple plural endpoints in a video conference, the MCU including,

a video input that receives plural video data streams including video data from the plural endpoints,

a first presentation input that receives a first presentation data stream including presentation data from a first endpoint,

a second presentation input that receives a second presentation data stream including mark-up data from a second endpoint, wherein the mark-up data is an input made by a user with reference to the first presentation data,

a processor that combines the data in the plural video data streams, the presentation data stream, and the mark-up data to produce a combined data stream, and

an output that transmits the combined data stream from the MCU to at least one of the plural endpoints connected to the video conference,

wherein the at least one of the plural endpoints receiving the combined data stream includes two display devices, and a first device of the two display devices displays the video data from the combined data stream and a second device of the two display devices displays the presentation data from the combined data stream.

2. The video conference system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the presentation data is received by the MCU in an H.239 format.

3. The video conference system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the presentation data in the presentation data stream is received by the MCU in a VNC format.

4. The video conference system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the combined data stream is transmitted in a format selected from a group including H.323, H.320 and SIP.

5. A video conference system, comprising:

a Multi-Conference Unit (MCU) to communicatively couple plural endpoints in a video conference, the MCU including,

a video input that receives plural video data streams including video data from the plural endpoints,

a first presentation input that receives a first presentation data stream including presentation data from a first endpoint,

a second presentation input that receives a second presentation data stream including mark-up data from a second endpoint, wherein the mark-up data is an input made by a user with reference to the first presentation data,

a processor that combines the data in the plural video data streams, the presentation data stream, and the mark-up data to produce a combined data stream, and

an output that transmits the combined data stream from the MCU to at least one of the plural endpoints connected to the video conference,

wherein the at least one of the plural endpoints receiving the combined data stream includes one display device, and the presentation data and video data from the combined data stream are displayed upon the one display device.

6. A method for integrating data during a video conference including a plurality of endpoints, comprising:

receiving, at a Multi-Conference Unit (MCU), a video data stream from a video input, the video data stream including video data from a first endpoint;

receiving, at the MCU, a presentation data stream from a presentation input, the presentation data stream including presentation data from the first endpoint;

receiving, at the MCU, a second presentation data stream including mark-up data from a second endpoint, wherein the mark-up data is an input made by a user with reference to the presentation data;

combining, at the MCU, the data in the video data stream, the first presentation data stream and the mark-up data to produce a combined data stream; and

transmitting, from the MCU, the combined data stream to at least one of the plurality of endpoints connected to the video conference,

wherein the at least one of the plurality of endpoints receiving the combined data stream includes at least one display device, and the presentation data and video data from the combined data stream are displayed upon the at least one display device.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6, further comprising:

transcoding the presentation data stream from a first format into a second format prior to the combining.

8. The method as claimed in claim 6, further comprising:

transmitting the combined data stream in one of the group of formats comprising H.323, H.320 and SIP.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, including computer program instructions accessed and executed by a multi-conference unit (MCU) to implement a method of processing presentation data, the method comprising:

receiving, at the MCU, a video data stream from a video input, the video data stream including video data from a first endpoint;

receiving, at the MCU, a presentation data stream from a presentation input, the presentation data stream including presentation data from the first endpoint;

receiving, at the MCU, a second presentation data stream including mark-up data from a second endpoint, wherein the mark-up data is an input made by a user with reference to the presentation data;

combining, at the MCU, the data in the video data stream, the first presentation data stream and the mark-up data to produce a combined data stream; and

transmitting, from the MCU, the combined data stream to at least one of the plurality of endpoints connected to the video conference,

wherein the at least one of the plurality of endpoints receiving the combined data stream includes at least one display device, and the presentation data and video data from the combined data stream are displayed upon the at least one display device.

10. A multi-conference unit (MCU) for use in transmitting a video conference to a plurality of endpoints connected to the video conference, the MCU comprising:

a first input that receives a presentation data stream at the MCU using a first protocol from a first endpoint, the presentation data stream including presentation data and being in a first format;

a second input for receiving a presentation data stream including mark-up data from a second endpoint, wherein the mark-up data is an input made by a user with reference to the presentation data;

encoding means for converting the presentation data from a first format at the MCU to a second format at the MCU;

processing means for encapsulating the presentation data at the MCU using a transmission protocol, and for combining the presentation data received from the first endpoint and the mark-up data received from the second endpoint; and

an output that transmits the converted, encapsulated, and combined presentation data using the transmission protocol from the MCU to a second endpoint connected to the video conference,

wherein the second endpoint receiving the combined presentation data includes at least one display device, and the presentation data and the mark-up data from the combined presentation data are displayed upon the at least one display device.

11. The MCU as claimed in claim 10, wherein the presentation data stream is received from a VNC server.

12. The MCU as claimed in claim 10, wherein the presentation data in the converted presentation data comprises a series of JPEG images.

13. The MCU as claimed in claim 10, wherein the transmission protocol is H.239.

14. The MCU as claimed in claim 10, wherein the MCU further includes a second input that receives a video data stream and a second output that transmits a video data stream.

15. The MCU as claimed in claim 14, wherein the output transmits the presentation data stream and video data stream to an endpoint including two display devices, the first display device displaying the presentation data in the converted data stream and the second display device displaying the video data in the video data stream.

16. A method for processing presentation data during a video conference, comprising:

receiving, at a Multi-Conference Unit (MCU), a presentation data stream from a first endpoint, the presentation data stream including presentation data and being in a first format;

receiving, at the MCU, a second data stream including mark-up data from a second endpoint;

combining the presentation data received from the first endpoint and the mark-up data received from the second endpoint to create combined presentation data;

converting, at the MCU, the combined presentation data from the first format to a second format;

encapsulating, at the MCU, the combined presentation data using a transmission protocol; and

transmitting the converted, encapsulated, and combined presentation data using the transmission protocol from the MCU to at least one of a plural endpoints connected to the video conference,

wherein the at least one of the plural endpoints receiving the combined presentation data includes at least one display device, and the presentation data and video data from the combined presentation data are displayed upon the at least one display device.

17. The method for processing presentation data as claimed in claim 16, wherein the presentation data in the converted data stream comprises a series of JPEG images.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, including computer program instructions accessed and executed by a multi-point conference unit (MCU) to implement a method of processing presentation data, the method comprising:

receiving, at a Multi-Conference Unit (MCU), a presentation data stream from a first endpoint, the presentation data stream including presentation data and being in a first format;

receiving, at the MCU, a second data stream including mark-up data from a second endpoint;

combining the presentation data received from the first endpoint and the mark-up data received from the second endpoint to create combined presentation data;

converting, at the MCU, the combined presentation data from the first format to a second format;

encapsulating, at the MCU, the combined presentation data using a transmission protocol; and

transmitting the converted, encapsulated, and combined presentation data using the transmission protocol from the MCU to at least one of plural endpoints connected to the video conference,

wherein the at least one of the plural endpoints receiving the combined presentation data includes at least one display device, and the presentation data and mark-up data from the combined presentation data are displayed upon the at least one display device.