Muting participants in a communication session

• US 9,893,902 B2
• Filed: 05/30/2012
• Issued: 02/13/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Vander Mey, Christopher David, Ohman, Karl Martin, Lachapelle, Serge, Uberti, Justin Russell
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Duc
• Assistant Examiner(s): BLAIR, KILE O
• Application Number:
  US13/484,128
• Publication Number:
  US 20120308044A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,085 Days
• Field of Search: 37920201, 37920301, 37920401, 37920601
• 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 65/1093 by adding participants; by removing participants
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4046 with distributed floor control
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/566 relating to a participants right to speak arrangements for multi-party communication with floor control, e.g. for conferences, H04L65/4038, H04L65/4046, H04L65/4053

Abstract

Techniques for muting participants in a communication session are described. A communication session, such as a teleconference or a video conference, may be established between a plurality of participants using devices. Each participant engaged in the communication session may be authorized to mute or un-mute other participants. Information related to the communication session may be provided to some of the participants, including but are not limited to, indications of when a participant is muted or unmuted, indications of which participant initiated a muting or un-muting, indications of volume of a participant, or indications of types of sounds in a communication session. Social controls, utilized through transparency (e.g., providing identifying indications), may reduce the chance of misuse of the muting functionality.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

joining, by a first device, a communication session that includes second and third devices, wherein;

the first device is configured to generate first audio data for the communication session and to output a first sound,

the second device is configured to generate second audio data for the communication session and to output a second sound, and

the third device is configured to generate third audio data for the communication session and to output a third sound;

receiving, by the first device, the second audio data generated by the second device;

identifying, by an audio module of the first device, at least one sound included in audio data from the second device as at least one sound type of a plurality of sound types, wherein the at least one sound type is indicative of a sound not intended to be included in the communication session;

providing, by the first device and to one of the second or third devices, a message identifying the at least one sound type of the at least one sound;

receiving, by the first device and from the one of the second and third devices, a mute command, wherein the mute command identifies the second device, and each of the first, second, and third devices are configured to generate and receive mute commands; and

responsive to receiving the mute command, causing, by the first device, muting of the second audio data generated by the second device, such that the first and third devices output the first sound and the third sound, respectively, that does not include the second audio data generated by the second device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the first device, an un-mute command issued by the third device, wherein the un-mute command is used to cancel the muting of the second audio data, and wherein each of the first, second, and third devices are configured to issue un-mute commands.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to muting the second audio data, graphically indicating that the second device is muted on a graphical user interface of at least one of the first, second, or third devices.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein causing the muting prevents audio data of the second device from being transmitted by the second device to the first device and the other devices associated with the two or more participants engaged in the communication session.

5. A method comprising:

receiving, by a first device through which a first participant of a plurality of participants engages in a communication session, from a second device associated with a second participant of the plurality of participants engaged in the communication session, an indication of at least one sound type of at least one sound included in audio data received from the second device, wherein the at least one sound is identified as the at least one sound type of a plurality of sound types, and wherein the at least one sound type is indicative of a sound not intended to be included in the communication session;

outputting, by the first device and for display by a display device associated with the first participant, a message identifying the at least one sound type of the at least one sound;

receiving, by the first device, a mute command, wherein;

each other participant of the plurality of participants is associated with one or more other devices via which the other participant is engaged in the communication session,

the mute command identifies the second participant of the plurality of participants to be muted, and

any participant of the plurality of participants may issue one or more mute commands at their respective device, wherein the one or more mute commands identify another participant of the plurality of participants; and

responsive to receiving the mute command, causing muting of the second participant for two or more participants engaged in the communication session, wherein the muting prevents audio data from the second device associated with the second participant from being outputted by the one or more other devices associated with the two or more participants engaged in the communication session.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first device comprises a server, wherein the devices associated with the two or more participants are communicatively coupled to the server, and wherein the server processes the mute command.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

sending, by the first device, the mute command to the devices associated with the two or more participants,

wherein each of the devices associated with the two or more participants processes the mute command.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

responsive to muting the second participant for two or more participants engaged in the communication session, outputting, by the first device and for display by at least one display device associated with the two or more participants, an indication that the first participant muted the second participant.

9. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

outputting, by the first device, for display by a display device of at least one device associated with at least one of the plurality of participants, a message recommending to mute the second participant based on the at least one sound type of the at least one sound of the audio data, a current volume level of the audio data, a historical volume level, a noise status of the audio data, content of the audio data, or timing of the audio data.

10. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

outputting, by the first device, for display by a display device of the second device associated with the second participant, a message indicating that the second participant is muted for the two or more participants engaged in the communication session.

11. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

outputting, by the first device, for display by a display device of the second device associated with the second participant, a message indicating that the mute command has been issued to mute the second participant for the two or more participants.

12. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

receiving, by the first device, a cancel command from the second participant; and

responsive to receiving the cancel command, cancelling, by the first device, the muting of the second participant for the two or more participants.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein cancelling the muting of the second participant for the two or more participants is performed when the cancel command is received within a selected time period of receiving the mute command.

14. The method of claim 5, wherein the first device is associated with the first participant, wherein the first device includes the display device associated with the first participant, and wherein the communication session is a video conference, the method further comprising:

outputting, by the first device, for display by the display device, an indication of a graphical user interface that includes an image corresponding to the second participant;

receiving, by the first device, an indication of a user input selecting the image corresponding to the second participant; and

issuing, by the first device, the mute command identifying the second participant to be muted in response to receiving the indication of user input selecting the image corresponding to the second participant.

15. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

receiving, by the first computing device, a remove command identifying a third participant from at least one participant of the plurality of participants, wherein any participant may issue remove commands; and

responsive to receiving the remove command, removing, by the first computing device, the third participant from the communication session.

16. The method of claim 5, wherein muting the second participant for two or more participants engaged in the communication session further comprises muting the second participant for each of the plurality of participants engaged in the communication session.

17. The method of claim 5, wherein the first device is associated with the first participant, and wherein the communication session is a video conference, the method further comprising:

outputting, by the first device and for display by a display device of the first device, an overlay that includes information related to the communication session.

18. The method of claim 5, wherein the at least one sound as the at least one sound type is identified based on a comparison of the at least one sound to one or more sound profiles, wherein each sound profile of the one or more sound profiles corresponds to a respective sound type from the plurality of sound types.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions for causing a processor to:

receive, by a first device through which a first participant of a plurality of participants engages in a communication session, from a second device associated with a second participant of a plurality of participants engaged in the communication session, an indication of at least one sound type of at least one sound included in audio data received from the second device, wherein the at least one sound type is indicative of a sound not intended to be included in the communication session;

output, by the first device and for display by a display device associated with the first participant, a message identifying the at least one sound type of the at least one sound;

receive, by the first device, at a a mute command, wherein each participant of the plurality of participants is associated with a respective device of a plurality of devices through which the participant is engaged in the communication session, and wherein

the mute command identifies the second device associated with the second participant to be muted, and

any participant of the plurality of participants may issue mute commands using the respective device of the plurality of devices, wherein the one or more mute commands identify another participant of the plurality of participants; and

responsive to receiving the mute command, causing muting of the second device for two or more participants of the plurality of participants engaged in the communication session, wherein the muting prevents an audio data from the second device from being outputted by the respective device of the plurality of devices associated with each of the two or more participants engaged in the communication session.

20. A device comprising:

a network interface to connect to a communication session having a plurality of participants, wherein each participant of the plurality of participants is associated with a respective device of a plurality of devices through which the participant is engaged in the communication session;

an output device that outputs audio data; and

one or more processors configured to;

identify at least one sound included in first audio data as at least one sound type of a plurality of sound types, wherein the at least one sound type includes a sound not intended to be included in the communication session; and

receive a mute command issued by any participant of the plurality of participants using the respective device associated with the participant, wherein the mute command identifies a participant to be muted, and wherein muting prevents the output device from outputting second audio data from the participant to be muted.