Bell Communications Research, Inc.

David Gray Boyer

Gennady Shtirmer

Ali L Jalali

A video conferencing system and method that uses a central multimedia bridge to combine multimedia signals from a plurality of conference participants into a single composite signal for each participant. The system gives each conference participant the ability to customize their individual display of other participants, including keying in and out selected portions of the display and overlapping displayed images, and the ability to identify individual images in a composed video stream by click and drag operations or the like. The system uses a chain of video composing modules that can be extended as necessary to combine video signal streams from any number of conference participants in real time. Multimedia association software is provided for associating different media types to enhance display and manipulation capabilities for multimedia uses. The system also allows each user to dynamically change who can receive the information they provide to the conference.

System and method for associating multimedia objects for use in a video

Our audio processing system for use in teleconferencing systems includes a microphone, receiver, and substantially the same comb filter and frequency scaler at each station for reducing acoustic echo and increasing the margin of acoustic stability. The comb filters and frequency scalers cooperate with one another in that the frequency scalers each induces a shift in frequency which corresponds to the peak-to-trough spacing of the transfer function of the comb filters. Our audio processing system may also include auxiliary echo suppressors for reducing acoustic echo and increasing the margin of acoustic stability in systems having high and low transmission delays. Other devices may be employed for reducing noise and smoothing out the operation of individual components in the system. Since the comb filters employed at each station are not complementary, but are substantially the same, our audio processing system can mitigate the effects of acoustic instability and echo in point-to-point and multipoint audio processing systems. Furthermore, since each station utilizes substantially the same equipment, the need for equipment negotiation between stations and equipment changes prior to a conferencing session is obviated.

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Tinton Falls, NJ, United States of America

David Gray Boyer