Polycom, Inc.

Polycom Israel Ltd.

Eran Knaz

Sergey Potekhin

Moshe Elbaz

Eyal Leviav

Sharon Shani

Moshe Carmi

A conferencing system for an enterprise is disclosed. The conferencing system includes a management apparatus for managing conferencing resources in a premises. The management apparatus includes a communications link for communicating with a proximity announcing system, which indicates whether a portable communications device is near a conferencing device within the premises. The management apparatus can transmit a message to a proximate portable communication device indicating that a conferencing device is nearby. The proximity announcing system can include wireless transmitters and receivers associated with the premises and with portable communication devices used within the premises for tracking the location of the portable communication devices throughout the premises.

Method and system for transferring a conference between a mobile communication device and a conferencing terminal

The present invention is a system and a method for providing a control unit for a multipoint multimedia/audio conference that enables one or more participants to take part in more than one conference simultaneously. The control unit can operate in audio and/or video sections of an MCU and/or Management and Control System (MCS). The MCS, in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, controls the participation of at least one participant in more than one conference simultaneously by using a Cross-Conference Database (CCDB). The MCU performs connection changes affecting which participants are associated with one or more conferences based on the information that is stored in the CCDB.

Control unit for multipoint multimedia/audio system

Method and system for managing conferencing resources in a premises

A conferencing system for an enterprise is disclosed. The conferencing system determines the location of a portable communication device within a premises and sends a prompt to the portable communication device announcing an option to initiate a communication session using local conferencing devices. In response to a request from the portable communication device, the system determines connection information for a remote endpoint and initiates a communication session between the local conferencing device and the remote endpoint.

Method and system for initiating a conference based on the proximity of a portable communication device

A conferencing system for an enterprise is disclosed. The conferencing system allows a conferencing session conducted on a conferencing device within a premises to be controlled from a portable communication device. The system provides a generic user interface to the portable communication device for controlling the conferencing session. Commands for controlling the conferencing session are entered on the portable communication device and signaled to the conferencing device.

Method and system for providing a user interface to a portable communication device for controlling a conferencing session

A conferencing system for an enterprise is disclosed. The conferencing system allows a user conducting a communication session on a personal communication device to transfer the communication session to a local conferencing device. The conferencing system prompts the personal communication device with an option to transfer the communication session to the conferencing device. The system obtains contact information for a multimedia endpoint associated with the remote communication device and initiates a connection between the local conferencing device and the remote multimedia endpoint. The system can also transfer a communication session from a local conferencing device to a portable communication device.

The disclosed method provides audio location perception to an endpoint in a multipoint videoconference by providing a plurality of audio streams to the endpoint, wherein each of the audio streams corresponds to one of the loudspeakers at the endpoint. The audio streams are differentiated so as to emphasize broadcasting of the audio streams through one or more loudspeakers closest to a position of a speaking endpoint in a videoconference layout that is displayed at the endpoint. For example, the audio broadcast at a loudspeaker that is at a far-side of the screen might be attenuated or time delayed compared to audio broadcast at a loudspeaker that is located at a near-side of the display. The disclosure also provides a multipoint control unit (MCU) that processes audio signals from two or more endpoints according to the positions in a layout of the endpoints and then transmits processed audio streams to the endpoints in a way that allows endpoints to broadcast spatially correlated audio.

Spatially correlated audio in multipoint videoconferencing

A multipoint controller unit in which the audio signal processing is distributed among several audio ports. The control of the audio signal processing may be centrally or distributively managed by one or more audio controllers. The audio signal processing may include selecting audio streams from a common interface and/or mixing the signals from the common interface. Each audio port may enhance the audio signal and generate control information from the audio signal. The audio ports are synchronized by a common information channel while the audio controllers are synchronized by a common control channel interface. Port fragmentation is reduced since the audio signal processing that relates to an endpoint within a conference is handled by a single audio port.

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Qadima, Israel

Eran Knaz