Polycom, Inc.

Hewlett-packard Development Company, L.p.

Plantronics, Inc.

Yibo Liu

Peter L Chu

Edmund S Thompson

Jinwei Feng

Xiangdong Wang

Zhemin Tu

Kwan Kin Truong

Jesse Coleman

Stephen C Botzko

Steven L Potts

Uri Avni

Krishna Sai

Andrew Stewart Lochbaum

Jonathan Gallmeier

Ami Noy

Cody Schnacker

David A Bryan

John Dietz

Gary Brown

Andrew Lochbaum

Richard Kos

A method includes, during a teleconference between a first audio input/output device and a second audio input/output device, receiving, at an analysis and response device, a signal indicating a spoken command, the spoken command associated with a command mode. The method further includes, in response to receiving the signal, generating, at the device, a reply message based on the spoken command, the reply message to be output to one or more devices selected based on the command mode. The one or more devices includes the first audio input/output device, the second audio input/output device, or a combination thereof.

Responding to a spoken command in a communication session

A video conference call control system is provided with an audio mixer to receive an audio speech signal at one or more network devices connected to the video conference call; to generate first and second talker identification values from the audio speech signal; to compare the first and second talker identification values during a timing comparison window to determine if the first and second talker identification values are identical and received simultaneously or substantially contemporaneously; and to selectively mute one or more audio devices at the network device(s) if the first and second talker identification values are identical and received simultaneously or substantially contemporaneously so that microphone input signals to the audio mixer are muted to prevent 'playback' echo effects and so that microphone input and audio loudspeaker output signals to the audio mixer are muted to prevent “double join” echo effects.

Speaker identification-based echo detection and solution

A videoconferencing system includes a camera acquiring image data and a microphone array acquiring audio data. Image data is used in conjunction with sound source localization (SSL) data to locate a talker depicted in the image data. SSL processes the audio data and determines SSL pan angle values indicative of an estimated direction of a sound. Columns of pixels in an image are associated with bins. A bin count is incremented for each SSL pan angle value of the audio data that falls within a given bin. A bounding box in the image data is determined that encompasses a face depicted in the image data. A range of pixels is determined for the bounding box, such as extending from a leftmost column to a rightmost column. The bin with the highest bin count that also overlaps a range of pixels for a bounding box is deemed to contain the talker.

Face detection guided sound source localization pan angle post processing for smart camera talker tracking and framing

A method may include obtaining a plurality of training samples with a plurality of classifications that include a first classification and a second classification, training an initial tree with an initial set of training samples selected from the plurality of training samples using an initial set of feature values extracted from the set of training samples, and, in response to determining that the initial tree incorrectly classified the initial set of training samples at an output node of the initial tree, training a subsequent tree using a subsequent set of feature values extracted from a subsequent set of training samples.

Decision tree training with difference subsets of training samples based on a plurality of classifications

Replying to a spoken command

A video conferencing device for video conferencing between at least one local participant and a remote participant includes a video camera, a microphone array, and a speaker tracker. The video camera provides a local video input signal. The microphone array provides a local audio input signal. The speaker tracker is configured to identify a local speaker from the at least one local participant using a sound source localizer. The video conferencing device processes the local video input signal without the local speaker, based on the video conferencing device receiving a signal from a computing system, the signal dependent on a loopback audio output signal indicating that the remote participant is speaking.

Method and system for controlling speaker tracking in a video conferencing system

PTP timestamps are obtained and correlated to internal audio time and timestamps. This allows Ethernet/IP audio devices to be closely aligned with local digital audio devices to allow improved AEC operations. By performing repetitive PTP timestamps based on local audio time, drift between PTP time and local audio time is determined and corrected. By performing the PTP to local audio time operations on each independent Ethernet network, the Ethernet/IP audio devices can be split between independent LANs. If some local digital audio inputs formed from analog inputs are not aligned with other local digital audio inputs, signals can be provided in analog format and audio samples of the signals can be correlated to local audio time. With correlations performed as necessary based on the various audio inputs in use, high quality AEC operations are performed.

PTP-based audio clock synchronization and alignment for acoustic echo cancellation in a conferencing system with IP-connected cameras, microphones and speakers

A videoconferencing system has a videoconferencing unit that use portable devices as peripherals for the system. The portable devices obtain near-end audio and send the audio to the videoconferencing unit via a wireless connection. In turn, the videoconferencing unit sends the near-end audio from the loudest portable device along with near-end video to the far-end. The portable devices can control the videoconferencing unit and can initially establish the videoconference by connecting with the far-end and then transferring operations to the videoconferencing unit. To deal with acoustic coupling between the unit's loudspeaker and the portable device's microphone, the unit uses an echo canceller that is compensated for differences in the clocks used in the A/D and D/A converters of the loudspeaker and microphone.

Pairing devices in conference using ultrasonic beacon and subsequent control thereof

A videoconference apparatus and method coordinates a stationary view obtained with a stationary camera to an adjustable view obtained with an adjustable camera. The stationary camera can be a web camera, while the adjustable camera can be a pan-tilt-zoom camera. As the stationary camera obtains video, participants are detected and localized by establishing a static perimeter around a participant in which no motion is detected. Thereafter, if no motion is detected in the perimeter, any personage objects such as head, face, or shoulders which are detected in the region bounded by the perimeter are determined to correspond to the participant.

People detection method for auto-framing and tracking in a video conference

Pairing devices in Conference using ultrasonic beacon and subsequent control thereof

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Reading, MA, United States of America

Yibo Liu