Data processing: speech signal processing – linguistics – language – Speech signal processing – Application
Reexamination Certificate
1999-02-10
2001-12-04
Dorvil, Richemond (Department: 2741)
Data processing: speech signal processing, linguistics, language
Speech signal processing
Application
C704S231000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06327567
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the telecommunications field and, in particular, to a method and system for providing spatialized audio in conference calls.
2. Description of Related Art
Conference calls are becoming an increasingly common communications medium. For example, a large corporation can have offices located throughout the world, but the corporation's employees at different locations are often required to consult with each other by conference call, in order to develop conclusions and solutions for pressing problems. Furthermore, the younger generation's current use of Internet chat rooms for “text-chats” will likely extend that practice to “voice-chats” (i.e., conference calls).
The conventional conference call systems in use today utilize a single voice channel for all participants, and a moderator typically controls the conference calls. As such, an individual can participate in only one conference call at a time.
A number of significant problems exist with the existing approaches taken for making conference calls. For example, during a conference call, it is often difficult to recognize who is speaking by voice alone. This recognition problem can be exacerbated if there are several participants in the conference call with similar regional accents or voices that sound similar. Furthermore, two or more conference call participants can be speaking at the same time, which degrades the conversations. Another problem with existing conference call approaches is that they do not make it possible to divide a conference call into a number of sub-conferences, and also to allow participants to move freely between the sub-conferences. Yet another problem with existing conference call approaches is that a moderator needs to be appointed whenever the number of participants exceeds a certain limit. However, as described in detail below, the present invention successfully resolves the above-described problems.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the present invention, a method is provided for spatializing audio in conference calls, in which the participants in the calls are placed in particular locations in order to provide an additional dimension (direction) so that the participants can better recognize who is speaking. Also, the dimension of volume is provided, which can be used in creating background sub-conferences. Consequently, sub-conferences can be conducted in which the participants can move freely between them and also listen to other sub-conferences being conducted in the background.
An important technical advantage of the present invention is that by using a spatial layout for a conference call, the audio streams from different sub-conferences are distinguishable, and a user is then able to attend multiple sub-conferences.
Another important technical advantage of the present invention is that by using a spatial layout for a conference call, one participant will always know which other participant is speaking, as long as the first participant knows the spatial location of the other participant.
Yet another important technical advantage of the present invention is that the use of a spatial layout for conference calls can be used as an aid for auditory memory. This approach can be useful when a participant is located in a noisy environment and it is difficult to recognize a speaker by voice alone, or one person participates in a conference with other people who are unknown and it is difficult to recognize the speaker by voice alone.
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Standard Search Report for RS 102633 US Completed on Jun. 30, 1999.
R. Botros, O. Abdel-Alim, P. Damaske, “Stereophonic Speech Teleconferencing”, ICASSP 86 Proceedings; IEEE-IECEJ-ASJ International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, Apr. 7-11, 1986, pp. 26.6.1-26.6.4, XP002107517.
Gabrielsson Jan
Hall Hans
Willehadson Stefan
Dorvil Richemond
Jenkens & Gilchrist P.C.
Telefonaktiebolaget L M Ericsson (publ)
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