As the “global economy” continues to expand, so does the need to be able to communicate over potentially long distances with other people. One area of communication that has seen steady growth and increased customer confidence is the use of the Internet and other networking topologies. With the constant growth and development of networking capabilities has come the ability to implement more and better products and features. One area in particular that has seen growth and development in both quantity and quality is the area of Internet enabled phone calls, using for example VoIP. By taking audio signals (the speaker's voice) and converting them into Internet protocol (IP) packets, IP phones are able to send the audio signals over IP networks, such as the Internet.
There are times when voice communication alone is not sufficient. In such instances video conferencing may be an attractive and viable alternative. Current video conferencing often involves complicated setup and call establishment procedures (usually requiring someone from technical support to setup the equipment prior to the conference). Furthermore, where there are multiple users the typical video conferencing system divides a single screen into different sections. Each section is usually associated with a particular location, and all the users at that location need to try to fit within the camera's field of vision. Current video conferencing systems also typically use a single loudspeaker, or loudspeaker pair, for reproducing the sound. Thus, regardless of who is speaking the sound comes from the same location. This often requires the receiving user to carefully scan the screen, examining each user individually, to determine who is speaking. This can be especially difficult in a video conference in which the screen is divided among several locations, and each location has multiple users within the camera's field of vision.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds