text:
Storing and Accessing Media Files
A content storage and communication system is claimed. The system includes at least one local network at first physical premises. The system includes at least one audio-video storage device in communication with the local network. The audio-video storage device is configured for storing at least one media file, which includes at least video. The system includes at least a first client device in communication with the local network. The system is configured to enable a user of the first client device to communicate with a wide area network. The system is configured to enable simultaneous multiple retrieval of the at least one media file stored on the audio-video storage device. The system is configured to enable multiple playbacks of media associated with the accessed media file.
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The present application is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/265,059 filed Nov. 1, 2005, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/702,737 filed Nov. 1, 2000, which is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/994,848, filed Dec. 19, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,237,025, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/660,461, filed Jun. 7, 1996, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,802,294, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/131,523, filed Oct. 1, 1993, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,689,641, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
This application is also related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/265,394 filed Nov. 1, 2005; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/265,256 filed Nov. 1, 2005; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/264,936, filed Nov. 1, 2005; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/264,926 filed Nov. 1, 2005.
This application is also related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/721,343, filed Nov. 26, 2003; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/722,051 filed Nov. 26, 2003; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/721,905 filed Nov. 26, 2003; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/721,385 filed Nov. 26, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,152,093. This application is also related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/622,627, filed Jan. 12, 2007; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/622,583, filed Jan. 12, 2007; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/623,177, filed Jan. 15, 2007; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/623,387, filed Jan. 16, 2007; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/623,630, filed Jan. 16, 2007; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/624,351, filed Jan. 18, 2007; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/624,860, Filed Jan. 19, 2007.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to computer-based systems for enhancing collaboration between and among individuals who are separated by distance and/or time (referred to herein as "distributed collaboration"). Principal among the invention's goals is to replicate in a desktop environment, to the maximum extent possible, the full range, level and intensity of interpersonal communication and information sharing which would occur if all the participants were together in the same room at the same time (referred to herein as "face-to-face collaboration").
It is well known to behavioral scientists that interpersonal communication involves a large number of subtle and complex visual cues, referred to by names like "eye contact" and "body language," which provide additional information over and above the spoken words and explicit gestures. These cues are, for the most part, processed subconsciously by the participants, and often control the course of a meeting.
In addition to spoken words, demonstrative gestures and behavioral cues, collaboration often involves the sharing of visual information—e.g., printed material such as articles, drawings, photographs, charts and graphs, as well as videotapes and computer-based animations, visualizations and other displays—in such a way that the participants can collectively and interactively examine, discuss, annotate and revise the information. This combination of spoken words, gestures, visual cues and interactive data sharing significantly enhances the effectiveness of collaboration in a variety of contexts, such as "brainstorming" sessions among professionals in a particular field, consultations between one or more experts and one or more clients, sensitive business or political negotiations, and the like. In distributed collaboration settings, then, where the participants cannot be in the same place at the same time, the beneficial effects of face-to-face collaboration will be realized only to the extent that each of the remotely located participants can be "recreated" at each site.
To illustrate the difficulties inherent in reproducing the beneficial effects of face-to-face collaboration in a distributed collaboration environment, consider the case of decision-making in the fast-moving commodities trading markets, where many thousands of dollars of profit (or loss) may depend on an expert trader making the fight decision within hours, or even minutes, of receiving a request from a distant client. The expert requires immediate access to a wide range of potentially relevant information such as financial data, historical pricing information, current price quotes, newswire services, government policies and programs, economic forecasts, weather reports, etc. Much of this information can be processed by the expert in isolation. However, before making a decision to buy or sell, he or she will frequently need to discuss the information with other experts, who may be geographically dispersed, and with the client. One or more of these other experts may be in a meeting, on another call, or otherwise temporarily unavailable. In this event, the expert must communicate "asynchronously"—to bridge time as well as distance.
As discussed below, prior art desktop videoconferencing systems provide, at best, only a partial solution to the challenges of distributed collaboration in real time, primarily because of their lack of high-quality video (which is necessary for capturing the visual cues discussed above) and their limited data sharing capabilities. Similarly, telephone answering machines, voice mail, fax machines and conventional electronic mail systems provide incomplete solutions to the problems presented by deferred (asynchronous) collaboration because they are totally incapable of communicating visual cues, gestures, etc and, like conventional videoconferencing systems, are generally limited in the richness of the data that can be exchanged.
It has been proposed to extend traditional videoconferencing capabilities from conference centers, where groups of participants must assemble in the same room, to the desktop, where individual participants may remain in their office or home. Such a system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,710,917 to Tompkins et al for Video Conferencing Network issued on Dec. 1, 1987. It has also been proposed to augment such video conferencing systems with limited "video mail" facilities. However, such dedicated videoconferencing systems (and extensions thereof) do not effectively leverage the investment in existing embedded information infrastructures—such as desktop personal computers and workstations, local area network (LAN) and wide area network (WAN) environments, building wiring, etc.—to facilitate interactive sharing of data in the form of text, images, charts, graphs, recorded video, screen displays and the like. That is, they attempt to add computing capabilities to a videoconferencing system, rather than adding multimedia and collaborative capabilities to the user's existing computer system. Thus, while such systems may be useful in limited contexts, they do not provide the capabilities required for maximally effective collaboration, and are not cost-effective.
Conversely, audio and video capture and processing capabilities have recently been integrated into desktop and portable personal computers and workstations (hereinafter generically referred to as "workstations"). These capabilities have been used primarily in desktop multimedia authoring systems for producing CD-ROM-based works. While such systems are capable of processing, combining, and recording audio, video and data locally (i.e., at the desktop), they do not adequately support networked collaborative environments, principally due to the substantial bandwidth requirements for real-time transmission of high-quality, digitized audio and full-motion video which preclude conventional LANs from supporting more than a few workstations. Thus, although currently available desktop multimedia computers frequently include videoconferencing and other multimedia or collaborative capabilities within their advertised feature set (see, e.g., A Reinhardt, "Video Conquers the Desktop," BYTE, September 1993, pp. 64-90), such systems have not yet solved the many problems inherent in any practical implementation of a scalable collaboration system.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In accordance with the present invention, computer hardware, software and communications technologies are combined in novel ways to produce a multimedia collaboration system that greatly facilitates distributed collaboration, in part by replicating the benefits of face-to-face collaboration. The system tightly integrates a carefully selected set of multimedia and collaborative capabilities, principal among which are desktop teleconferencing and multimedia mail.
As used herein, desk-top teleconferencing includes real-time audio and/or video teleconferencing, as well as data conferencing. Data conferencing, in turn, includes snapshot sharing (sharing of "snapshots" of selected regions of the user's screen), application sharing (shared control of running applications), shared whiteboard (equivalent to sharing a "blank" window), and associated telepointing and annotation capabilities. Teleconferences may be recorded and stored for later playback, including both audio/video and all data interactions.
While desktop teleconferencing supports real-time interactions, multimedia mail permits the asynchronous exchange of arbitrary multimedia documents, including previously recorded teleconferences. Indeed, it is to be understood that the multimedia capabilities underlying desktop teleconferencing and multimedia mail also greatly facilitate the creation, viewing, and manipulation of high-quality multimedia documents in general, including animations and visualizations that might be developed, for example, in the course of information analysis and modeling. Further, these animations and visualizations may be generated for individual rather than collaborative use, such that the present invention has utility beyond a collaboration context.
The preferred embodiment of the invention is a collaborative multimedia workstation (CMW) system wherein very high-quality audio and video capabilities can be readily superimposed onto an enterprise's existing computing and network infrastructure, including workstations, LANs, WANs, and building wiring.
In a preferred embodiment, the system architecture employs separate real-time and asynchronous networks—the former for real-time audio and video, and the latter for non-real-time audio and video, text, graphics and other data, as well as control signals. These networks are interoperable across different computers (e.g., Macintosh, Intel-based PCs, and Sun workstations), operating systems (e.g., Apple System 7, DOS/Windows, and UNIX) and network operating systems (e.g., Novell Netware and Sun ONC+). In many cases, both networks can actually share the same cabling and wall jack connector.
The system architecture also accommodates the situation in which the user's desktop computing and/or communications equipment provides varying levels of media-handling capability. For example, a collaboration session—whether real-time or asynchronous—may include participants whose equipment provides capabilities ranging from audio only (a telephone) or data only (a personal computer with a modem) to a full complement of real-time, high-fidelity audio and full-motion video, and high-speed data network facilities.
The CMW system architecture is readily, scalable to very large enterprise-wide network environments accommodating thousands of users. Further, it is an open architecture that can accommodate appropriate standards. Finally, the CMW system incorporates an intuitive, yet powerful, user interface, making the system easy to learn and use.
The present invention thus provides a distributed multimedia collaboration environment that achieves the benefits of face-to-face collaboration as nearly as possible, leverages ("snaps on to") existing computing and network infrastructure to the maximum extent possible, scales to very large networks consisting of thousand of workstations, accommodates emerging standards, and is easy to learn and use. The specific nature of the invention, as well as its objects, features, advantages and uses, will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description and examples, and from the accompanying drawings.DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Overall System Architecture
Referring initially to
In accordance with the present invention, the system of
CMW 12 in
In the preferred embodiment, CMW 12 in
Audio/video signals received by a CMW 12 from MLAN 10 may typically include: video images of one or more conference participants and associated audio, video and data from multimedia mail, previously recorded audio/video from previous calls and conferences, and standard broadcast television (e.g. CNN). Received video signals are displayed on the CMW screen or on an adjacent monitor, and the accompanying audio is reproduced by a speaker provided in or near the CMW. In general, the required transducers and signal processing hardware could be integrated into the CMW, or be provided via a CMW add-on unit, as appropriate.
In the preferred embodiment, it has been found particularly advantageous to provide the above-described video at standard NTSC-quality TV performance (i.e., 30 frames per second at 640.times.480 pixels per frame and the equivalent of 24 bits of color per pixel) with accompanying high-fidelity audio (typically between 7 and 15 KHz). For example,
Multimedia Local Area Network
Referring next to
Given the current state of networking technologies, it is useful (for the sake of maintaining quality and minimizing costs) to provide separate signal paths for real-time audio/video and classical asynchronous data communications (including digitized audio and video enclosures of multimedia mail messages that are free from real-time delivery constraints). At the moment, analog methods for carrying real-time audio/video are preferred. In the future, digital methods may be used. Eventually, digital audio and video signal paths may be multiplexed with the data signal path as a common digital stream. Another alternative is to multiplex real-time and asynchronous data paths together using analog multiplexing methods. For the purposes of the present application, however, we will treat these two signal paths as using physically separate wires. Further, as the current preferred embodiment uses analog networking for audio and video, it also physically separates the real-time and asynchronous switching vehicles and, in particular, assumes an analog audio/video switch. In the future, a common switching vehicle (e.g., ATM) could be used.
The MLAN 10 thus can be implemented in the preferred embodiment using conventional technology, such as typical Data LAN hubs 25 and A/V Switching Circuitry 30 (as used in television studios and other closed-circuit television networks), linked to the CMWs 12 via appropriate transceivers and unshielded twisted pair (UTP) wiring. Note in
While lines 13a and 13b may be implemented in various ways, it is currently preferred to use commonly installed 4-pair UTP telephone wires, wherein one pair is used for incoming video with accompanying audio (mono or stereo) multiplexed in, wherein another pair is used for outgoing multiplexed audio/video, and wherein the remaining two pairs are used for carrying incoming and outgoing data in ways consistent with existing LANs. For example, 10 BaseT Ethernet uses RJ-45 pins 1, 2, 4, and 6, leaving pins 3, 5, 7, and 8 available for the two A/V twisted pairs. The resulting system is compatible with standard (AT&T 258A, EIA/TIA 568, 8P8C, 10 BaseT, ISDN, 6P6C, etc.) telephone wiring found commonly throughout telephone and LAN cable plants in most office buildings throughout the world. These UTP wires are used in a hierarchy or peer arrangements of star topologies to create MLAN 10, described below. Note that the distance range of the data wires often must match that of the video and audio Various UTP-compatible data. LAN networks may be used, such as Ethernet, token ring, FDDI, ATM etc. For distances longer than the maximum distance specified by the data LAN protocol, data signals can be additionally processed for proper UTP operations.
As shown in
Control of A/V Switching Circuitry 30, conference bridges 35 and WAN gateway 40 in
Note in
The basic operation of the preferred embodiment of the resulting collaboration system shown in
A/V Switching Circuitry 30 (whether digital or analog as in the preferred embodiment) provides common audio/video switching for CMWs 12, conference bridges 35, WAN gateway 40 and multimedia resources 16, as determined by MLAN Server 60, which in turn controls conference bridges 35 and WAN gateway 44. Similarly, asynchronous data is communicated within MLAN 10 utilizing common data communications formats where possible (e.g., for snapshot sharing) so that the system can handle such data in a common manner, regardless of origin, thereby facilitating multimedia mail and data sharing as well as audio/video communications.
For example, to provide multi-party teleconferencing, an initiating CMW 12 signals MLAN Server 60 via Data LAN hub 25 identifying the desired conference participants. After determining which of these conferees will accept the call, MLAN Server 60 controls A/V Switching Circuitry 30 (and CMW software via the data network) to set up the required audio/video and data paths to conferees at the same location as the initiating CMW.
When one or more conferees are at distant locations, the respective MLAN Servers 60 of the involved MLANs 10, on a peer-to-peer basis, control their respective A/V Switching Circuitry 30, conference bridges 35, and WAN gateways 40 to set up appropriate communication paths (via WAN 15 in
The data conferencing component of the above-described system supports the sharing of visual information at one or more CMWs (as described in greater detail below). This encompasses both "snapshot sharing" (sharing "snapshots" of complete or partial screens, or of one or more selected windows) and "application sharing" (sharing both the control and display of running applications). When transferring images, lossless or slightly lossy image compression can be used to reduce network bandwidth requirements and user-perceived delay while maintaining high image quality.
In all cases, any participant can point at or annotate the shared data. These associated telepointers and annotations appear on every participant's CMW screen as they are drawn (i.e., effectively in real time). For example, note
In the above-described preferred embodiment, audio/video file services can be implemented either at the individual CMWs 12 or by employing a centralized audio/video storage server. This is one example of the many types of additional servers that can be added to the basic system of MLANs 10. A similar approach is used for incorporating other multimedia services, such as commercial TV channels, multimedia mail, multimedia document management, multimedia conference recording, visualization servers, etc. (as described in greater detail below). Certainly, applications that run self-contained on a CMW can be readily added, but the invention extends this capability greatly in the way that MLAN 10, storage and other functions are implemented and leveraged.
In particular, standard signal formats, network interfaces, user interface messages, and call models can allow virtually any multimedia resource to be smoothly integrated into the system. Factors facilitating such smooth integration include: (i) a common mechanism for user access across the network; (ii) a common metaphor (e.g., placing a call) for the user to initiate use of such resource; (iii) the ability for one function (e.g., a multimedia conference or multimedia database) to access and exchange information with another function (e.g., multimedia mail); and (iv) the ability to extend such access of one networked function by another networked function to relatively complex nestings of simpler functions (for example, record a multimedia conference in which a group of users has accessed multimedia mail messages and transferred them to a multimedia database, and then send part of the conference recording just created as a new multimedia mail message, utilizing a multimedia mail editor if necessary).
A simple example of the smooth integration of functions made possible by the above-described approach is that the GUI and software used for snapshot sharing (described below) can also be used as an input/output interface for multimedia mail and more general forms of multimedia documents. This can be accomplished by structuring the interprocess communication protocols to be uniform across all these applications. More complicated examples—specifically multimedia conference recording, multimedia mail and multimedia document management—will be presented in detail below.
Wide Area Network
Next to be described in connection with
Four MLANs 10 are illustrated at locations A, B, C and D CMWs 12-1 to 12-10, A/V Switching Circuitry 30, Data LAN hub 25, and WAN gateway 40 at each location correspond to those shown in
Typically, WAN 15 is comprised of T1 or ISDN common-carrier-provided digital links (switched or dedicated), in which case WAN switching multiplexers 44 are of the appropriate type (T1, ISDN, fractional T1, T3, switched 56 Kbps, etc.). Note that the WAN switching multiplexer 44 typically creates subchannels whose bandwidth is a multiple of 64 Kbps (i.e., 256 Kbps, 384, 768, etc.) among the T1, T3 or ISDN carriers. Inverse multiplexers may be required when using 56 Kbps dedicated or switched services from these carriers.
In the MLAN 10 to WAN 15 direction, router/codec bank 42 in
The system also provides optimal routes for audio/video signals through the WAN. For example, in
In a more complex network, several multi-hop routes are typically available, in which case the routing system handles the decision making, which for example can be based on network loading considerations. Note the resulting two-level network hierarchy: a MLAN 10 to MLAN 10 (i.e., site-to-site) service connecting codecs with one another only at connection endpoints.
The cost savings made possible by providing the above-described multi-hop capability (with intermediate codec bypassing) are very significant as will become evident by noting the examples of
At the endpoints of a wide-area call, the WAN switching multiplexer routes audio/video signals directly from the WAN network interface through an available codec to MLAN 10 and vice versa. At intermediate hops in the network, however, video signals are routed from one network interface on the WAN switching multiplexer to another network interface. Although A/V Switching Circuitry 30 could be used for this purpose, the preferred embodiment provides switching functionality inside the WAN switching multiplexer. By doing so, it avoids having to route audio/video signals through codecs to the analog switching circuitry, thereby avoiding additional codec delays at the intermediate locations.
A product capable of performing the basic switching functions described above for WAN switching multiplexer 44 is available from Teleos Corporation, Eatontown, N.J. This product is not known to have been used for providing audio/video multi-hopping and dynamic switching among various WAN links as described above.
In addition to the above-described multiple-hop approach, the preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a particularly advantageous way of minimizing delay, cost and degradation of video quality in a multi-party video teleconference involving geographically dispersed sites, while still delivering full conference views of all participants. Normally, in order for the CMWs at all sites to be provided with live audio/video of every participant in a teleconference simultaneously, each site has to allocate (in router/codec bank 42 in
As will next be described, however, the preferred embodiment of the invention advantageously permits each wide area audio/video teleconference to use only one codec at each site, and a minimum number of WAN digital trunks. Basically, the preferred embodiment achieves this most important result by employing "distributed" video mosaicing via a video "cut-and-paste" technology along with distributed audio mixing.
Distributed Video Mosaicing
In the preferred embodiment, video mosaicing circuitry 36 is capable of receiving N individual analog video picture signals (where N is a squared integer, i.e., 4, 9, 16, etc.). Circuitry 36 first reduces the size of the N input video signals by reducing the resolutions of each by a factor of M (where M is the square root of N i.e., 2, 3, 4 etc.), and then arranging them in an M-by-M mosaic of N images. The resulting single analog mosaic 36a obtained from video mosaicing circuitry 36 is then transmitted to the individual CMWs for display on the screens thereof.
As will become evident hereinafter, it may be preferable to send a different mosaic to distant sites, in which case video mosaicing circuitry 36 would provide an additional mosaic 36b for this purpose. A typical displayed mosaic picture (N=4, M=2) showing three participants is illustrated in
Also note that the entire video mosaicing approach described thus far and continued below applies should digital video transmission be used in lieu of analog transmission, particularly since both mosaic and video window implementations use digital formats internally and in current products are transformed to and from analog for external interfacing. In particular, note that mosaicing can be done digitally without decompression with many existing compression schemes. Further, with an all-digital approach, mosaicing can be done as needed directly on the CMW.
In the preferred embodiment, sums are decomposed and formed in a distributed fashion, creating partial sums at one site which are completed at other sites by appropriate signal insertion. Accordingly, audio mixing circuitry 38 is able to provide one or more additional sums, such as indicated by output 38, for sending to other sites having conference participants.
Next to be considered is the manner in which video cut-and-paste techniques are advantageously employed in the preferred embodiment. It will be understood that, since video mosaics and/or individual video pictures may be sent from one or more other sites, the problem arises as to how these situations are handled. In the preferred embodiment, video cut-and-paste circuitry 39, as illustrated in
Referring to
The video cut-and-paste circuitry 39 digitizes the incoming analog video inputs 116, selectively rearranges the digital signals on a region-by-region basis to produce a single digital M-by-M mosaic, having individual pictures in selected regions, and then converts the resulting digital mosaic back to analog form to provide a single analog mosaic picture 39a for sending to local participants (and other sites where required) having the individual input video pictures in appropriate regions. This resulting cut-and-paste analog mosaic 39a will provide the same type of display as illustrated in
Having described in connection with
The preferred embodiment also provides the capability of allowing a conference participant to select a close-up of a participant displayed on a mosaic. This capability is provided whenever a full individual video picture is available at that user's site. In such case, the A/V Switching Circuitry 30 (
Next to be described in connection with
One embodiment of a CMW 12 of the present invention is illustrated in
The currently available personal computers and workstations serve as a base workstation platform. The addition of certain audio and video I/O devices to the standard components of the base platform 100 (where standard components include the display monitor 200, keyboard 300 and mouse or tablet (or other pointing device) 400), all of which connect with the base platform box through standard peripheral ports 101, 102 and 103, enables the CMW to generate and receive real-time audio and video signals. These devices include a video camera 500 for capturing the user's image, gestures and surroundings (particularly the user's face and upper body), a microphone 600 for capturing the user's spoken words (and any other sounds generated at the CMW), a speaker 700 for presenting incoming audio signals (such as the spoken words of another participant to a videoconference or audio annotations to a document), a video input card 130 in the base platform 100 for capturing incoming video signals (e.g., the image of another participant to a videoconference, or videomail), and a video display card 120 for displaying video and graphical output on monitor 200 (where video is typically displayed in a separate window).
These peripheral audio and video I/O devices are readily available from a variety of vendors and are just beginning to become standard features in (and often physically integrated into the monitor and/or base platform of) certain personal computers and workstations. See, e.g., the aforementioned BYTE article ("Video Conquers the Desktop"), which describes current models of Apple's Macintosh AV series personal computers and Silicon Graphics' Indy workstations.
Add-on box 800 (shown in
In the present embodiment, the AV network 901 is separate and distract from the Data Network 902 portion of the MLAN 10, which carries bidirectional data signals among the CMWs and the Data LAN hub (e.g., an Ethernet network that also utilizes UTP wiring in the present embodiment with a network interface card 110 in each CMW). Note that each CMW will typically be a node on both the AV and the Data Networks.
There are several approaches to implementing Add-on box 800. In a typical videoconference, video camera 500 and microphone 600 capture and transmit outgoing video and audio signals into ports 801 and 802, respectively, of Add-on box 800. These signals are transmitted via Audio/Video I/O port 805 across AV Network 901. Incoming video and audio signals (from another videoconference participant) are received across AV network 901 through Audio/Video I/O port 805. The video signals are sent out of V-OUT port 803 of CMW add-on box 800 to video input card 130 of base platform 100, where they are displayed (typically in a separate video window) on monitor 200 utilizing the standard base platform video display card 120. The audio signals are sent out of A-OUT port 804 of CMW add-on box 800 and played through speaker 700 while the video signals are displayed on monitor 200. The same signal flow occurs for other non-teleconferencing applications of audio and video.
Add-on box 800 can be controlled by CMW software (illustrated in
Many other embodiments of the CMW illustrated in
A handset/headset jack enables the use of an integrated audio I/O device as an alternate to the separate microphone and speaker. A telephone interface could be integrated into add-on box 800 as a local implementation of computer-integrated telephony. A "hold" (i.e., audio and video mute) switch and/or a separate audio mute switch could be added to Add-on box 800 if such an implementation were deemed preferable to a software-based interface.
The internals of Add-on box 800 of
The Loopback/AV Mute circuitry 830 can, however, be placed in various modes under software control via Control port 806 (implemented, for example, as a standard UART). If in loopback mode (e.g., for testing incoming and outgoing signals at the CMW), the video signals would be routed back out V-OUT port 803 via video port 831. If in a mute mode (e.g., muting audio, video or both), video signals might, for example, be disconnected and no video signal would be sent out video port 834. Loop back and muting switching functionality is also provided for audio in a similar way. Note: that computer control of loopback is very useful for remote testing and diagnostics while manual override of computer control on mute is effective for assured privacy from use of the workstation for electronic spying.
Video input (e.g., captured by the video camera at the CMW of another videoconference participant) is handled in a similar fashion. It is received along AV Network 901 through Audio/Video I/O port 805 and port 845 of A/V Transceivers 840, where it is sent out Video Out port 841 to video port 832 of Loopback/AV Mute circuitry 830, which typically passes such signals out video port 831 to V-OUT port 803 (for receipt by a video input card or other display mechanism, such as LCD display 810 of CMW Side Mount unit 850 in
Audio input and output (e.g., for playback through speaker 700 and capture by microphone 600 of
Audio inputs passing through audio port 835 of Loopback/AV Mute circuitry 830 provide audio signals to a speaker (via standard Echo Canceler circuitry 814 and A-OUT port 804 and/or to a handset or headset (via I/O ports 807 and 808, respectively, under volume control circuitry 815 controlled by software through Control port 806). In all cases, incoming audio signals pass through power amplifier circuitry 812 before being sent out of Add-on box 80) to the appropriate audio-emitting transducer.
Outgoing audio signals generated at the CMW (e.g., by microphone 600 of
It is to be understood that A/V Transceivers 840 may include muxing/demuxing facilities so as to enable the transmission of audio/video signals on a single pair of wires, e.g., by encoding audio signals digitally in the vertical retrace interval of the analog video signal. Implementation of other audio and video enhancements, such as stereo audio and external audio/video I/O ports (e.g., for recording signals generated at the CMW), are also well within the capabilities of one skilled in the art. If stereo audio is used in teleconferencing (i.e., to create useful spatial metaphors for users), a second echo canceller may be recommended.
Another embodiment of the CMW of this invention, illustrated in
Given the proximity of Side Mount device 850 to the user, and the direct access to audio/video I/O within that device, various additional controls 820 can be provided at the user's touch (all well within the capabilities of those skilled in the art). Note that, with enough additions, Side Mount unit 850 can become virtually a standalone device that does not require a separate computer for services using only audio and video. This also provides a way of supplementing a network of full-feature workstations with a few low-cost additional "audio video intercoms" for certain sectors of an enterprise (such as clerical, reception, factory floor, etc.).
A portable laptop implementation can be made to deliver multimedia mail with video, audio and synchronized annotations via CD-ROM or an add-on videotape unit with separate video, audio and time code tracks (a stereo videotape player can use the second audio channel for time code signals). Videotapes or CD-ROMs can be created in main offices and express mailed, thus avoiding the need for high-bandwidth networking when on the road. Cellular phone links can be used to obtain both voice and data communications (via modems). Modem-based data communications are sufficient to support remote control of mail or presentation playback, annotation, file transfer and fax features. The laptop can then be brought into the office and attached to a docking station where the available MLAN 10 and additional functions adapted from Add-on box 800 can be supplied, providing full CMW capability.
Collaborative Multimedia Workstation Software
CMW software modules 160 are illustrated generally in
Also present on the CMW in this embodiment are standard multitasking operating system/GUI software 180 (e.g., Apple Macintosh System 7, Microsoft Windows 3.1, or UNIX with the "X Window System" and Motif or other GUI "window manager" software) as well as other applications 170, such as word processing and spreadsheet programs. Software modules 161-168 communicate with operating system/GUI software 180 and other applications 170 utilizing standard function calls and interapplication protocols.
The central component of the Collaborative Multimedia Workstation software is the Collaboration Initiator 161. All collaborative functions can be accessed through this module. When the Collaboration Initiator is started, it exchanges initial configuration information with the Audio Video Network Manager (AVNM) 60 (shown in
The Collaboration Initiator presents a user interface that allows the user to initiate collaborative sessions (both real-time and asynchronous). In the preferred embodiment, session participants can be selected from a graphical rolodex 163 that contains a scrollable list of user names or from a list of quick-dial buttons 162. Quick-dial buttons show the face icons for the users they represent. In the preferred embodiment, the icon representing the user is retrieved by the Collaboration Initiator from the Directory Server 66 on MLAN Server 60 when it starts up. Users can dynamically add new quick-dial buttons by dragging the corresponding entries from the graphical rolodex onto the quick-dial panel.
Once the user elects to initiate a collaborative session, he or she selects one or more desired participants by, for example, clicking on that name to select the desired participant from the system rolodex or a personal rolodex, or by clicking on the quick-dial button for that participant (see, e.g.,
The system also allows sessions to be invoked from the keyboard. It provides a graphical editor to bind combinations of participants and session types to certain hot keys. Pressing this hot key (possibly in conjunction with a modifier key, e.g., <Shift>or <Ctrl>) will cause the Collaboration Initiator to start a session of the specified type with the given participants.
Once the user selects the desired participant and session type, Collaboration Initiator module 161 retrieves necessary addressing information from Directory Service 66 (see
As indicated previously, additional collaborative services-such as Mail 165, Application Sharing 166, Computer-Integrated Telephony 167 and Computer Integrated Fax 168—are also available from the CMW by utilizing Collaboration Initiator module 161 to initiate the session (i.e., to contact the participants) and to invoke the appropriate application necessary to manage the collaborative session. When initiating asynchronous collaboration (e.g., mail, fax, etc.), the Collaboration Initiator contacts Directory Service 66 for address information (e.g., EMAIL address, fax number, etc.) for the selected participants and invokes the appropriate collaboration tools with the obtained address information. For real-time sessions, the Collaboration Initiator queries the Service Server module 69 inside AVNM 63 for the current location of the specified participants. Using this location information, it communicates (via the AVNM) with the Collaboration Initiators of the other session participants to coordinate session setup. As a result, the various Collaboration Initiators will invoke modules 166, 167 or 168 (including activating any necessary devices such as the connection between the telephone and the CMW's audio I/O port). Further details on multimedia mail are provided below.
MLAN Server Software
In the preferred embodiment, clients (e.g., software-controlling workstations, VCRs, laserdisks, multimedia resources, etc.) communicate with the MLAN Server Software Modules 62 using the TCP/IP network protocols. Generally, the AVNM 63 cooperates with the Service Server 69, Conference Bridge Manager (CBM 64 in
The AVNM additionally cooperates with Audio/Video Storage Server 67 and other multimedia services 68 in
Audio Video Network Manager
The AVNM 63 manages A/V Switching Circuitry 30 in
In response to client program requests, the AVNM provides connectivity between audio/video devices by connecting their ports. Connecting ports is achieved by switching one port's physical input connections to the other port's physical output connections (for both audio and video) and vice-versa. Client programs can specify which of the 4 physical connections on its ports should be switched. This allows client programs to establish unidirectional calls (e.g., by specifying that only the port's input connections should be switched and not the port's output connections) and audio-only or video-only calls (by specifying audio connections only or video connections only).
Service Server
Before client programs can access audio/video resources through the AVNM, they must register the collaborative services they provide with the Service Server 69. Examples of these services indicate "video call", "snapshot sharing", "conference" and "video file sharing." These service records are entered into the Service Server's service database. The service database thus keeps track of the location of client programs and the types of collaborative sessions in which they can participate. This allows the Collaboration Initiator to find collaboration participants no matter where they are located. The service database is replicated by all Service Servers: Service Servers communicate with other Service Servers in other MLANs throughout the system to exchange their service records.
Clients may create a plurality of services, depending on the collaborative capabilities desired. When creating a service, a client can specify the network resources (e.g ports) that will be used by this service. In particular, service information is used to associate a user with the audio/video ports physically connected to the particular CMW into which the user is logged in. Clients that want to receive requests do so by putting their services in listening mode. If clients want to accept incoming data shares, but want to block incoming video calls, they must create different services.
A client can create an exclusive service on a set of ports to prevent other clients from creating services on these ports. This is useful, for example, to prevent multiple conference bridges from managing the same set of conference bridge ports.
Next to be considered is the preferred manner in which the AVNM 63 (
Basic Two-Party Videoconferencing
As previously described, a CMW includes a Collaboration Initiator software module 161 (see
Videoconference calls can be initiated, for example, merely by double-clicking on these icons. When a call is initiated, the CMW typically provides a screen display that includes a live video picture of the remote conference participant, as illustrated for example in
The basic underlying software-controlled operations occurring for a two-party call are diagrammatically illustrated in
The caller's Collaboration Initiator sends a request to the AVNM to place a video call to caller with the specified address, as indicated by (5) in
The callee's Collaboration Initiator can respond to the call event in a variety of ways. In the preferred embodiment, a user-selectable sound is generated to announce the incoming call. The Collaboration Initiator can then act in one of two modes. In "Telephone Mode," the Collaboration Initiator displays an invitation message on the CMW screen that contains the name of the caller and buttons to accept or refuse the call. The Collaboration Initiator will then accept or refuse the call, depending on which button is pressed by the callee. In "Intercom Mode," the Collaboration Initiator accepts all incoming calls automatically, unless there is already another call active on the callee's CMW, in which case behavior reverts to Telephone Mode.
The callee's Collaboration Initiator then notifies the AVNM as to whether the call will be accepted or refused. If the call is accepted, (7), the AVNM sets up the necessary communication paths between the caller and the callee required to establish the call. The AVNM then notifies the caller's Collaboration Initiator that the call has been established by sending it an accept event (8). If the caller and callee are at different sites, their AVNMs will coordinate in setting up the communication paths at both sites, as required by the call.
The AVNM may provide for managing connections among CMWs and other multimedia resources for audio/video/data communications in various ways. The manner employed in the preferred embodiment will next be described.
As has been described previously, the AVNM manages the switches in the A/V Switching Circuitry 30 in
Each port-to-port connection managed by the AVNM comprises two callhandles, one associated with each end of the connection. The callhandle at the client port of the connection permits the client to manage the client's end of the connection. The callhandle mode bits determine the current state of the callhandle and which of a port's four switch connections (video in, video out, audio in, audio out) are involved in a call.
AVNM clients send call requests to the AVNM whenever they want to initiate a call. As part of a call request, the client specifies the local service in which the call will be involved, the name of the specific port to use for the call, identifying information as to the callee, and the call mode. In response, the AVNM creates a callhandle on the caller's port.
All callhandles are created in the "idle" state. The AVNM then puts the caller's callhandle in the "active" state. The AVNM next creates a callhandle for the callee and sends it a call event, which places the callee's callhandle in the "ringing" state. When the callee accepts the call, its callhandle is placed in the "active" state, which results in a physical connection between the caller and the callee. Each port can have an arbitrary number of callhandles bound to it, but typically only one of these callhandles can be active at the same time.
After a call has been set up, AVNM clients can send requests to the AVNM to change the state of the call, which can advantageously be accomplished by controlling the callhandle states. For example, during a call, a call request from another party could arrive. This arrival could be signaled to the user by providing an alert indication in a dialogue box on the user's CMW screen. The user could refuse the call by clicking on a refuse button in the dialogue box, or by clicking on a "hold" button on the active call window to put the current call on hold and allow the incoming call to be accepted.
The placing of the currently active call on hold can advantageously be accomplished by changing the caller's callhandle from the active state to a "hold" state, which permits the caller to answer incoming calls or initiate new calls, without releasing the previous call. Since the connection set-up to the callee will be retained, a call on hold can conveniently be resumed by the caller clicking on a resume button on the active call window, which returns the corresponding callhandle back to the active state. Typically, multiple calls can be put on hold in this manner. As an aid in managing calls that are on hold, the CMW advantageously provides a hold list display, identifying these on-hold calls and (optionally) the length of time that each party is on hold. A corresponding face icon could be used to identify each on-hold call. In addition, buttons could be provided in this hold display which would allow the user to send a preprogrammed message to a party on hold. For example, this message could advise the callee when the call will be resumed, or could state that the call is being terminated and will be reinitiated at a later time.
Reference is now directed to
Conference Calls
Next to be described is the specific manner in which the preferred embodiment provides for multi-party conference calls (involving more than two participants). When a multi-party conference call is initiated, the CMW provides a screen that is similar to the screen for two-party calls, which displays a live video picture of the callee's image in a video window. However, for multi-party calls, the screen includes a video mosaic containing a live video picture of each of the conference participants (including the CMW user's own picture), as shown, for example, in
Multi-party conferencing requires all the mechanisms employed for 2-party calls. In addition, it requires the conference bridge manager CBM 64 (
The preferred embodiment provides two ways for initiating a conference call. The first way is to add one or more parties to an existing two-party call. For this purpose, an ADD button is provided by both the Collaboration Initiator and the Rolodex, as illustrated in
Another alternative embodiment is to initiate a conference call from the beginning by clicking on a CONFERENCE/MOSAIC icon/button/menu item on the CMW screen. This could initiate a conference call with the call initiator as the sole participant (i.e., causing a conference bridge to be allocated such that the caller's image also appears on his/her own screen in a video mosaic, which will also include images of subsequently added participants). New participants could be invited, for example, by selecting each new party's face icon and then clicking on the ADD button.
Next to be considered with reference to
Once the Collaboration Initiator determines that a conference is to be initiated, it queries the AVNM for a conference service. If such a service is available, the Collaboration Initiator requests the associated CBM to allocate a conference bridge. The Collaboration Initiator then places an audio/video call to the CBM to initiate the conference. When the CBM accepts the call, the AVNM couples port 101 of CMW WS-1 to lines 36-1 of conference bridge 36 by a connection 137 produced in response to callhandles created for port 101 of WS-1 and bridge port 136-1.
When the user of WS-1 selects the appropriate face icon and clicks the ADD button to invite a new participant to the conference, which will be assumed to be CMW WS-3, the Collaboration initiator on WS-1 sends an add request to the CBM. In response, the CBM calls WS-3 via WS-3 port 103. When CBM initiates the call, the AVNM creates callhandles for WS-3 port 103 and bridge port 136-2. When WS-3 accepts the call, its callhandle is made "active," resulting in connection 138 being provided to connect WS-3 and lines 136-2 of conference bridge 36. Assuming CMW WS-1 next adds CMW WS-5 and then CMW WS-8, callhandles for their respective ports and bridge ports 136-3 and 136-4 are created, in turn, as described above for WS-1 and WS-3, resulting in connections 139 and 140 being provided to connect WS-5 and WS-9 to conference bridge lines 36-3 and 36-4, respectively. The conferees WS-1, WS-3, WS-5 and WS-8 are thus coupled to conference bridge lines 136-1,136-2, 136-3 and 136-4, respectively as shown in
It will be understood that the video mosaicing circuitry 36 and audio mixing circuitry 38 incorporated in conference bridge 36 operate as previously described, to form a resulting four-picture mosaic (
The manner in which the CBM and the conference bridge 36 operate when conference participants are located at different sites will be evident from the previously described operation of the cut-and-paste circuitry 39 (
The situation in which a two-party call is converted to a conference call will next be considered in connection with
As shown in
Having described the preferred manner in which two-party calls and conference calls are set up in the preferred embodiment, the preferred manner in which data conferencing is provided between CMWs will next be described.
Data Conferencing
Data conferencing is implemented in the preferred embodiment by certain Snapshot Sharing software provided at the CMW (see
A participant may initiate data conferencing with selected participants (selected and added as described above for videoconference calls) by clicking on a SHARE button on the screen (available in the Rolodex or Collaboration Initiator windows, shown in
After the snapshot to be shared is displayed on all CMWs, each participant may telepoint on or annotate the snapshot, which actions and results are displayed on the CMW screens of all participants. This is preferably accomplished by monitoring the actions made at the CMW (e.g., by tracking mouse movements) and sending these "operating system commands" to the CMWs of the other participants, rather than continuously exchanging bitmaps, as would be the case with traditional "remote control" products.
As illustrated in
Rather than causing a new Share window to be created whenever a snapshot is shared, it is possible to replace the contents of an existing Share window with a new image. This can be achieved in either of two ways. First, the user can click on the GRAB button and then select a new window whose contents should replace the contents of the existing Share window. Second, the user can click on the REGRAB button to cause a (presumably modified) version of the original source window to replace the contents of the existing Share window. This is particularly useful when one participant desires to share a long document that cannot be displayed on the screen in its entirety or example, the user might display the first page of a spreadsheet on his screen, use the SHARE button to share that page, discuss and perhaps annotate it, then return to the spreadsheet application to position to the next page, use the REGRAB button to share the new page, and so on. This mechanism represents a simple, effective step toward application sharing.
Further, instead of sharing a snapshot of data on his current screen, a user may instead choose to share a snapshot that had previously been saved as a file. This is achieved via the LOAD button, which causes a dialogue box to appear, prompting the user to select a file. Conversely, via the SAVE button, any snapshot may be saved, with all current annotations.
The capabilities described above were carefully selected to be particularly effective in environments where the principal goal is to share existing information, rather than to create new information. In particular, user interfaces are designed to make snapshot capture, telepointing and annotation extremely easy to use. Nevertheless, it is also to be understood that, instead of sharing snapshots, a blank "whiteboard" can also be shared (via the WHITEBOARD button provided by the Rolodex, Collaboration Initiator, and active call windows), and that more complex paintbox capabilities could easily be added for application areas that require such capabilities.
As pointed out previously herein, important features of the present invention reside in the manner in which the capabilities and advantages of multimedia mail (MMM), multimedia conference recording (MMCR), and multimedia document management (MMDM) are tightly integrated with audio/video/data teleconferencing to provide a multimedia collaboration system that facilitates an unusually higher level of communication and collaboration between geographically dispersed users than has heretofore been achievable by known prior art systems.
Having already described various preferred embodiments and examples of audio/video/data teleconferencing, next to be considered are various preferred ways of integrating MMCR, MMM and MMDM with audio/video/data teleconferencing in accordance with the invention, or this purpose, basic preferred approaches and features of each will be considered along with preferred associated hardware and software.
Multimedia Documents
In the preferred embodiment, the creation, storage, retrieval and editing of multimedia documents serve as the basic element common to MMCR, MMM and MMDM. Accordingly, the preferred embodiment advantageously provides a universal format for multimedia documents. This format defines multimedia documents as a collection of individual components in multiple media combined with an overall structure and timing component that captures the identities, detailed dependencies, references to, and relationships among the various other components. The information provided by this structuring component forms the basis for spatial layout, order of presentation, hyperlinks, temporal synchronization, etc., with respect to the composition of a multimedia document
Each of the components of a multimedia document uses its own editors for creating, editing, and viewing. In addition, each component may use dedicated storage facilities. In the preferred embodiment, multimedia documents are advantageously structured for authoring, storage, playback and editing by storing some data under conventional file systems and some data in special-purpose storage servers as will be discussed later. The Conventional File System 504 can be used to store all non-time-sensitive portions of a multimedia document. In particular, the following are examples of non-time-sensitive data that can be stored in a conventional type of computer file system:
1. structured and unstructured text
2. raster images
3. structured graphics and vector graphics (e.g., PostScript)
4. references to files in other file systems (video, hi-fidelity audio, etc.) via pointers
5. restricted forms of executables
6. structure and timing information for all of the above (spatial layout, order of presentation, hyperlinks, temporal synchronization, etc.)
Of particular importance in multimedia documents is support for time-sensitive media and media that have synchronization requirements with other media components. Some of these time-sensitive media can be stored on conventional file systems while others may require special-purpose storage facilities.
Examples of time-sensitive media that can be stored on conventional file systems are small audio files and short or low-quality video clips (e.g as might be produced using QuickTime or Video for Windows). Other examples include window event lists as supported by the Window-Event Record and Play system 512 shown in
As described above in connection with collaborative workstation software, Snapshot Share 514 shown in
Some time-sensitive media require dedicated storage servers in order to satisfy real-time requirements. High-quality audio/video segments, for example, require dedicated real-time audio/video storage servers. A preferred embodiment of such a server will be described later. Next to be considered is how the current invention guarantees synchronization between different media components.
Media Synchronization
A preferred manner for providing multimedia synchronization in the preferred embodiment will next be considered. Only multimedia documents with real-time material need include synchronization functions and information. Synchronization for such situations may be provided as described below.
Audio or video segments can exist without being accompanied by the other. If audio and video are recorded simultaneously ("co-recorded"), the preferred embodiment allows the case where their streams are recorded and played back with automatic synchronization—as would result from conventional VCRs, laserdisks, or time-division multiplexed ("interleaved") audio/video streams. This excludes the need to tightly synchronize (i.e., "lip-sync") separate audio and video sequences. Rather, reliance is on the co-recording capability of the Real-Time Audio/Video Storage Server 502 to deliver all closely synchronized audio and video directly at its signal outputs.
Each recorded video sequence is tagged with time codes (e.g. SMPTE at 1/30 second intervals) or video frame numbers. Each recorded audio sequence is tagged with time codes (e.g., SMPTE or MIDI) or, if co-recorded with video, video frame numbers. The preferred embodiment also provides synchronization between window events and audio and/or video streams. The following functions are supported:
1. Media-time-driven Synchronization: synchronization of window events to an audio, video, or audio/video stream, using the real-time media as the timing source.
2. Machine-time-driven-Synchronization:
a. synchronization of window events to the system clock
b. synchronization of the start of an audio, video, or audio/video segment to the system clock
If no audio or video is involved, machine-time-driven synchronization is used throughout the document. Whenever audio and/or video is playing, media-time-synchronization is used. The system supports transition between machine-time and media-time synchronization whenever an audio/video segment is started or stopped.
As an example, viewing a multimedia document might proceed as follows:
Document starts with an annotated share (machine-time-driven synchronization).
Next, start audio only (a "voice annotation") as text and graphical annotations on the share continue (audio is timing source for window events).
Audio ends, but annotations continue (machine-time-driven synchronization).
Next, start co-recorded audio/video continuing with further annotations on same share (audio is timing source for window events).
Next, start a new share during the continuing audio/video recording; annotations happen on both shares (audio is timing source for window events).
Audio/video stops, annotations on both shares continue (machine-time-driven synchronization).
Document ends.
Audio/Video Storage
As described above, the present invention can include many special-purpose servers that provide storage of time-sensitive media (e.g. audio/video streams) and support coordination with other media. This section describes the preferred embodiment for audio/video storage and recording services.
Although storage and recording services could be provided at each CMW, it is preferable to employ a centralized server 502 coupled to MLAN 10, as illustrated in
1. The total amount of storage hardware required can be far less (due to better utilization resulting from statistical averaging).
2. Bulky and expensive compression/decompression hardware can be pooled on the storage servers and shared by multiple clients. As a result, fewer compression/decompression engines of higher performance are required than if each workstation were equipped with its own compression/decompression hardware.
3. Also, more costly centralized codecs can be used to transfer mail wide area among campuses at far lower costs than attempting to use data WAN technologies.
4. File system administration (e.g. backups and file system replication, etc.) are far less costly and higher performance.
The Real-Time Audio/Video Storage Server 502 shown in
At a high level, the centralized audio/video storage and playback server 502 in
1. File Management
It provides mechanisms for creating, naming, time-stamping, storing, retrieving copying, deleting, and playing back some or all portions of an audio/video file.
2. File Transfer and Replication
The audio/video file server supports replication of files on different disks managed by the same file server to facilitate simultaneous access to the same files. Moreover, file transfer facilities are provided to support transmission of audio/video files between itself and other audio/video storage and playback engines. File transfer can also be achieved by using the underlying audio/video network facilities: servers establish a real-time audio/video network connection between themselves so one server can "play back" a file while the second server simultaneously records it.
3. Disk Management
The storage facilities support specific disk allocation, garbage collection and defragmentation facilities. They also support mapping disks with other disks (for replication and staging modes, as appropriate) and mapping disks, via I/O equipment, with the appropriate Video/Audio network port.
4. Synchronization support
Synchronization between audio and video is ensured by the multiplexing scheme used by the storage media, typically by interleaving the audio and video streams in a time-division-multiplexed fashion. Further, if synchronization is required with other stored media (such as window system graphics), then frame numbers, time codes, or other timing events are generated by the storage server. An advantageous way of providing this synchronization in the preferred embodiment is to synchronize record and playback to received frame number or time code events.
5. Searching
To support intra-file searching, at least start, stop, pause, fast forward, reverse, and fast reverse operations are provided. To support inter-file searching, audio/video tagging, or more generalized "go-to" operations and mechanisms, such as frame numbers or time code, are supported at a search-function level.
6. Connection Management
The server handles requests for audio/video network connections from client programs (such as video viewers and editors running on client workstations) for real-time recording and real-time playback of audio/video files.
Next to be considered is how centralized audio/video storage servers provide for real-time recording and playback of video streams.
Real-Time Disk Delivery
To support real-time audio/video recording and playback, the storage server needs to provide a real-time transmission path between the storage medium and the appropriate audio/video network port for each simultaneous client accessing the server. For example, if one user is viewing a video file at the same time several other people are creating and storing new video files on the same disk, multiple simultaneous paths to the storage media are required. Similarly, video mail sent to large distribution groups, video databases, and similar functions may also require simultaneous access to the same video files, again imposing multiple access requirements on the video storage capabilities.
For storage servers that are based on computer-controlled VCRs or rewritable laserdisks, a real-time transmission path is readily available through the direct analog connection between the disk or tape and the network port. However, because of this single direct connection, each VCR or laserdisk can only be accessed by one client program at the same time (multi-head laserdisks are an exception). Therefore, storage servers based on VCRs and laserdisks are difficult to scale for multiple access usage. In the preferred embodiment, multiple access to the same material is provided by fie replication and staging, which greatly increases storage requirements and the need for moving information quickly among storage media units serving different users.
Video systems based on magnetic disks are more readily scalable for simultaneous use by multiple people. A generalized hardware implementation of such a scalable storage and playback system-502 is illustrated in
The bandwidth available for the transfer of files among disks is ultimately limited by the bandwidth of these intra-chassis and inter-chassis networking or systems that use sufficiently powerful video compression schemes. Real-time delivery requirements for a small number of users can be met by existing file system software (such as the Unix file system), provided that the block-size of the storage system is optimized for video storage and that sufficient buffering is provided by the operating system software to guarantee continuous flow of the audio/video data.
Special-purpose software/hardware solutions can be provided to guarantee higher performance under heavier usage or higher bandwidth conditions, for example, a higher throughput version of
Real-Time Network Delivery
By using the same audio/video format as used for audio/video teleconferencing, the audio/video storage system can leverage the previously described network facilities: the MLANs 10 can be used to establish a multimedia network connection between client workstations and the audio/video storage servers. Audio/Video editors and viewers running on the client workstation use the same software interfaces as the multimedia teleconferencing system to establish these network connections.
The resulting architecture is shown in
The present invention allows for alternative delivery strategies, for example, some compression algorithms are asymmetric, meaning that decompression requires much less compute power than compression. In some cases, real-time decompression can even be done in software, without requiring any special-purpose decompression hardware. As a result, there is no need to decompress stored audio and video on the storage server and play it back in realtime over the network. Instead, it can be more efficient to transfer an entire audio/video file from the storage server to the client workstation, cache it on the workstation's disk, and play it back locally. These observations lead to a modified architecture as presented in
To record video, clients set up real-time audio/video network connections to the storage server as before (this connection could make use of an analog line).
In response to a connection request, the storage server allocates a compression module to the new client.
As soon as the client starts recording, the storage server routes the output from the compression hardware to an audio/video file allocated on its local storage devices.
For playback, this audio/video file gets transferred over the data network to the client workstation and pre-staged on the workstation's local disk.
The client uses local decompression software and/or hardware to play back the audio/video on its local audio and video hardware.
This approach frees up audio/video network ports and compression/decompression engines on the server. As a result, the server is scaled to support a higher number of simultaneous recording sessions, thereby further reducing the cost of the system. Note that such an architecture can be part of a preferred embodiment for reasons other than compression/decompression asymmetry (such as the economics of the technology of the day, existing embedded base in the enterprise, etc.).
Multimedia Conference Recording
Multimedia conference recording (MMCR) will next be considered. For full-feature multimedia desktop calls and conferencing (e.g. audio/video calls or conferences with snapshot share), recording (storage) capabilities are preferably provided for audio and video of all parties, and also for all shared windows, including any telepointing and annotations provided during the teleconference. Using the multimedia synchronization facilities described above, these capabilities are provided in a way such that they can be replayed with accurate correspondence in time to the recorded audio and video, such as by synchronizing to frame numbers or time code events.
A preferred way of capturing audio and video from calls would be to record all calls and conferences as if they were multi-party conferences (even for two-party calls), using video mosaicing, audio mixing and cut-and-pasting, as previously described in connection with
The Conference Invoker 518 shown in
Multimedia Mail
Now considering multimedia mail (MMM), it will be understood that MMM adds to the above-described MMCR the capability of delivering delayed collaboration, as well as the additional ability to review the information multiple times and, as described hereinafter, to edit, re-send, and archive it. The captured information is preferably a superset of that captured during MMCR, except that no other user is involved and the user is given a chance to review and edit before sending the message.
The Multimedia Mail system 524 in
Multimedia Document Management
Multimedia document management (MMDM) provides long-term, high-volume storage for MMCR and MMM. The MMDM system assists in providing the following capabilities to a CMW user:
1. Multimedia documents can be authored as mail in the MMM system or as call/conference recordings in the MMCR system and then passed on to the MMDM system.
2. To the degree supported by external compatible multimedia editing and authoring systems, multimedia documents can also be authored by means other than MMM and MMCR.
3. Multimedia documents stored within the MMDM system can be reviewed and searched.
4. Multimedia documents stored within the MMDM system can be used as material in the creation of subsequent MMM.
5. Multimedia documents stored within the MMDM system can be edited to create other multimedia documents.
The Multimedia Document Management system 526 in
Classes of Collaboration
The resulting multimedia collaboration environment achieved by the above-described integration of audio/video/data teleconferencing, MMCR, MMM and MMDM is illustrated in
1. Same time, different place
Multimedia calls and conferences
2. Different time, same place
MMDM access to stored MMCR and MMM information, or use of MMM directly (i.e., copying mail to oneself)
3. Different time, different place
4. Same time, same place
Collaborative, face-to-face, multimedia document creation
By use of the same user interfaces and network functions, the present invention smoothly spans these three venus.
Remote Access to Expertise
In order to illustrate how the present invention may be implemented and operated, an exemplary preferred embodiment will be described having features applicable to the aforementioned scenario involving remote access to expertise. It is to be understood that this exemplary embodiment is merely illustrative, and is not to be considered as limiting the scope of the invention, since the invention may be adapted for other applications (such as in engineering and manufacturing) or uses having more or less hardware, software and operating features and combined in various ways.
Consider the following scenario involving access from remote sites to an in-house corporate "expert" in the trading of financial instruments such as in the securities market:
The focus of the scenario revolves around the activities of a trader who is a specialist in securities. The setting is the start of his day at his desk in a major financial center (NYC) at a major U.S. investment bank.
The Expert has been actively watching a particular security over the past week and upon his arrival into the office, he notices it is on the rise. Before going home last night, he previously set up his system to filter overnight news on a particular family of securities and a security within that family. He scans the filtered news and sees a story that may have a long-term impact on this security in question. He believes he needs to act now in order to get a good price on the security. Also, through filtered mail, he sees that his counterpart in London, who has also been watching this security, is interested in getting our Expert's opinion once he arrives at work.
The Expert issues a multimedia mail message on the security to the head of sales worldwide for use in working with their client base. Also among the recipients is an analyst in the research department and his counterpart in London. The Expert, in preparation for his previously established "on-call" office hours, consults with others within the corporation (using the videoconferencing and other collaborative techniques described above), accesses company records from his CMW, and analyzes such information, employing software-assisted analytic techniques. His office hours are now at hand, so he enters "intercom" mode, which enables incoming calls to appear automatically (without requiring the Expert to "answer his phone" and elect to accept or reject the call).
The Expert's computer beeps, indicating an incoming call, and the image of a field representative 201 and his client 202 who are located at a bank branch somewhere in the U.S. appears in video window 203 of the Expert's screen (shown in
Also illustrated on the Expert's screen in
Returning to the example, the Expert is now engaged in a videoconference with field representative 201 and his client 202. In the course of this videoconference, as illustrated in
After considering this information, reviewing the shared portfolio and asking clarifying questions, the Expert illustrates his advice by creating (using his own modeling software) and sharing a new graphical image 220 (
While discussing the Expert's advice, field representative 201 makes annotations 222 to image 220 in order to illustrate his concerns. While responding to the concerns of field representative 201, the Expert hears a beep and receives a visual notice (New Call window 223) on his screen (not visible to the field representative and his client), indicating the existence of a new incoming call and identifying the caller. At this point, the Expert can accept the new call (ACCEPT button), refuse the new call (REFUSE button, which will result in a message being displayed on the caller's screen indicating that the Expert is unavailable) or add the new caller to the Expert's existing call (ADD button). In this case, the Expert elects yet another option (not shown)—to defer the call and leave the caller a standard message that the Expert will call back in X minutes (in this case 1 minute). The Expert then elects also to defer his existing call, telling the field representative and his client that he will call them back in 5 minutes, and then elects to return the initial deferred call.
It should be noted that the Expert's act of deferring a call results not only in a message being sent to the caller, but also in the caller's name (and perhaps other information associated with the call, such as the time the call was deferred or is to be resumed) being displayed in a list 230 (see
Upon returning to the initial deferred call, the Expert engages in a videoconference with caller 231, a research analyst who is located 10 floors up from the Expert with a complex question regarding a particular security Caller 231 decides to add London expert 232 to the videoconference (via the ADD button in Collaboration Initiator window 204) to provide additional information regarding the factual history of the security. Upon selecting the ADD button, video window 203 now displays, as illustrated in
During this videoconference, an urgent PRIORITY request (New Call window 234) is received from the Expert's boss (who is engaged in a three-party videoconference call with two members of the bank's operations department and is attempting to add the Expert to that call to answer a quick question). The Expert puts his three-party videoconference on hold (merely by clicking the HOLD button in video window 203) and accepts (via the ACCEPT button of New Call window 234) the urgent call from his boss, which results in the Expert being added to the boss' three-party videoconference call.
As illustrated in
While that call was on hold, however, analyst 231 and London expert 232 were still engaged in a two-way videoconference (with a blackened portion of the video mosaic on their screens indicating that the Expert was on hold) and had shared and annotated a graphical image 250 (see annotations 251 to image 250 of
Before concluding his conference regarding the securities, the Expert receives notification of an incoming multimedia mail message—e.g., a beep accompanied by the appearance of an envelope 252 in the dog's mouth in In Box icon 205 shown in
He then reinitiates (by selecting deferred call indicator 230, shown in
As the Expert continues to provide advice and pricing information to field representative 201, he receives notification of three priority calls 261-263 in short succession Call 261 is the Head of Sales for the Chicago office. Working at home, she had instructed her CMW to alert her of all urgent news or messages, and was subsequently alerted to the arrival of the Expert's earlier multimedia mail message Call 262 is an urgent international call. Call 263 is from the Head of Sales in Los Angeles. The Expert quickly winds down and then concludes his call with field representative 201.
The Expert notes from call indicator 262 that this call is not only an international call (shown in the top portion of the New Call window), but he realizes it is from a laptop user in the field in Central Mexico. The Expert elects to prioritize his calls in the following manner: 262, 261 and 263. He therefore quickly answers call 261 (by clicking on its ACCEPT button) and puts that call on hold while deferring call 263 in the manner discussed above. He then proceeds to accept the call identified by international call indicator 262.
Note in
It is important to note that, despite the limited capabilities of the wireless laptop equipment, the present invention accommodates such capabilities, supplementing an audio telephone connection with limited (i.e., relatively slow) one-way video and data conferencing functionality. As telephony and video compression technologies improve, the present invention will accommodate such improvements automatically. Moreover, even with one participant to a teleconference having limited capabilities, other participants need not be reduced to this "lowest common denominator." For example, additional participants could be added to the call illustrated in
As his day evolved, the off-site salesperson 272 in Mexico was notified by his manager through the laptop about a new security and became convinced that his client would have particular interest in this issue. The salesperson therefore decided to contact the Expert as shown in
The salesperson 272 also needs the Expert s help on another issue. He has hard copy only of a client's portfolio and needs some advice on its composition before he meets with the client tomorrow. He says he will fax it to the Expert for analysis Upon receiving the fax on his CMW, via computer-integrated fax the Expert asks if he should either send the Mexican caller a "QuickTime" movie (a lower quality compressed video standard from Apple Computer) on his laptop tonight or send a higher-quality CD via FedX tomorrow—the notion being that the Expert can produce an actual video presentation with models and annotations in video form. The salesperson can then play it to his client tomorrow afternoon and it will be as if the Expert is in the room. The Mexican caller decides he would prefer the CD.
Continuing with this scenario, the Expert learns, in the course of his call with remote laptop caller 272, that he missed an important issue during his previous quick scan of his incoming multimedia mail message. The Expert is upset that the sender of the message did not utilize the "video highlight" feature to highlight this aspect of the message. This feature permits the composer of the message to define "tags" (e.g., by clicking a TAG button, not shown) during record time which are stored with the message along with a "time stamp," and which cause a predefined or selectable audio and/or visual indicator to be played/displayed at that precise point in the message during playback.
Because this issue relates to the caller that the Expert has on hold, the Expert decides to merge the two calls together by adding the call on hold to his existing call. As noted above, both the Expert and the previously held caller will have full video capabilities vis-a-vis one another and will see a three-way mosaic image (with the image of caller 272 at a slower frame rate), whereas caller 272 will have access only to the audio portion of this three-way conference call, though he will have data conferencing functionality with both of the other participants.
The Expert forwards the multimedia mail message to both caller 272 and the other participant, and all three of them review the video enclosure in greater detail and discuss the concern raised by caller 272. They share certain relevant data as described above and realize that they need to ask a quick question of another remote expert. They add that expert to the call (resulting in the addition of a fourth image to the video mosaic, also not shown) for less than a minute while they obtain a quick answer to their question. They then continue their three-way call until the Expert provides his advice and then adjourns the call.
The Expert composes a new multimedia mail message, recording his image and audio synchronized (as described above) to the screen displays resulting from his simultaneous interaction with his CMW (e.g., running a program that performs certain calculations and displays a graph while the Expert illustrates certain points by telepointing on the screen, during which time his image and spoken words are also captured). He sends this message to a number of salesforce recipients whose identities are determined automatically by an outgoing mail filter that utilizes a database of information on each potential recipient (e.g., selecting only those whose clients have investment policies which allow this type of investment).
The Expert then receives an audio and visual reminder (not shown) that a particular video feed (e.g., a short segment of a financial cable television show featuring new financial instruments) will be triggered automatically in a few minutes. He uses this time to search his local securities database, which is dynamically updated from financial information feeds (e.g., prepared from a broadcast textual stream of current financial events with indexed headers that automatically applies data filters to select incoming events relating to certain securities). The video feed is then displayed on the Expert's screen and he watches this short video segment.
After analyzing this extremely up-to-date information, the Expert then reinitiates his previously deferred call, from indicator 271 shown in
The Expert then receives an audio and visual reminder on his screen indicating that his office hours will end in two minutes. He switches from "intercom" mode to "telephone" mode so that he will no longer be disturbed without an opportunity to reject incoming calls via the New Call window described above. He then receives and accepts a final call concerning an issue from an electronic meeting several months ago, which was recorded in its entirety.
The Expert accesses this recorded meeting from his "corporate memory." He searches the recorded meeting (which appears in a second video window on his screen as would a live meeting, along with standard controls for stop/play/rewind/fast forward/etc.) for an event that will trigger his memory using his fast forward controls, but cannot locate the desired portion of the meeting. He then elects to search the ASCII text log (which was automatically extracted in the background after the meeting had been recorded, using the latest voice recognition techniques), but still cannot locate the desired portion of the meeting. Finally, he applies an information filter to perform a content-oriented (rather than literal) search and finds the portion of the meeting he was seeking. After quickly reviewing this short portion of the previously recorded meeting, the Expert responds to the caller's question, adjourns the call and concludes his office hours.
It should be noted that the above scenario involves many state-of-the-art desktop tools (e.g., video and information feeds, information filtering and voice recognition) that can be leveraged by our Expert during videoconferencing, data conferencing and other collaborative activities provided by the present invention—because this invention, instead of providing a dedicated videoconferencing system, provides a desktop multimedia collaboration system that integrates into the Expert's existing workstation/LAN/WAN environment.
It should also be noted that all of the preceding collaborative activities in this scenario took place during a relatively short portion of the expert's day (e.g., less than an hour of cumulative time) while the Expert remained in his office and continued to utilize the tools and information available from his desktop. Prior to this invention, such a scenario would not have been possible because many of these activities could have taken place only with face-to-face collaboration, which in many circumstances is not feasible or economical and which thus may well have resulted in a loss of the associated business opportunities.
Although the present invention has been described in connection with particular preferred embodiments and examples, it is to be understood that many modifications and variations can be made in hardware, software, operation, uses, protocols and data formats without departing from the scope to which the inventions disclosed herein are entitled. For example, for certain applications, it will be useful to provide some or all of the audio/video signals in digital form. Accordingly, the present invention is to be considered as including all apparatus and methods encompassed by the appended claims.
1. A content storage and communication system comprising:
- at least one local network at a physical premises;
- at least one audio-video storage device in communication with the local network and configured for storing at least one media file, the media file including at least video;
- at least a first client device in communication with the local network, the system configured to
- enable a user of the first client device to communicate with a wide area network;
- enable access of the at least one media file stored on the audio-video storage device; and
- enable playback of media associated with the accessed media file.
2. The system of claim 1, further configured to support go-to operations including at least one of a group consisting of a frame-number based operation and a time-code based operation.
3. The system of claim 1, further configured to enable the user of the first client device to cause:
- storage of at least one media file at a remote storage device at a second physical premises that is in communication with a wide area network, the media file including at least video;
- access to the media file stored at the remote storage device; and
- playback, at the first physical premises, of media associated with the media file accessed from the remote storage device.
4. The system of claim 1, further configured to enable the user of the first client device to communicate with a user of a second client device, wherein the second client device is in communication with a wide area network, the system further being configured to enable the user of the second client device to cause:
- access to the media file stored at the audio-video storage device, and
- playback of media associated with the accessed media file.
5. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one multimedia resource at a second physical premises in communication with a wide area network, the local network being in communication with the wide area network, wherein the system is further configured to allow access to the multimedia resource for playback, at the first physical premises, of media associated with the multimedia resource.
6. The system of claim 5, further configured to cause:
- buffering of a flow of data associated with a media file from the multimedia resource, and
- playback of data associated with the media file.
7. The system of claim 1, further configured for wireless communication.
8. The system of claim 1, further configured to enable the user of the first client device to operate on the play backed media using at least one operation from a group consisting of start, stop, pause, fast forward, reverse, and fast reverse operations.
9. The system of claim 1, further configured to enable the use of at least one communication type selected from a group consisting of video conferencing, mail, and video mail for communication between the user of the first client device and the user of the second client device.
10. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one storage facility in communication with the local network, the storage facility configured to store at least one of pointers and hyperlinks to media files in a plurality of file systems.
11. The system of claim 1, further configured to
- enable simultaneous multiple access to at least one media file stored at the audio-video storage device, and
- cause multiple playbacks of media associated with the accessed media file.
12. A networking system comprising:
- at least one local network;
- at least a first client device in communication with the local network;
- at least one storage device in communication with the local network, the storage device being configured for storing at least one media file, the media file including time-sensitive components and time-insensitive components;
- wherein the system is configured to
- enable a user of the first client device to communicate with a wide area network;
- enable retrieval of the at least one media file stored on the storage device; and
- enable playback of media associated with the accessed media file.
13. The system of claim 12, further configured to enable the user of the first client device to operate on the played back media using at least one operation from a group consisting of start, stop, pause, fast forward, reverse, and fast reverse operations.
14. The system of claim 12, further configured to support go-to operations including at least one of a group consisting of a frame-number based operation and a time-code based operation.
15. The system of claim 12, further configured to enable the user of the first client device to cause:
- storage of at least one media file at an audio-video storage device that is in communication with a wide area network, the media file including at least video; and
- access to the media file stored at the audio-video storage device; and
- playback of media associated with data from the media file accessed from the audio-video storage device.
16. The system of claim 12, further configured to enable a user of the first client device to communicate with a user of a second client device, wherein the second client device is in communication with a wide area network, the system further being configured to enable the user of the second client device to cause:
- access to the media file stored at the storage device, and
- playback of media associated with data of the media file accessed from the storage device.
17. The system of claim 12, further comprising at least one multimedia resource in communication with a wide area network, the local network being in communication with the wide area network.
18. The system of claim 12, further configured for wireless communication.
19. The system of claim 18, further configured to enable the use of at least one communication type selected from a group consisting of video conferencing, mail, and video mail for communication between the user of the first client device and the user of the second client device.
20. The system of claim 12, further comprising at least one storage facility in communication with the local network, the storage facility configured to store at least one of pointers and hyperlinks to media files in a plurality of file systems.
Type: Application
Filed: Apr 19, 2007
Publication Date: Jul 19, 2007
Patent Grant number: 7730132
Applicant: COLLABORATION PROPERTIES, INC. (San Mateo, CA)
Inventors: Lester Ludwig (Belmont, CA), J. Lauwers (Menlo Park, CA), Keith Lantz (Los Altos, CA), Gerald Burnett (Atherton, CA), Emmett Burns (Jackson, WY)
Application Number: 11/737,723
International Classification: G06F 15/16 (20060101);


text:
Are you weighing your options regarding signing on with adult online sex dating sites? Perhaps you are but are wondering if this experience is really for you. Honestly, when you take time out to wonder if you are taking the right steps, you are doing yourself a great service.
Sites that revolve around adult online sex dating are not exactly "PG rated" in nature. As such, it can be understandable that you might have some apprehensions about signing on with such a site.
But, do not dismiss you intentions out of hand. Rather than do this, it might be better to just keep a few things in mind prior to signing on with such a dating site. Here are some of the things you should keep in mind:
Try to keep your identity a secret if you are worried about anyone finding out you signed on with an amorous site. This is pretty to do. Just do not provide any telling personal info or hints of personal info on your profile. You would also want to block out your facial image on any photos. If you do not worry about hiding your identity, you probably would not have to worry about this. Those that do should take the advice herein. It can make the entire experience less of a worry for you.
And speaking of photos, try to make yourself look upbeat and positive in the photos. Sure, a few alluring photos can be a positive. But, it also does not hurt to add a few upbeat and lighthearted photos to the mix as well. They can definitely enhance your chances of impressing someone perusing your profile.
Do not make your profile too adult oriented. Some may scoff at the notion that the profiles on adult online sex dating sites should not be explicit. Honestly, you can devise your profile in any manner you wish. However, it would be to your benefit that you crafted a profile that was not going to undermine the cause. An explicit profile may scare off those potentially interested in you. And yes, this can even happen on adult online sex dating sites.
Does the site offer audio or video capabilities? Placing a pre-recording message on the profile can be a big help. Again, as long as you are not worried about safeguarding your identity, such means of communicating with browsers can prove to be a huge help.
When in doubt, always ask for advice. Sometimes, the customer service department of the adult online sex dating service may be willing to provide a helpful critique of your profile. This could prove to be a huge help to those that may not be sure if their profile is a quality one.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
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