Patent · US Expired

Speaker identifier for multi-party conference

US6457043B1 · kind B1 · utility

161Cited by
15References
26Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateOct 23, 1998
Grant dateSep 24, 2002
Priority date
Expiry dateOct 23, 2018

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04M2203/5081
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A multi-party conferencing method and system determine which participants are currently speaking and send a speaker identification message to the terminals used by the participants in the conference. The terminals then display the speaker's identity on a display screen. When more than one participant is speaking at the same moment in time, the system analyzes the audio streams from the terminals and identifies a terminal associated with a dominant party. When multiple participants are using the terminal associated with the dominant party, the system identifies the speaking participant within the dominant party based on an indication received from the speaker. In one embodiment, the invention is implemented in an H.323 Internet telephony environment.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.