Potential echo detection and warning for online meeting

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10079866-B2
Application number	US-201615265952-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 15, 2016
Priority date	Sep 15, 2016
Publication date	Sep 18, 2018
Grant date	Sep 18, 2018

Abstract

In one embodiment, a conferencing device detects a potential echo effect between two or more of a plurality of participant devices in an online conference the two or more participant devices being co-located. The conferencing device presents an echo warning to a user interface of a particular one of the co-located participant devices, in response to detecting the potential echo effect. The conferencing device groups the co-located participant devices into a group. The conferencing device provides audio data from a selected one of the co-located participant devices in the group for presentation by the plurality of participant devices as part of the online conference.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
detecting, by a conferencing device, a potential echo effect between two or more of a plurality of participant devices in an online conference due to the two or more participant devices being co-located;
presenting, by the conferencing device, an echo warning to a user interface of a particular one of the co-located participant devices, in response to detecting the potential echo effect;
grouping, by the conferencing device, the co-located participant devices into a group; and
providing, by the conferencing device, audio data from a selected one of the co-located participant devices in the group for presentation by the plurality of participant devices as part of the online conference.

2. The method as in claim 1 , further comprising:
providing, by the conferencing device, audio data from at least two of the co-located participant devices to the plurality of participant devices as part of the online conference, in response to an indication from the user interface that a user wishes to ignore the echo warning.

3. The method as in claim 1 , wherein detecting the potential echo effect comprises:
receiving a notification from a first one of the co-located participant devices that an audio sound emitted by a second one of the co-located participant devices was detected by the first co-located participant device.

4. The method as in claim 3 , wherein the second co-located participant device emitted the audio sound in response to joining the online conference.

5. The method as in claim 1 , wherein detecting the potential echo effect comprises:
receiving, at the conferencing device, location information for the co-located participant devices.

6. The method as in claim 1 , further comprising:
preventing, by the conferencing device, audio data from at least one of the co-located participant devices in the group from being provided to the participant devices in the online conference.

7. The method as in claim 1 , further comprising:
providing, by the conferencing device, an indication to the user interface that the selected participant device in the group is acting as a sole source of audio for the group in the online conference.

8. An apparatus, comprising:
one or more network interfaces to communicate with a network;
a processor coupled to the network interfaces and configured to execute one or more processes; and
a memory configured to store a process executable by the processor, the process when executed operable to:
detect a potential echo effect between two or more of a plurality of participant devices in an online conference due to the two or more participant devices being co-located;
present an echo warning to a user interface of a particular one of the co-located participant devices, in response to detecting the potential echo effect;
group the co-located participant devices into a group; and
provide audio data from a selected one of the co-located participant devices in the group for presentation by the plurality of participant devices as part of the online conference.

9. The apparatus as in claim 8 , wherein the process when executed is further operable to:
provide audio data from at least two of the co-located participant devices to the plurality of participant devices as part of the online conference, in response to an indication from the user interface that a user wishes to ignore the echo warning.

10. The apparatus as in claim 8 , wherein the apparatus detects the potential echo effect by:
receiving a notification from a first one of the co-located participant devices that an audio sound emitted by a second one of the co-located participant devices was detected by the first co-located participant device.

11. The apparatus as in claim 10 , wherein the second co-located participant device emitted the audio sound in response to joining the online conference.

12. The apparatus as in claim 8 , wherein the apparatus detects the potential echo effect by:
receiving location information for the co-located participant devices.

13. The apparatus as in claim 8 , wherein the process when executed is further operable to: prevent audio data from at least one of the co-located participant devices in the group from being provided to the participant devices in the online conference.

14. The apparatus as in claim 8 , wherein the process when executed is further operable to:
provide an indication to the user interface that that the selected participant device in the group is acting as a sole source of audio for the group in the online conference.

15. A tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing program instructions that cause a conferencing device to execute a process comprising:
detecting, by the conferencing device, a potential echo effect between two or more of a plurality of participant devices in an online conference due to the two or more participant devices being co-located;
presenting, by the conferencing device, an echo warning to a user interface of a particular one of the co-located participant devices, in response to detecting the potential echo effect;
grouping, by the conferencing device, the co-located participant devices into a group; and
providing, by the conferencing device, audio data from a selected one of the co-located participant devices in the group for presentation by the plurality of participant devices as part of the online conference.

16. The computer-readable medium as in claim 15 , wherein the process further comprises:
providing, by the conferencing device, audio data from at least two of the co-located participant devices to the plurality of participant devices as part of the online conference, in response to an indication from the user interface that a user wishes to ignore the echo warning.

17. The computer-readable medium as in claim 15 , wherein detecting the potential echo effect comprises:
receiving a notification from a first one of the co-located participant devices that an audio sound emitted by a second one of the co-located participant devices was detected by the first co-located participant device.

18. The computer-readable medium as in claim 17 , wherein the second co-located participant device emitted the audio sound in response to joining the online conference.

19. The computer-readable medium as in claim 15 , wherein the process further comprises:
preventing, by the conferencing device, audio data from at least one of the co-located participant devices in the group from being provided to the participant devices in the online conference.

20. The computer-readable medium as in claim 15 , wherein the process further comprises:
providing, by the conferencing device, an indication to the user interface that the selected participant device in the group is acting as a sole source of audio for the group in the online conference.

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Fang Jianbin
• Yang Mingfeng
• Xi Yasi

Classifications

• H04L12/1822

  Conducting the conference, e.g. admission, detection, selection or grouping of participants, correlating users to one or more conference sessions, prioritising transmission · CPC title

• H04L65/403 Primary

  Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences (data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15) · CPC title

• H04L67/10

  in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network (software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46) · CPC title

• H04L65/80

  Responding to QoS · CPC title

• G10L21/0216

  characterised by the method used for estimating noise · CPC title