Unified communication based multi-screen video system
A multiple screen telepresence style video conferencing experience is provided employing generic hardware and intelligent software, which may be based on existing enhanced communication systems such as unified communication systems. Through a component based approach, the system can be deployed in any conference room, assembled on the spot by an untrained user, flexible to accommodate any number of screens.
1. A method executed at least in part in a computing device for providing telepresence multi-screen video conferencing, the method comprising:
discovering multi-screen applications executed on clients in an enhanced communication system;
receiving a master client election;
registering clients of discovered multi-screen applications through communication applications executed on the clients;
in response to receiving a telepresence call, establishing an audio/video communication channel through the communication application; and
if the call includes data sharing, establishing a data sharing channel through the communication application.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
displaying a video screen for communicating with another participant and a data screen for at least one of application sharing and system control.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
discovering other multi-screen applications through one of: manual setup and programmatic discovery via topology aware Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the multi-screen applications include telepresence logic, system management controls, and a user interface controller for multi-screen video conferencing operations.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein a client elected as master establishes an initial video conference and directs other clients to connect to the video conference.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the client elected as master establishes one or more multi-screen video conferences through a telepresence Multipoint Control Unit (MCU) and employs a data MCU of the enhanced communication system to construct telepresence topology.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein interoperation between two or more systems is accomplished through negotiating telepresence topology of the systems.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
employing an internal audio mixer to generate spatial audio output based on audio input from participating clients.
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
employing an external audio mixer to mitigate at least one of local and distributed echo.
10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
employing an intelligent cameras with at least one from a set of: pan, tilt, zoom, and exposure control capabilities to enhance video quality in each unit.
11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
expanding the multi-screen video system by adding a computing device with a camera, an audio input device, an audio output device, a communication application, and a multi-screen application as client to the enhanced communication system.
12. A computing device capable of providing telepresence multi-screen video conferencing within an enhanced communication system, the computing device comprising:
a camera;
an audio input device;
an audio output device;
a memory; and
a processor executing a multi-screen application and a multimodal communication application, where in the processor is configured to:
discover multi-screen applications executed on other computing devices in the enhanced communication system;
receive a master unit election;
register as a conference room through the communication application;
in response to receiving a telepresence call from another computing device, establish an audio/video communication channel through the communication application;
if the call includes data sharing, establish a data sharing channel through the communication application; and
display a video screen for communicating with another participant and a data screen for at least one of application sharing and system control.
13. The computing device of claim 12 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
for peer-to-peer calls set up the initial call through the multi-screen application and enable other computing devices to connect; and
for multi-party calls set up multiple conferences through a telepresence Multipoint Control Unit (MCU) and construct a telepresence topology through a data MCU.
14. The computing system of claim 12 , wherein an audio/video MCU and the data MCU of the enhanced communication system are employed to set up the conferences.
15. The computing device of claim 12 , wherein the multi-screen application is adapted to provide one or more video screens for communicating with other participants and a data screen for at least one of: data sharing applications and system management controls.
16. The computing device of claim 12 , wherein the camera is a high definition (HD) capable camera with at least one from a set of: pan, tilt, zoom, and exposure control capabilities.
17. The computing device of claim 12 , wherein the audio input device is capable of capturing spatial audio.
18. A computer-readable storage medium with instructions stored thereon for providing telepresence multi-screen video conferencing within an enhanced communication system, the instructions comprising:
discovering multi-screen applications executed on computing devices in the enhanced communication system;
receiving a master unit election for one of the multi-screen applications;
registering discovered computing devices through corresponding communication applications executed on each computing device;
in response to receiving a telepresence call at a computing device executing the master multi-video application, establishing an audio/video communication channel through the communication application of the same computing device;
if the call includes data sharing, establishing a data sharing channel through the communication application of the same computing device; and
displaying a video screen for communicating with another participant and a data screen for at least one of application sharing and system control on each computing device.
19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the instructions further comprise:
if the enhanced communication system includes a telepresence Multipoint Control Unit (MCU), establishing a multi-party conference as a plurality of conferences through the telepresence MCU, and constructing a telepresence topology through one of more data MCUs of the enhanced communication system.
20. The computer-readable medium of claim 18 , wherein communication application is configured to provide ancillary services comprising at least one from a set of: interaction with scheduling applications, contact list management, and presence-based services.