Defining active zones in a traditional multi-party video conference and associating metadata with each zone
A conference system provides metadata about the display of a multimedia stream to allow communication endpoints to control the format of a video conference. A multipoint control unit (MCU) can provide metadata that describes the display layout and other information about the multimedia stream. After setting up the conference, the MCU can generate a layout description in eXstensible Markup Language (XML) that can be sent to and understood by the communication endpoints. The communication endpoints can read and interpret the XML metadata to determine how the display layout is configured. If desired by the user, the communication endpoint can change the display layout or other multimedia stream function based on the received metadata.
1. A non-transient computer program product including computer executable instructions stored onto a computer readable medium which, when executed by a processor of a computer, causes the computer to perform a method for changing a display of a video conference, the instructions comprising:
instructions to receive a single multimedia stream, wherein the single multimedia stream is associated with the video conference, and wherein the video conference has a first display format for display of the video conference;
instructions to receive metadata associated with the single multimedia stream;
instructions to determine a new configuration for a second display of the video conference, wherein the new configuration is to mute a selected participant in the single multimedia stream, wherein muting the selected participant in the single multimedia stream causes the selected participant's video to be collapsed into an icon or thumbnail;
instructions to configure the second display; and
instructions to provide the second display for the video conference in the single multimedia stream.
2. The computer program product as defined in claim 1 , wherein the metadata includes configuration information for the first display.
3. The computer program product as defined in claim 2 , wherein the configuration information includes a description of the first display format.
4. The computer program product as defined in claim 3 , wherein the description includes a master layout of a first conference display and participant metadata.
5. The computer program product as defined in claim 4 , wherein the participant metadata describes a zone within the conference display.
6. The computer program product as defined in claim 4 , wherein the master layout includes at least one of a conference identifier, a vector describing the size of the video conference display, a number of participants, and a property.
7. The computer program product as defined in claim 6 , wherein the property can include at least one of frames per second, sharpness, or contrast.
8. The computer program product as defined in claim 7 , wherein the property is the same for the zone and at least one other zone.
9. A method for changing a display of a video conference, comprising:
a multipoint control unit (MCU) receiving at least two uplinked multimedia streams from at least two communication endpoints;
the MCU creating a downlink multimedia stream from the at least two uplinked multimedia streams, wherein the downlink multimedia stream is associated with a video conference, and wherein the video conference has a first display format for display of the video conference;
the MCU generating metadata about the downlink multimedia stream;
the MCU sending the metadata associated with the downlink multimedia stream to the at least two communication endpoints;
the MCU sending the downlink multimedia stream to the at least two communication endpoints;
the MCU receiving, from a first communication endpoint of the at least two communication endpoints, a request to change the first display format to a second display format, wherein the request to change the first display format to the second display format is based on a request to mute a selected participant in the downlink multimedia stream, wherein muting the selected participant in the downlink multimedia stream causes the selected participant's video to be collapsed into an icon or thumbnail;
reconfiguring the downlink stream to provide second display format to the first communication endpoint;
the MCU generating second metadata about the reconfigured downlink multimedia stream;
the MCU sending the second metadata associated with the multimedia stream to the first communication endpoint; and
the MCU sending the reconfigured downlink multimedia stream to the first communication endpoint.
10. The method as defined in claim 9 , wherein the request is an (Extensible Markup Language) XML document.
11. The method as defined in claim 10 , wherein the XML document includes changes to the first display format.
12. The method as defined in claim 9 , wherein a second communication endpoint does not receive the reconfigured downlink multimedia stream.
13. The method as defined in claim 12 , wherein a third communication endpoint receives a third downlink multimedia stream having a third display format.
14. A communication system, comprising:
a first communication endpoint;
a multipoint control unit (MCU) in communication with the first communication endpoint, the first MCU comprising:
a memory;
a processor in communication with the memory, the processor operable to execute:
a conference engine operable to conduct a conference with the first communication endpoint;
a layout builder module operable to determine a first display format for the conference and receive, from the first communication endpoint, a request to change the first display format for the conference to a second display format for the conference, wherein the request to change the first display format for the conference to the second display format for the conference is based on a request to mute a selected participant in the conference, wherein muting the selected participant in the conference causes the selected participant's video to be collapsed into an icon or thumbnail;
an XML engine operable to create metadata associated with the first display format; and
a metadata interface operable to send the metadata to the first communication endpoint.
15. The communication system as defined in claim 14 , further comprising an uplink/downlink interface operable to send a downlink multimedia stream to the first communication endpoint, wherein the downlink multimedia stream includes multimedia data for the conference.
16. The communication system as defined in claim 15 , wherein the metadata describes the downlink multimedia stream.
17. The communication system as defined in claim 16 , wherein the first communication endpoint comprises:
an interface operable to receive at least one of the metadata or the downlink multimedia stream; and
an XML editor operable to interpret the metadata; and
a rendering engine operable to reconfigure the first display format, based on the metadata.
18. The communication system as defined in claim 17 , wherein the first communication endpoint further comprises a requester operable to send a XML request to the MCU to change the first display format for the first communication endpoint.
19. The computer program product as defined in claim 1 , further comprising instructions to modify a remote zone of a second selected participant in the single multimedia stream, wherein modifying the remote zone of the second selected participant in the single multimedia stream comprises adding at least one of: a menu to initiate a side bar conference, a history of past interactions of the video conference, a calendar related to the video conference, and an email related to the video conference.