EP0634857A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Multimedia communication terminal
Assignee: International Business Machines Corp
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Filing: 1994-06-14
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2014-06-14
Abstract
Abstract The present invention relates a communication terminal for the synchronisation of audio and visual information within a communication system. Audio communication between the parties to a video conference is achieved by digitising the speech and transmitting the same over a packet based data network. Each party to the conference can draw the attention of the other party to an object on the screen using a pointer controlled by, say, a mouse or ball. The co-ordinates of each parties' pointer are incorporated, via a multiplexer, into the data packets containing the digitised speech and transmitted to the other party's terminal thereby ensuring the synchronisation the pointer information with the digitised speech.
Inventors
- 👤 Keith Robert Barraclough
- 👤 Adrian Charles Gay
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-26 12:18
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N21/00; H04N21/20; H04N21/23; H04N21/236; H04N21/2368; H04L; H04L12/00; H04L12/02; H04L12/16; H04L12/18; H04L12/1813; H04M; H04M3/00; H04M3/42; H04M3/56; H04M3/567; H04N21/23614; H04N21/40; H04N21/43; H04N21/4302; H04N21/4307; H04N21/43072; H04N21/434; H04N21/4341; H04N21/4348; H04N7/00; H04N7/14; H04N7/15; H04L12/64
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 14
Claim 1
Independent Claim
106 words
A transmitting communication terminal comprising display means, means (320) for generating digital audio data units, an input means, means (330) responsive to said input means for generating pointer location data units and means (340) for transmitting a data packet over a packet based data network (180) to a remote terminal (350), said terminal being characterised by means for presenting to a multiplexer (310) said digital audio and pointer location data units; and means (310) for multiplexing said presented digital audio and pointer location data units into the same data packet thereby forming a composite data packet (400) for transmission over said packet based data network (180).
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
145 words
A receiving communication terminal comprising display means and being characterised by means (340) for receiving over a packet based data network (180) from a remote terminal (350) a composite data packet (400) comprising multiplexed digital audio and pointer location data units; means (310) for demultiplexing said received composite data packet (400) into separate digital audio and pointer location data units; means for presenting said demultiplexed pointer location and digital audio data units to said display means and a speech synthesis means (320) respectively; means for utilising said presented pointer location and digital audio data units to display a pointer reflecting the current location of a pointer on the display means of said remote terminal (350) and to generate speech via said speech synthesis means (320) thereby substantially synchronising the display of said pointer with the output of said digital audio from said remote terminal (350).
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
236 words
A communication terminal comprising display means, means (320) for generating digital audio data units, an input means, means (330) responsive to said input means for generating pointer location data units and means (340) for transmitting a data packet over a packet based data network (180) to a remote terminal, said terminal being characterised by means for presenting to a multiplexer (310) said digital audio and pointer location data units; and means (310) for multiplexing said presented digital audio and pointer location data units into the same data packet thereby forming a composite data packet (400) for transmission over said packet based data network (180), means (340) for receiving over said packet based data network (180) from said remote terminal a composite data packet (400) comprising multiplexed digital audio and pointer location data units; means (310) for demultiplexing said received composite data packet (400) into separate digital audio and pointer location data units; means for presenting said demultiplexed pointer location and digital audio data units to said display means and a speech synthesis means (320) respectively; and means for utilising said presented pointer location and digital audio data units to display a pointer reflecting the current location of a pointer on the display means of said remote terminal and to generate speech via said speech synthesis means (320) thereby substantially synchronising the display of said pointer with the output of said digital audio from said remote terminal.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
23 words
A terminal as claimed in any preceding claim wherein said digitised audio and pointer location data units are taken from continuous data streams.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
18 words
A terminal as claimed in any preceding claim wherein said multiplexing means (310) is responsive to speech detection.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
81 words
A terminal as claimed in any of claims 2, 3, 4 or 5 wherein said means for utilising said presented pointer location and digital audio data units to display a pointer reflecting the current location of a pointer on the display means of said remote terminal and to generate speech via said speech synthesis means (320) further comprises means for loading said demultiplexed data units into appropriate registers within output devices and latching said data units utilising a common control signal.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
32 words
A video conferencing system comprising a transmitting communication terminal as claimed in claim 1 connected via a communication medium to a receiving communication terminal as claimed in claim 2 for communication therebetween.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
22 words
A video conferencing system comprising a plurality of communication terminals as claimed in 3 connected via a communication medium for communication therebetween.
Claim 9
Independent Claim
89 words
A method of communicating sound and associated pointer information comprising the steps of generating digitised audio data units from the sound to be transmitted, generating pointer location data units representing the physical location of a pointer, said method being characterised by the steps of presenting to a multiplexer (310) said digital audio and pointer location data units; and multiplexing said presented digital audio and pointer location data units into the same data packet thereby forming a composite data packet (400) for transmission over a packet based data network (180).
Claim 10
Independent Claim
160 words
A method of communicating sound and associated pointer information, said method being characterised by the steps of receiving over a packet based data network (180) from a remote terminal (350) a composite data packet comprising multiplexed digital audio representing sound transmitted from said remote terminal (350) and pointer location data units representing the physical location of a pointer on said remote terminal (350); demultiplexing said received composite data packet into separate digital audio and pointer location data units; presenting said demultiplexed pointer location and digital audio data units to said display means and a speech synthesis means (320) respectively; and utilising said presented pointer location and digital audio data units to display a pointer reflecting the current location of a pointer on the display means of said remote terminal (350) and to generate speech via said speech synthesis means (320) thereby substantially synchronising the display of said pointer with the output of said digital audio from said remote terminal (350).
Claim 11
Independent Claim
212 words
A method of communicating sound and associated pointer information comprising the steps of generating digitised audio data units from the sound to be transmitted, generating pointer location data units representing the physical location of a pointer, said method being characterised by the steps of presenting to a multiplexer (310) said digital audio and pointer location data units; and multiplexing said presented digital audio and pointer location data units into the same data packet thereby forming a composite data packet (400) for transmission over a packet based data network (180), receiving over said packet based data network (180) from a remote terminal a composite data packet (400) comprising multiplexed digital audio and pointer location data units; demultiplexing said received composite data packet (400) into separate digital audio and pointer location data units; presenting said demultiplexed pointer location and digital audio data units to said display means and a speech synthesis means (320) respectively; and utilising said presented pointer location and digital audio data units to display a pointer reflecting the current location of a pointer on the display means of said remote terminal and to generate speech via said speech synthesis means (320) thereby substantially synchronising the display of said pointer with the output of said digital audio from said remote terminal (350).
Claim 12
Independent Claim
34 words
A method of communicating sound and associated pointer information as claimed in any of claims 9, 10 or 11 wherein said digitised audio and pointer location data units are taken from continuous data streams.
Claim 13
Independent Claim
28 words
A method of communicating sound and associated pointer information as claimed in any of claims 9, 10, 11 or 12 wherein said multiplexing is responsive to speech detection.
Claim 14
Independent Claim
47 words
A method of communicating sound and associated pointer information as claimed in any of claims 10, 11, 12, 13 or 14 further comprising the step of loading said demultiplexed data units into appropriate registers within output devices and latching said data units utilising a common control signal.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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