Systems and methods for enhancing teleconferencing collaboration

Abstract

An advanced video teleconferencing system facilitates an engaging and realistic video conferencing experience. Key design elements and video, audio, and control capabilities are provided for a video conferencing experience that cannot be attained with conventional methods, which elements and capabilities include careful design of the table and room at each site, supplementary displays showing imagery in a mirrored manner, networked environmental control, an AutoDirector with keyword and gesture recognition, and audio reflection from a display or beam splitter.

1 . An auto director apparatus comprising:
 means for recognizing and reacting to gestures made by participants in a teleconference either to compute gaze direction or to determine therefrom a focus of attention at a teleconference site;   wherein gaze direction or focus of attention is considered in selecting an appropriate signal for transmission.   
     
     
         2 . An auto director apparatus, operating at a local conference site, for emulating behavior of a human video director during a video teleconference between a plurality of conference sites, comprising any of:
 means for automatically selecting, from among one or more local video camera feeds and other local video inputs, an outbound video signal for transmission to remote video conferencing sites;   means for automatically selecting, from among one or more inbound video signals received from remote sites, a primary video signal for display on a primary display at said local conference site; and   means for automatically selecting, from among said plurality of local video camera feeds, said local video inputs, and said inbound video signals, one or more supplementary video signals for display on one or more supplementary displays,   wherein at least one of said means for automatically selecting responds to both of audio signals obtained from one or more microphones at one or more conference sites and to content of said audio signals.   
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein at least one of said means for automatically selecting comprises means for detecting one or more of a plurality of keywords stored in a database. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 3 , wherein said keywords comprise a name of a participant in said teleconference and any of said outbound video signal, said inbound video signal, and said supplementary video signals comprises a video feed displaying said participant. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein said content comprises any of:
 verbal cues inherently present within a conversation, and predefined, explicit verbal commands.