Telepresence system

Abstract

A telepresence communication system for group meeting rooms and personal home and office systems provides improved human factor experience through substantially life size images with eye level camera placement. The system provides switched presence interfaces so that conferees can select when to transmit their images during a conference and optionally provides individual microphones for each of conferee. Switched presence between presets of conferees are viewed on multipoint windows overlaying life-size images upon eye contact camera regions and eliminate seeing camera image movement during pan, tilt and zoom operations. An ambient light rejecting filter system enables an eye level camera to be hidden behind a projection screen and provides bright, high contrast images under normal meeting room and office environments. A telepresence organizational enablement system brings all the features of a corporate office complex and its social and organizational benefits, into a virtual community eliminating the need to centralize employees.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A telepresence system for connecting a plurality of local conferees with a distant conferee, the system comprising:
 a local telepresence terminal, having a first codec for encoding video and audio of the plurality local conferees and decoding video and audio of the distant conferee, a first image display for producing an image of the distant conferee, a first microphone to capture the voice of the local conferees, a first speaker to produce the voice of the distant conferee, a first video camera capturing an image of the local conferees;   a plurality of personal control interfaces one for each of the plurality local conferees, the interfaces each associated with activating a selection of a single local conferee image, captured by the first camera, among the plurality of local conferees, thereby switching image capturing between the selection of each of the plurality of local conferees; and   a table of which the plurality of local conferees are sitting at, the personal control interfaces mounted to a table so that each of the plurality of local conferees can easily access their interface.   
     
     
         2 . The telepresence system of system of  claim 1  wherein the plurality of personal control interfaces are mounted to the table extending beyond a table edge. 
     
     
         3 . The telepresence system of  claim 1  wherein activating the selection is at least one of manually and voice. 
     
     
         4 . A telepresence system for connecting a local conferee with a distant conferee, the system comprising:
 a local telepresence terminal, having a first codec for encoding video and audio of the local conferee and decoding video and audio of the distant conferee, a first image display for producing an image of the distant conferee, a first microphone to capture the voice of the local conferee, a first speaker to produce the voice of the distant conferee, a first video camera capturing an image of the local conferee;   a microphone housing of which the microphone is contained; and   a table of which the local conferee is sitting at, the microphone housing mounted to the table extending beyond a table edge so that the microphone captures the voice of the local conferee.   
     
     
         5 . The telepresence system of system of  claim 4  wherein at least one of a microphone audio signal cable and a microphone power cable is located under the table and thereby not obstructing a working surface of the table. 
     
     
         6 . A telepresence system for connecting a plurality of local conferees with a distant conferee, the system comprising:
 a local telepresence terminal, having a first codec for encoding video and audio of the plurality local conferees and decoding video and audio of the distant conferee, a first image display for producing an image of the distant conferee, a first microphone to capture the voice of the local conferees, a first speaker to produce the voice of the distant conferee, a first video camera capturing an image of the local conferees;   a plurality of personal control interfaces one for each of the plurality local conferees, the interfaces each associated with activating a selection of a single local conferee image, captured by the first camera, among the plurality of local conferees, thereby switching image capturing between the selection of each of the plurality of local conferees;   a plurality of infra red transmitters one for each of the plurality of personal control interfaces, the transmitters transmitting the selection upon the activation of the interface; and   an infra red receiver connected to at least one of the first camera and the first codec, for receiving the transmitted selection.   
     
     
         7 . The telepresence system of  claim 6  wherein activating the selection is at least one of manually and voice. 
     
     
         8 . A telepresence system for connecting a plurality of local conferees with a distant conferee, the system comprising:
 a local telepresence terminal, having a first codec for encoding video and audio of the plurality local conferees and decoding video and audio of the distant conferee, a first image display for producing an image of the distant conferee, a first microphone to capture the voice of the local conferees, a first speaker to produce the voice of the distant conferee, a first video camera capturing an image of the local conferees;   a plurality of camera preset positions activated by at least one of voice activation and manually;   a motorized camera adjustment system for at least one of panning, tilting and zooming the camera and engaged upon the activation of one of the plurality of camera preset positions; and   a freeze frame system so when one of the plurality of camera presets is activated the camera image is frozen while the motorized camera adjustment system is engaged.   
     
     
         9 . The telepresence system of  claim 8  wherein the plurality of camera presets are activated by at least one of manually and voice. 
     
     
         10 . A telepresence system for connecting a plurality of local conferees with a distant conferee, the system comprising:
 a local telepresence terminal, having a first codec for encoding video and audio of the plurality local conferees and decoding video and audio of the distant conferee, a first image display for producing an image of the distant conferee, a first microphone to capture the voice of the local conferees, a first speaker to produce the voice of the distant conferee, a first video camera and a second video camera capturing an image of the local conferees;   a plurality of camera preset positions activated by at least one of voice activation and manually;   a motorized camera adjustment system for at least one of panning, tilting and zooming the first and second cameras and engaged upon the activation of one of the plurality of camera preset positions; and   an alternating switch system so that when a single camera preset is activated an outgoing video signal switches from the first camera to the second camera and alternating back and forth   
     
     
         11 . The telepresence system of  claim 10  wherein local conferees look into the eyes of the distant conferee in the image and the camera captures an image from a perspective of those eyes in that image. 
     
     
         12 . The telepresence system of  claim 10  wherein the outgoing video signal dissolves when switched between the first and second video cameras.