Formatting Views of Whiteboards in Conjunction with Presenters

Abstract

A videoconferencing endpoint determines if there is a whiteboard and if a presenter is near the whiteboard. If there is no whiteboard in view or the presenter is not near the whiteboard, any content from a camera focused on the whiteboard is continued and any presenter framing is done normally. If the presenter is in front of the whiteboard, any whiteboard content is ended, and appropriate portions of the whiteboard are included in the main video stream framed with the presenter. If the whiteboard is empty, framing is done without reference to the whiteboard. If the whiteboard is full or has writing away from the presenter, the entire whiteboard and the presenter are framed together. If the whiteboard only has writing near the presenter, only the relevant portion of the whiteboard is framed with the presenter.

1 . A method of presenting a talker and a whiteboard to a far end of a videoconference, the near end environment containing the talker, the whiteboard and at least one video camera for providing a video stream to the far end, the at least one video camera having both the talker and the whiteboard within its field of view, the method comprising:
 receiving at least one video stream containing both the talker and the whiteboard;   determining the presence of the talker near the whiteboard; and   when the talker is near the whiteboard, framing the talker and the whiteboard together for provision to the far end.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining the presence of writing on the whiteboard, and   wherein framing the talker and the whiteboard together is performed only when there is writing on the whiteboard.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein determining the presence of writing on the whiteboard includes determining that the writing only partially fills the whiteboard and the writing is adjacent to the talker, and
 wherein framing the talker and the whiteboard together frames the talker and only the portion of the whiteboard adjacent to the talker containing the writing when the writing only partially fills the whiteboard and the writing is adjacent to the talker.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein determining the presence of writing on the whiteboard includes determining that the writing fills the whiteboard, and
 wherein framing the talker and the whiteboard together frames the talker and the entire whiteboard when the determining the presence of writing on the whiteboard determines that the writing fills the whiteboard.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , the near end environment further containing a camera for providing a view of the whiteboard as content in the videoconference, the method further comprising:
 discontinuing provision of the whiteboard as content when the talker and the whiteboard are framed together.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising:
 continuing provision of the whiteboard as content when the talker is not near the whiteboard.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining the presence of the talker near the whiteboard includes:
 detecting regions of interest in the at least one video stream; and   determining if a region of interest is a whiteboard.   
     
     
         8 . A videoconference endpoint for use in a near end environment containing a talker, an interactive group presentation device and at least one video camera for providing a video stream to a far end videoconference endpoint, the at least one video camera having both the talker and the interactive group presentation device within its field of view, comprising:
 a processor;   a network interface coupled to the processor for connection to a far end videoconference endpoint;   a camera interface coupled to the processor for receiving at least one video stream having both the talker and the interactive group presentation device;   a video output interface coupled to the processor for providing a video stream to a display for presentation; and   memory coupled to the processor for storing instructions executed by the processor to perform the operations of:
 receiving at least one video stream containing both the talker and the interactive group presentation device; 
 determining the presence of the talker near the interactive group presentation device; and 
 when the talker is near the interactive group presentation device, framing the talker and the interactive group presentation device together for provision to the far end. 
   
     
     
         9 . The videoconference endpoint of  claim 8 , the memory further storing instructions executed by the processor to perform the operations of:
 determining the presence of information on the interactive group presentation device, and   wherein framing the talker and the interactive group presentation device together is performed only when there is information on the interactive group presentation device.   
     
     
         10 . The videoconference endpoint of  claim 9 , wherein determining the presence of information on the interactive group presentation device includes determining that the information only partially fills the interactive group presentation device and the information is adjacent to the talker, and
 wherein framing the talker and the interactive group presentation device together frames the talker and only the portion of the interactive group presentation device adjacent to the talker containing the information when the information only partially fills the interactive group presentation device and the information is adjacent to the talker.   
     
     
         11 . The videoconference endpoint of  claim 9 , wherein determining the presence of information on the interactive group presentation device includes determining that the information fills the interactive group presentation device, and
 wherein framing the talker and the interactive group presentation device together frames the talker and the entire interactive group presentation device when the determining the presence of information on the interactive group presentation device determines that the information fills the interactive group presentation device.   
     
     
         12 . The videoconference endpoint of  claim 8 , the near end environment further containing a camera for providing a view of the interactive group presentation device as content in the videoconference, the memory further storing instructions executed by the processor to perform the operations of:
 discontinuing provision of the interactive group presentation device as content when the talker and the interactive group presentation device are framed together.   
     
     
         13 . The videoconference endpoint of  claim 12 , the memory further storing instructions executed by the processor to perform the operations of:
 continuing provision of the interactive group presentation device as content when the talker is not near the interactive group presentation device.   
     
     
         14 . The videoconference endpoint of  claim 8 , wherein determining the presence of the talker near the interactive group presentation device includes:
 detecting regions of interest in the at least one video stream; and   determining if a region of interest is an interactive group presentation device.   
     
     
         15 . A non-transitory processor readable memory containing instructions that when executed cause a processor or processors to perform the following method of framing a talker, the near end environment containing a talker, a whiteboard and at least one video camera for providing a video stream to a far end, the at least one video camera having both the talker and the whiteboard within its field of view, the method comprising:
 receiving at least one video stream containing both the talker and the whiteboard;   determining the presence of the talker near the whiteboard; and   when the talker is near the whiteboard, framing the talker and the whiteboard together for provision to the far end.   
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory processor readable memory of  claim 15 , the method further comprising:
 determining the presence of writing on the whiteboard, and   wherein framing the talker and the whiteboard together is performed only when there is writing on the whiteboard.   
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory processor readable memory of  claim 16 , wherein determining the presence of writing on the whiteboard includes determining that the writing only partially fills the whiteboard and the writing is adjacent to the talker, and
 wherein framing the talker and the whiteboard together frames the talker and only the portion of the whiteboard adjacent to the talker containing the writing when the writing only partially fills the whiteboard and the writing is adjacent to the talker.   
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory processor readable memory of  claim 16 , wherein determining the presence of writing on the whiteboard includes determining that the writing fills the whiteboard, and
 wherein framing the talker and the whiteboard together frames the talker and the entire whiteboard when the determining the presence of writing on the whiteboard determines that the writing fills the whiteboard.   
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory processor readable memory of  claim 15 , the near end environment further containing a camera for providing a view of the whiteboard as content in the videoconference, the method further comprising:
 discontinuing provision of the whiteboard as content when the talker and the whiteboard are framed together.   
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory processor readable memory of  claim 19 , the method further comprising:
 continuing provision of the whiteboard as content when the talker is not near the whiteboard.