Patent Application
20130097333
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to communication systems. More specifically, embodiments of the present disclosure relate to methods and apparatuses for streaming unified communication systems.
A goal of unified communication is to enable users to reach and collaborate more timely with remote and mobile co-workers, decision makers, and customers, which improves productivity and efficiency and results in better communication and faster decision-making. Unified Communication creates the opportunity to experience these benefits through the integration of real-time communications services including: Video & Audio Conferencing, Scheduling, Whiteboards, Presence/IM, Unified Messaging, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), peer-to-peer voice, and PSTN termination/origination.
Today, unified communications is a vibrant technology, yet it is mired in a fragmented ecosystem. The goal of a seamless company-to-company communications (inter-domain federation), as well as that within a company (intra-domain federation), from one vendor's equipment to another remains elusive. To fully realize the opportunity that exists for Unified Communication, inter-vendor interoperability must be addressed within the industry.
Various unified communication vendors have their historical roots in different aspects of communications (e.g. telephony, video, devices, etc.) and are struggling to remain relevant in the unified communication era where few vendors provide an end-to-end solution. Even those vendors that offer a full suite of unified communication products, find that their customers have existing investments in a range of vendor equipment within their technology portfolios.
In the following description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings in which is shown, by way of illustration, specific embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiments are intended to describe aspects of the disclosure in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention. Other embodiments may be utilized and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the disclosure. The following detailed description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims.
Furthermore, specific implementations shown and described are only examples and should not be construed as the only way to implement or partition the present disclosure into functional elements unless specified otherwise herein. It will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the various embodiments of the present disclosure may be practiced by numerous other partitioning solutions.
In the following description, elements, circuits, and functions may be shown in block diagram form in order not to obscure the present disclosure in unnecessary detail. Additionally, block definitions and partitioning of logic between various blocks is exemplary of a specific implementation. It will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the present disclosure may be practiced by numerous other partitioning solutions. Those of ordinary skill in the art would understand that information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof. Some drawings may illustrate signals as a single signal for clarity of presentation and description. It will be understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art that the signal may represent a bus of signals, wherein the bus may have a variety of bit widths and the present disclosure may be implemented on any number of data signals including a single data signal.
The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented or performed with a general-purpose processor, a special-purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A general-purpose processor may be considered a special-purpose processor while the general-purpose processor is configured to execute instructions (e.g., software code) stored on a computer-readable medium. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, such as a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.
In addition, it is noted that the embodiments may be described in terms of a process that may be depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, a structure diagram, or a block diagram. Although a process may describe operational acts as a sequential process, many of these acts can be performed in another sequence, in parallel, or substantially concurrently. In addition, the order of the acts may be rearranged.
Elements described herein may include multiple instances of the same element. These elements may be generically indicated by a numerical designator (e.g. 110) and specifically indicated by the numerical indicator followed by an alphabetic designator (e.g., 110A) or a numeric indicator preceded by a “dash” (e.g., 110-1). For ease of following the description, for the most part element number indicators begin with the number of the drawing on which the elements are introduced or most fully discussed. For example, where feasible elements in
It should be understood that any reference to an element herein using a designation such as “first,” “second,” and so forth does not limit the quantity or order of those elements, unless such limitation is explicitly stated. Rather, these designations may be used herein as a convenient method of distinguishing between two or more elements or instances of an element. Thus, a reference to first and second elements does not mean that only two elements may be employed or that the first element must precede the second element in some manner. In addition, unless stated otherwise, a set of elements may comprise one or more elements.
Headings may be included herein to aid in locating certain sections of detailed description. These headings should not be considered to limit the scope of the concepts described under any specific heading. Furthermore, concepts described in any specific heading are generally applicable in other sections throughout the entire specification.
This disclosure may reference the terms, “Converge ProStream” and “Converge ProCOM,” which has been employed by the inventors as project titles for at least some of the subject matter of this disclosure. The terms, “Converge ProStream,” and “Converge ProCOM” may also generally refer to a communication system and related terms, as shown in the drawings and described herein and the term “Converge Pro” is used generically to refer to “Converge ProStream” and “Converge ProCOM”. Therefore, “Converge Pro,” “Converge ProStream” and “Converge ProCOM” should not be interpreted to have any meaning or functionality not related to what is described herein through the various examples.
Unified communication implementations present similar functionality and user experiences yet the underlying technologies are diverse, supporting multiple protocols that include: XMPP; SIMPLE for IM/P; H.323, SIP, XMPP/Jingle for Voice & Video. Additionally, there are disparate protocols for Data Conferencing Multiple Codec's used for voice and video: e.g., G.711/729, H.263/264, etc. Finally, there are many proprietary media stack implementations addressing IP packet loss, jitter and latency in different ways.
Unified communications (UC) is the integration of real-time communication services such as instant messaging (chat), presence information, telephony (including IP telephony), video conferencing, call control and speech recognition with non-real-time communication services such as unified messaging (integrated voicemail, e-mail, SMS and fax). UC is not a single product, but a set of products that provides a consistent unified user interface and user experience across multiple devices and media types.
UC also refers to a trend to offer Business process integration, i.e. to simplify and integrate all forms of communications in view to optimize business processes and reduce the response time, manage flows, and eliminate device and media dependencies.
UC allows an individual to send a message on one medium and receive the same communication on another medium. For example, one can receive a voicemail message and choose to access it through e-mail or a cell phone. If the sender is online according to the presence information and currently accepts calls, the response can be sent immediately through text chat or video call. Otherwise, it may be sent as a non real-time message that can be accessed through a variety of media.
UC is an evolving communications technology architecture which automates and unifies many forms of human and device communications in context, and with a common experience. Its purpose is to optimize business processes and enhance human communications by reducing latency, managing flows, and eliminating device and media dependencies.
Unified communications represents a concept where multiple modes of business communications can be seamlessly integrated. Unified communications is not a single product but rather a solution which consists of various elements, including (but not limited to) the following: call control and multimodal communications, presence, instant messaging, unified messaging, speech access and personal assistant, conferencing, collaboration tools, mobility, business process integration (BPI) and a software solution to enable business process integration.
The term of “presence” is also a factor—knowing where one's intended recipients are and if they are available, in real time—and is itself an notable component of unified communications. To put it simply, unified communications integrates all the systems that a user might already be using and helps those systems work together in real time. For example, unified communications technology could allow a user to seamlessly collaborate with another person on a project, even if the two users are in separate locations. The user could quickly locate the desired person by accessing an interactive directory, engage in a text messaging session, and then escalate the session to a voice call, or even a video call—all within minutes. In another example, an employee receives a call from a customer who wants answers. Unified communications could enable that worker to access a real-time list of available expert colleagues, then make a call that would reach the desired person, enabling the employee to answer the customer faster, and eliminating rounds of back-and-forth emails and phone-tag.
The examples in the previous paragraph primarily describe “personal productivity” enhancements that tend to benefit the individual user. While such benefits can be important, enterprises are finding that they can achieve even greater impact by using unified communications capabilities to transform business processes. This is achieved by integrating UC functionality directly into the business applications using development tools provided by many of the suppliers. Instead of the individual user invoking the UC functionality to, say, find an appropriate resource, the workflow or process application automatically identifies the resource at the point in the business activity where one is needed.
When used in this manner, the concept of presence often changes. Most people associate presence with instant messaging (IM “buddy lists”) the status of individuals is identified. But, in many business process applications, what is useful is finding someone with a certain skill. In these environments, presence will identify available skills or capabilities.
This “business process” approach to integrating UC functionality can result in bottom line benefits that are an order of magnitude greater than those achievable by personal productivity methods alone.
Given the sophistication of unified communications technology, its uses are myriad for businesses. It enables users to know where their colleagues are physically located (say, their car or home office). They also have the ability to see which mode of communication the recipient prefers to use at any given time (perhaps their cell phone, or email, or instant messaging). A user could seamlessly set up a real-time collaboration on a document they are producing with a co-worker, or, in a retail setting, a worker might do a price-check on a product using a hand-held device and need to consult with a co-worker based on a customer inquiry. With unified communications, instant messaging and presence could be built into the price check application, and the problem could be resolved in moments.
SIP
The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is an IETF-defined signaling protocol, widely used for controlling multimedia communication sessions such as voice and video calls over Internet Protocol (IP). The protocol can be used for creating, modifying and terminating two-party (unicast) or multiparty (multicast) sessions consisting of one or several media streams. The modification can involve changing addresses or ports, inviting more participants, and adding or deleting media streams. Other feasible application examples include video conferencing, streaming multimedia distribution, instant messaging, presence information, file transfer and online games.
The SIP protocol is an Application Layer protocol designed to be independent of the underlying transport layer; it can run on Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), or Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP). [2] It is a text-based protocol, incorporating many elements of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). SIP employs design elements similar to the HTTP request/response transaction model.
Each transaction consists of a client request that invokes a particular method or function on the server and at least one response. SIP reuses most of the header fields, encoding rules and status codes of HTTP, providing a readable text-based format.
SIP works in concert with several other protocols and is only involved in the signaling portion of a communication session. SIP clients typically use TCP or UDP on port numbers 5060 and/or 5061 to connect to SIP servers and other SIP endpoints. Port 5060 is commonly used for non-encrypted signaling traffic whereas port 5061 is typically used for traffic encrypted with Transport Layer Security (TLS). SIP is primarily used in setting up and tearing down voice or video calls. It has also found applications in messaging applications, such as instant messaging, and event subscription and notification. There are a large number of SIP-related Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) documents that define behavior for such applications. The voice and video stream communications in SIP applications are carried over another application protocol, the Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP). Parameters (port numbers, protocols, codecs) for these media streams are defined and negotiated using the Session Description Protocol (SDP) which is transported in the SIP packet body.
A motivating goal for SIP was to provide a signaling and call setup protocol for IP-based communications that can support a superset of the call processing functions and features present in the public switched telephone network (PSTN). SIP by itself does not define these features; rather, its focus is call-setup and signaling. However, it was designed to enable the construction of functionalities of network elements designated proxy servers and user agents. These are features that permit familiar telephone-like operations: dialing a number, causing a phone to ring, hearing ringback tones or a busy signal. Implementation and terminology are different in the SIP world but to the end-user, the behavior is similar.
SIP-enabled telephony networks can also implement many of the more advanced call processing features present in Signaling System 7 (SS7), though the two protocols themselves are very different. SS7 is a centralized protocol, characterized by a complex central network architecture and dumb endpoints (traditional telephone handsets). SIP is a peer-to-peer protocol, thus it requires only a simple (and thus scalable) core network with intelligence distributed to the network edge, embedded in endpoints (terminating devices built in either hardware or software). SIP features are implemented in the communicating endpoints (i.e. at the edge of the network) contrary to traditional SS7 features, which are implemented in the network.
Although several other Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) signaling protocols exist, SIP is distinguished by its proponents for having roots in the IP community rather than the telecommunications industry. SIP has been standardized and governed primarily by the IETF, while other protocols, such as H.323, have traditionally been associated with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
A SIP user agent (UA) is a logical network end-point used to create or receive SIP messages and thereby manage a SIP session. A SIP UA can perform the role of a User Agent Client (UAC), which sends SIP requests, and the User Agent Server (UAS), which receives the requests and returns a SIP response. These roles of UAC and UAS only last for the duration of a SIP transaction.
A SIP phone is a SIP user agent that provides the traditional call functions of a telephone, such as dial, answer, reject, hold/unhold, and call transfer.
SIP phones may be implemented by dedicated hardware controlled by the phone application directly or through an embedded operating system (hardware SIP phone) or as a softphone, a software application that is installed on a personal computer or a mobile device, e.g., a personal digital assistant (PDA) or cell phone with IP connectivity. As vendors increasingly implement SIP as a standard telephony platform, often driven by 4G efforts, the distinction between hardware-based and software-based SIP phones is being blurred and SIP elements are implemented in the basic firmware functions of many IP-capable devices. Examples are devices from Nokia and Research in Motion.
Each resource of a SIP network, such as a User Agent or a voicemail box, is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), based on the general standard syntax also used in Web services and e-mail. A typical SIP URI is of the form: sip:username:password@host:port. The URI scheme used for SIP is sip: If secure transmission is required, the scheme sips: is used and SIP messages must be transported over Transport Layer Security (TLS).
In SIP, as in HTTP, the user agent may identify itself using a message header field ‘User-Agent’, containing a text description of the software/hardware/product involved. The User-Agent field is sent in request messages, which means that the receiving SIP server can see this information. SIP network elements sometimes store this information, and it can be useful in diagnosing SIP compatibility problems.
SIP also defines server network elements. Although two SIP endpoints can communicate without any intervening SIP infrastructure, which is why the protocol is described as peer-to-peer, this approach is often impractical for a public service.
RFC 3261 defines these server elements:
Other SIP related network elements are Session border controllers (SBC), they serve as middle boxes between UA and SIP server for various types of functions, including network topology hiding, and assistance in NAT traversal.
Various types of gateways or bridges at the edge between a SIP network and other networks (as a phone network).
SIP Messages
SIP is a text-based protocol with syntax similar to that of HTTP. There are two different types of SIP messages: requests and responses. The first line of a request has a method, defining the nature of the request, and a Request-URI, indicating where the request should be sent.
The first line of a response has a response code.
For SIP requests, RFC 3261 defines the following methods:
The SIP response types defined in RFC 3261 fall in one of the following categories:
SIP Transactions
SIP makes use of transactions to control the exchanges between participants and deliver messages reliably. The transactions maintain an internal state and make use of timers. Client Transactions send requests and Server Transactions respond to those requests with one-or-more responses. The responses may include zero-or-more Provisional (1xx) responses and one-or-more final (2xx-6xx) responses.
Transactions are further categorized as either Invite or Non-Invite. Invite transactions differ in that they can establish a long-running conversation, referred to as a Dialog in SIP, and so include an acknowledgment (ACK) of any non-failing final response (e.g. 200 OK).
Because of these transactional mechanisms, SIP can make use of un-reliable transports such as User Datagram Protocol (UDP).
If we take the above example, User 1's UAC uses an Invite Client Transaction to send the initial INVITE (1) message. If no response is received after a timer controlled wait period the UAC may have chosen to terminate the transaction or retransmit the INVITE. However, once a response was received, User1 was confident the INVITE was delivered reliably. User1's UAC then must acknowledge the response. On delivery of the ACK (2) both sides of the transaction are complete. And in this case, a Dialog may have been established.
IM and Presence
The Session Initiation Protocol for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions (SIMPLE) is the SIP-based suite of standards for instant messaging and presence information. MSRP (Message Session Relay Protocol) allows instant message sessions and file transfer.
Many VoIP phone companies allow customers to use their own SIP devices, as SIP-capable telephone sets, or softphones. The market for consumer SIP devices continues to expand, there are many devices such as SIP Terminal Adapters, SIP Gateways etc.
The free software community started to provide more and more of the SIP technology required to build both end points as well as proxy and registrar servers leading to a commoditization of the technology, which accelerates global adoption. As an example, the open source community at SIPfoundry actively develops a variety of SIP stacks, client applications and SDKs, in addition to entire private branch exchange (IP PBX) solutions that compete in the market against mostly proprietary IP PBX implementations from established vendors.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Advanced Networking Technologies Division provides a public domain implementation of the JAVA Standard for SIP JAIN-SIP which serves as a reference implementation for the standard. The stack can work in proxy server or user agent scenarios and has been used in numerous commercial and research projects. It supports RFC 3261 in full and a number of extension RFCs including RFC 3265.
SIP-enabled video surveillance cameras can make calls to alert the owner or operator that an event has occurred, for example to notify that motion has been detected out-of-hours in a protected area.
Other protocols used in the UC Bridge are H.264 SVC (Scalable Video Coding) is a compression standard that enables video conferencing systems to achieve highly error resilient IP video transmission over the public Internet without quality of service enhanced lines. This standard has enabled wide scale deployment of high definition desktop video conferencing and made possible new architectures which reduce latency between transmitting source and receiver, resulting in fluid communication without pauses.
In addition, an attractive factor for IP videoconferencing is that it is easier to set-up for use with a live videoconferencing call along with web conferencing for use in data collaboration. These combined technologies enable users to have a much richer multimedia environment for live meetings, collaboration and presentations.
Today, most vendors provide some but not all Unified Communication products or services and have expertise in different areas of the communications. The result is a fragmented marketplace.
As non-limiting examples, the communications apparatus 100 may be a conferencing apparatus, a user-type computer, a file server, a compute server, a notebook computer, a tablet, a handheld device, a mobile device, or other similar computer system for executing software.
The one or more processors 110 may be configured for executing a wide variety of applications including the computing instructions for carrying out embodiments of the present disclosure.
The memory 120 may be used to hold computing instructions, data, and other information for performing a wide variety of tasks including performing embodiments of the present disclosure. By way of example, and not limitation, the memory 120 may include Synchronous Random Access Memory (SRAM), Dynamic RAM (DRAM), Read-Only Memory (ROM), Flash memory, and the like.
Information related to the communication apparatus 100 may be presented to, and received from, a user with one or more user interface elements 130. As non-limiting examples, the user interface elements 130 may include elements such as displays, keyboards, mice, joysticks, haptic devices, microphones, speakers, cameras, and touchscreens.
The communication elements 150 may be configured for communicating with other devices or communication networks. As non-limiting examples, the communication elements 150 may include elements for communicating on wired and wireless communication media, such as for example, serial ports, parallel ports, Ethernet connections, universal serial bus (USB) connections IEEE 1394 (“firewire”) connections, Bluetooth wireless connections, 802.1 a/b/g/n type wireless connections, and other suitable communication interfaces and protocols.
The storage 140 may be used for storing relatively large amounts of non-volatile information for use in the computing system 100 and may be configured as one or more storage devices. By way of example, and not limitation, these storage devices may include computer-readable media (CRM). This CRM may include, but is not limited to, magnetic and optical storage devices such as disk drives, magnetic tapes, CDs (compact disks), DVDs (digital versatile discs or digital video discs), and other equivalent storage devices.
Software processes illustrated herein are intended to illustrate representative processes that may be performed by the systems illustrated herein. Unless specified otherwise, the order in which the process acts are described is not intended to be construed as a limitation, and acts described as occurring sequentially may occur in a different sequence, or in one or more parallel process streams. It will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that many steps and processes may occur in addition to those outlined in flow charts. Furthermore, the processes may be implemented in any suitable hardware, software, firmware, or combinations thereof.
When executed as firmware ware or software, the instructions for performing the processes may be stored on a computer-readable medium. A computer-readable medium includes, but is not limited to, magnetic and optical storage devices such as disk drives, magnetic tape, CDs (compact disks), DVDs (digital versatile discs or digital video discs), and semiconductor devices such as RAM, DRAM, ROM, EPROM, and Flash memory.
By way of non-limiting example, computing instructions for performing the processes may be stored on the storage 140, transferred to the memory 120 for execution, and executed by the processors 110. The processor 110, when executing computing instructions configured for performing the processes, constitutes structure for performing the processes and can be considered a special-purpose computer when so configured. In addition, some or all portions of the processes may be performed by hardware specifically configured for carrying out the processes.
Embodiments of the present disclosure may be configured to improve technology through improved audio intelligibility within the group room by using capabilities, such as, for example, spatial audio techniques, beamforming technology, and improved acoustic echo cancellation (AEC) performance.
Embodiments of the present disclosure may be configured to expand applications in which communications products can be deployed in by developing differentiating features around unified communications for a group environment by capabilities, such as, for example, unified communications/VOIP, telepresence/HD video conferencing, enterprise telephony, and sound reinforcement.
Peripheral devices can be added to a unified communications mixer to create complete communication solutions. Such devices may include:
Embodiments of the present disclosure may be configured to
Converge ProStream communication systems may include a number of peripheral devices. As noon-limiting examples, some of these peripherals are a Converge ProStream BFM (Beam Forming Microphone), a Converge ProStream Mic, a Converge ProStream Out, and a Converge ProStream Amp.
The Converge ProStream BFM may include a beamforming microphone solution that facilitates ceiling, wall, and table mount installation. Audio performance may have similar sensitivity as a table boundary microphone without noise contribution. Typical talker to microphone distance will be about 10-feet. The beamforming microphone will implement AEC algorithms, NetStream's network audio, and Power over Ethernet (POE).
The Converge ProStream Mic is a 4 channel Microphone/Line Input devices that incorporates NetStream's network Audio. It may be powered by POE and include the ClearOne microphone processing chain with an AEC.
The Converge ProStream Out includes a 4 channel line output devices that incorporates NetStream's network Audio. It may be powered by POE and include the ClearOne PA output processing chain including feedback elimination.
The Converge ProStream Amp includes 4 channel power amplifier devices that incorporates NetStream's network Audio and may include will include the ClearOne PA output processing chain including feedback elimination.
Converge ProStream communication systems may include a number of peripheral devices. As noon-limiting examples, some of these control devices are a touch panel allow direct control of the Converge Pro product line and also select video conferencing and other A/V devices and a network keypad.
Converge Pro systems cover at least three product lines defined as Converge ProStream, Converge ProCom, and Converge Pro BFM. Converge ProStream includes a digital audio encoder/decoder for network transport with an expansion bus interface. Converge ProCom includes USB and Headset audio to a Converge Pro site. Converge ProStream BFM includes beamforming microphones with AEC that connect to a ProStream Codec.
The Converge ProStream system includes eight channels of digital audio input, eight channels of digital audio output, four channels of line level input, four channels line level output, two bidirectional channels of USB audio of. Digital audio channels shall be transported via NetStream's protocol utilizing the rear panel RJ-45 network connector supporting a 10/100 Ethernet connection. Digital audio may be sampled at 44.1 KHZ with a 24 bit resolution.
Analog line input and output may be provided on the rear panel with, for example, 2.5 mm Euro plugs in a balanced topology. The ProStream system may be interfaced to a Converge Pro audio mixer via a mix-minus expansion bus utilizing an RJ-45 Link In and an RJ-45 Link Out connection. Network and USB audio may be sample rate converted to 48 KHZ for direct interface with the Converge Pro audio mixers.
The Converge ProStream system may include, but not be limited to, the following signal processing functions: Matrix Mixer, Gating Mixer, Gain functions, Mute functions, Filter functions, Compressor Functions,
The Converge ProStream system may be programmed and configured with Converge Console software applications via USB or Ethernet connection. Table 1 defines some of the channel capabilities for a Converge ProStream system.
The Converge ProCom system may provide two channels of bidirectional USB audio and a Headset Audio channel capable of directly interfacing to most Enterprise telephone sets. The device may also incorporate a 2.4 GHZ radio module for future control of the device from a derivative of an interact dialer product. The Converge ProCom system may interface to a Converge Pro audio mixer through the mix-minus expansion bus with a RJ-45 Link In and an RJ-45 Line Out connection.
The Converge ProCom system may include headset audio circuit may be capable of reconfiguration of RJ-9 connector to match Nortel, Avaya, Cisco, and NEC telephone sets.
The Converge ProCom system may include, but not be limited to, the following signal processing functions: Matrix Mixer, Gain functions, Mute functions, and Line Echo Cancellation.
The Converge ProCom system may be programmed and configured with the Converge Console software application via USB connection. Table 2 defines some of the channel capabilities for a Converge ProCom system.
The Converge ProStream BFM system may include 12 to 24 microphone elements utilizing beam forming technology to pick-up participant's audio within a conference room. The microphone audio may be transmitted to either a PC via USB connection or to a ProStream codec via network audio. The Converge ProStream BFM system may be powered utilizing 802.3af power over Ethernet circuitry. The Converge ProStream BFM includes three operational modes for creating spatial audio representation within the room. The operational modes include Mono, Stereo, and Multi-Channel (3-channels).
The Digital audio channels includes 4 channels of transmit and 4 channel of receive and may be transported via NetStream's protocol utilizing a rear panel RJ-45 network connector supporting a 10/100 Ethernet connection. Digital audio may be sampled at 44.1 KHZ with a 24 bit resolution.
The Converge ProStream BFM system may include, but not be limited to, the following signal processing functions: Beamforming Algorithm, Acoustical Echo Cancellation, Gating Mixer, Gain functions, Mute functions, and Filter functions
The Converge ProStream BFM may be designed for Table, Ceiling, or Wall mounting configuration.
The Converge ProStream BFM system may be programmed and configured with the Converge Console software application via USB or Ethernet connection. Table 3 defines some of the channel capabilities for a Converge ProCom system.
One application for the Converge ProStream systems is to facilitate audio distribution over an enterprise network between Converge Pro sites or centrally located AV equipment. Audio distribution applications would include:
The Converge ProStream systems may include line level input and outputs allowing the device to function as a head-end encoder or pure decoder within a Converge Pro system.
The Converge ProStream systems enable inter-campus conferencing utilizing network audio as the primary transport method between the two rooms. A simple call protocol provides request/notification/acceptance from a user desiring to establish a call with another room within the local area network. In addition, an enhanced audio experience may be included in the transport protocol to allow multi-channel audio to be sent to the far-end providing a spatial representation at the far-end.
The Converge Pro systems allow utilization of standard network infrastructure for connection of A/V devices within a conference room. The ProStream beamforming microphone 550 may utilize network audio (StreamNet) for the transport method to a centralized Audio Mixer. Additional products may be added, such as, for example, a 4-Channel Amplifier 554 and a 4-Channel Microphone Interface Box 552. Various peripherals 560 may be connected to the additional products, such as, for example, wireless keyboards, video cameras and video codecs, microphones, and speakers. The room devices may be configured to interface over standard CAT 5 (or better) structured cable and support Power over Ethernet).
All the Converge ProStream systems and peripherals will include feature and functions for seamless integration into Enterprise based Unified Communication solutions. Primary interfaces will be USB audio to allow Pro Stream products to be source audio devices for UC based software clients. A second interface will be headset audio allowing the room system to be direct connected to an Enterprise telephone set.
Technology, Features, and Functions
The Converge ProStream systems include network based audio transport capabilities. The transport layer may be based upon the StreamNet technology with modification to meet conference room applications and competitive products within the installed A/V market. The enterprise architecture for the Converge ProStream systems may employ both a peer-to-peer and a parent-child topology.
Peer-to-Peer Relationship—A peer-to-peer relationship is defined as a two separate Converge Pro Sites connected via a Converge ProStream Codec. In this scenario only audio channels and controls are shared within the connection.
Parent-to-Child Relationship—A parent-to-child relationship is defined as any endpoints connected to a Converge ProStream device functioning as the master network audio device in the configuration. Children devices are defined as endpoint within the conference room.
Embodiments discussed herein provide a method for multichannel HD audio transport within a local area network. This capability allows the Converge Pro audio mixers to utilize spatial audio playback within a room enhancing the overall intelligibility of the conference. However, to effectively deploy this capability within a campus a simple call protocol may be incorporated into the ProStream platform to facilitate a user to initiate or accept an invitation to establish an audio conference with another room within the Local Area network.
The call management scheme may include an Addressing/Routing method that utilizes a name association to an IP address of the ProStream device. Generally, audio streams will not be established without user acceptance of the request. Basic call states functions in the protocol may include:
The Converge ProStream BFM system includes features to enhance audio performance. Some of these features include:
The Converge Pro Stream BFM system also include next generation acoustical echo cancellation algorithms. Improvement on the echo cancellation as compared to existing algorithms include:
Converge Pro audio mixers include new capabilities such as:
Converge Console Software Application
The Converge Console application include features to allow programming and configuration of the devices. Enhancements to these features include:
Features by System
Table 4 defines capabilities included in the Converge ProStream systems.
Table 5 defines capabilities included in the Converge ProCom systems.
Table 6 defines capabilities included in the Converge ProStream BFM systems.
The Converge ProStream system enables digital audio in the form of network based and USB based channels to be incorporated in the Converge Pro conferencing mixers. The system may be configured as a half-rack configuration or wall/table mount installations. The system incorporates NetStream's IP Audio technology for audio distribution and routing and may connect to a Converge Pro site via an expansion bus.
High level features of the Converge ProStream are shown in Table 7.
High Level Features of the Converge ProCom system are shown in Table 8.
The Converge ProStream Beamforming Microphone (BFM) system includes a beam-forming nicrophone with an integrated acoustical echo canceller. The system also includes a low cost USB version for unified communication with a PC and Professionally installed A/V systems. Applications for this system include telepresence, video conferencing, and general teleconferencing. Some benefits of the Converge ProStream BFM include:
Minimizes Room Noise & Reverberation improving speech intelligibility for conferencing.
High Level Features of the Converge ProStream BFM system are shown in Table 9.
Some of the new features included in the complete Converge Pro group of systems, including Converge ProStream, Converge ProStream BFM, and Converge ProCOM are list in Table 10.
Communications Connections
One or more USB ports may be included for audio and control devices.
AN Ethernet jack connection may be configured as an RJ-45 jack with status LED to depict network activity. The ProStream and BFM will support 10/100 Ethernet speeds. An expansion bus will include an RJ-45 connector designated as either Link In or Link Out.
Expansion Bus Physical Connection
Expansion Bus Audio Channels
Expansion Bus Control Channels
Software and Firmware
The ProStream systems include firmware functions within the Converge Pro product family to facilitate utilization of network audio in conference room applications. Major
One functions of the ProStream systems is a call and transport protocol that allow spatial audio conferencing within a local area network or campus topology. The call protocol may include a notification scheme to invite other conference rooms that would be ProStream enabled and on the local area network. A list of the functions is contained in Table 11.
A number of Address/Phonebook functions may be included in the Converge Pro system family to assist in site management and call initiation for the functions associated with the network audio.
A site address book may be included to allow maintenance personal to create a record entry of IP Addresses, Domain Name and hostnames of Converge Pro Sites that may be within a set enterprise.
A room address book may be included and associated with the multichannel transport protocol. This room address book may be used in the call protocol to initiation a spatial audio session. Each record may include IP addressing, device label and number of audio channels available for the room.
Multichannel Acoustical Echo Cancellation
The Converge Pro eight channel systems may include a DSP mode that allows for a 3-channel AEC on microphone inputs 1-4. In the multichannel AEC mode, microphone inputs 5-8 and processing channel E-H. The AEC Mode may be a unit property on the 8-channel mixers that is set at configuration. The implementation of the AEC Mode within the firmware architecture can be accomplished by disallowing commands associated with the disabled channels when in the multichannel mode. With this method, the User Interfaces (Web, Console, Front Panel may grey out the channels to represent non-available channels. In this implementation scheme, the recommendation is to generate a “Not Available” message instead of argument error. The recommendation would be to keep the same configuration file for the complete 8 channels but just deactivate if AEC Mode is set to multichannel. This function would also be available as a Preset configuration with the unit.
Table 12 outlines some of the AEC software objects.
High-Level Firmware Architecture
StreamNet Proxy
A StreamNet Proxy function provides a method to allow relay inherent StreamNet command and response functions through the ClearOne API to the Console Software application. This function basically provides a wrapper function within the protocol layer to relay pure StreamNet command/response to the device. This function will be used for system services Table 12 outlines some of the StreamNet Proxy functions.
While the present disclosure has been described herein with respect to certain illustrated embodiments, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize and appreciate that the present invention is not so limited. Rather, many additions, deletions, and modifications to the illustrated and described embodiments may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed along with their legal equivalents. In addition, features from one embodiment may be combined with features of another embodiment while still being encompassed within the scope of the invention as contemplated by the inventor.
This application claims the benefit of: U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/496,6022, filed Jun. 12, 2011 and entitled “Streaming Unified Communications System,” the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by this reference. This application is further related to U.S. Patent App. Ser. No. 61/443,471, filed 16 Feb. 2011, which is incorporated herein in its entirety by this by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61496022 | Jun 2011 | US |
