Computer program product and method for auto-focusing a camera on an in-person attendee who is speaking into a microphone at a hybrid meeting that is being streamed via a videoconferencing system to remote attendees

A computer program product for auto-focusing a camera on an in-person attendee in a hybrid meeting who is speaking into a microphone at a live location of the hybrid meeting, wherein the hybrid meeting is being streamed via a videoconferencing system to one or more remote attendees, the live location including a real-time location system (RTLS) having a RTLS tag and a plurality of RTLS anchors for locating a position of the RTLS tag in three-dimensional space, wherein the RTLS tag is fixed to the microphone and transmits a signal that is received by the plurality of RTLS anchors, the computer program product comprising a computer readable medium tangibly embodying non-transitory computer-executable program instructions thereon that, when executed, cause one or more computing devices to:

• (a) detect when the microphone is active;
• (b) identify, using the RTLS, the position of the RTLS tag in three-dimensional space in the live location by using the signal transmitted from the RTLG tag and received by the RTLS anchors to calculate the position of the RTLS tag in three-dimensional space,
• wherein the position of the RTLS tag in three-dimensional space in the live location is presumed to be the same position as the microphone that the RTLS tag is fixed to;
• (c) auto-focus the camera on the identified live location when the microphone is active, the camera thereby outputting a video signal of an area in the proximity of the microphone which is presumed to include an image of the in-person attendee who is speaking into the microphone;
• and
• (d) transmit the live location camera image and the audio signal to the videoconferencing system for streaming to the one or more remote attendees.