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US 2014/0156254 A1Published application
Multi-lingual conference bridge with cues and method of use
AssigneeZipDX, LLC
InventorsDavid Paul Frankel, Barry Slaughter Olsen
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Abstract
The present invention relates to a new method and system for use of a multi-protocol conference bridge, and more specifically a new multi-language conference bridge system and method of use where different cues, such as an attenuated voice of an original non-interpreted speaker, is used to improve the flow of information over the system.
Claims19
A teleconferencing system for simultaneous interpretation in a plurality of languages, comprising:
- an audio connection for each of a plurality of delegates, each delegate having a particular listening language;
- a two-way audio connection for each of one or more interpreters, each interpreter being identified as having a listening language and a speaking language, the two languages being different;
- a plurality of audio bridges for carrying out the following steps, each bridge capable of accepting inputs from one or more connections, mixing said inputs with specified levels of attenuation, and providing the resulting output to one or more connections without echoing the audio received from a particular connection back to that same connection;
- means to configure the audio bridges such that each interpreter separately:
- receives audio from all delegates;
- transmits audio to those delegates with a listening language matching the interpreter's spoken language for mixing without attenuation;
- and transmits audio to those delegates with a listening language matching the interpreter's listening language for mixing with attenuation, such that the voice of the interpreter is heard softly and delegate voice(s) dominate;
- means for each delegate to transmit audio to all bridges;
- and
- means to separately detect when each interpreter is speaking, and, when said speech is detected, to cause any bridge receiving that interpreter's speaking language to attenuate audio inputs from delegates such that delegates are heard softly and the interpreter's voice dominates, where the audio connections are made over one or more wide-area networks capable of connecting physically distinct locations.
7 more elements
A method of holding a multi-language conference using a conference bridge, the method consisting of the steps of:
- requesting and receiving from each of a plurality of users a language preference for holding a conference;
- setting up on a conference server a plurality of audio bridges each for one of the language preferences of the plurality of users;
- selecting a plurality of interpreters each capable of understanding at least two of the languages of the audio bridges on the conference server;
- connecting each of the plurality of users each using one of a plurality of first devices to the conference server on a server connected to a network by matching the language preference of each user with the language in each of the audio bridges;
- connecting each of the plurality of interpreters to at least two of the audio bridges based on the languages understood by the interpreter;
- allowing one of the users to speak into the connected audio bridge of the user's language preference;
- and
- relaying by the conference server the speech of the user in the user's language preference into another of the audio bridges.
5 more elements
A multi-protocol conference bridge system comprising:
- a plurality of a first device where each of the first devices is used by one of a plurality of users for connection of each of the first devices over a network to a server, wherein each of the first devices includes a two-way connection for exchanging data between the users and the server in one of many protocols of communication, the protocol used being understood by the user;
- a plurality of a second device where each of the second devices is used by one of a plurality of interpreters for connection to the server, wherein the second device includes a two-way connection for exchanging data between each of the interpreters and the server in more than one protocol of communication;
- and
- a conference server on the server comprising a plurality of bridges each for holding and sharing data in one of the plurality of protocols of communication, wherein each first device is connected to at least one of the plurality of audio bridges for exchanging data in the protocol of communication of the bridge, and wherein each of the second devices is connected between two different bridges of the plurality of bridges to allow the interpreter using the second device to receive data in a first protocol of communication from a first bridge and send data to the second bridge in a second protocol of communication,
- wherein the conference server further generates at least one cue within at least one of the bridges to inform of the data transfer between one of the first device and a different bridge.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.