System and method for providing an awareness of remote people in the room during a videoconference

A method for tracking a plurality of participants in a video conference, the method comprising the steps of:

• monitoring said video conference to track said participants;
• generating a video locator output and an audio locator outputs representing a location of each of said participants;
• adjusting a setting of a camera to focus on one of said participants who is speaking;
• detecting whether said speaking participant continuously speaks for a threshold time period;
• if so, adjusting said camera setting to display other participants sequentially who are not speaking during said video conferencing;
• and,
• detecting and displaying a new participant entering said video conference.

An apparatus for tracking a plurality of participants in a video conferencing, comprising:

• a camera;
• a processor coupled to said camera and operative (i) to process an audio locator output and a video locator output indicative of the location of each participant, (ii) adjust the setting of a camera to focus on one of said participants who is speaking;
• (iii) detect whether said speaking participant is silent for a threshold time period;
• (iv) adjust said camera setting to sequentially display other participants who are not speaking after a detected period of silence exceeds said threshold time period;
• and, (v) detect and display a new participant entering said video conference.