Methods and apparatus for switching between a representative presence mode and one or more other modes in a camera-based system

A method for use in a camera-based system comprising a plurality of sites, a given one of the sites having a camera associated therewith, the sites other than the given site representing remote sites relative to the given site, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving a video signal from the camera;
• and
• processing the video signal received from the camera to provide a controlled switching between a representative presence mode and at least one other mode for presentation, at the one or more remote sites, of corresponding output video associated with the given site, said processing utilizing information derived from the video signal generated by the camera to control the switching between the representative presence mode and the at least one other mode, the receiving and processing steps being implemented in a processing system coupled to the camera.

An article of manufacture comprising a storage medium for storing one or more programs of a set of system software for controlling the operation of at least a portion of a camera-based system, the camera-based system comprising a plurality of sites, a given one of the sites having a camera associated therewith, the sites other than the given site representing remote sites relative to the given site, wherein the one or more programs when executed by a processing system of the camera-based system implement the step of:

• processing a video signal received from the camera to provide a controlled switching between a representative presence mode and at least one other mode for presentation, at the one or more remote sites, of corresponding output video associated with the given site, said processing utilizing information derived from the video signal generated by the camera to control the switching between the representative presence mode and the at least one other mode.