Identifying conference participants and active talkers at a video conference endpoint using user devices

An apparatus comprising:

• a microphone array to detect (i) ultrasound transmitted by a user device and that is encoded with a user identity, and (ii) audio in an audio frequency range perceptible to humans from an active talker;
• and
• a processor coupled to the microphone array and configured to:
• determine a position of the user device relative to the microphone array based on the detected ultrasound and recovering the user identity from the detected ultrasound;
• determine a position of the active talker relative to the microphone array based on the detected audio;
• determine whether the position of the active talker and the position of the user device are within a predetermined positional range of each other;
• and
• if it is determined that the positions are both within the predetermined positional range, assign the user identity to the active talker.

A non-transitory computer readable storage media encoded with instructions that, when executed by a processor of a video conference endpoint device including a microphone array configured to detect ultrasound transmitted by a user device and that is encoded with a user identity and detect audio in an audio frequency range perceptible to humans from an active talker, cause the processor to:

• determine a position of the user device relative to the microphone array based on the detected ultrasound and recovering the user identity from the detected ultrasound;
• at the microphone array, detect audio in an audio frequency range perceptible to humans from an active talker;
• determine a position of the active talker relative to the microphone array based on the detected audio;
• determine whether the position of the active talker and the position of the user device are within a predetermined positional range of each other;
• and
• if it is determined that the position of the active talker and the position of the user device are both within the predetermined positional range, assign the user identity to the active talker.