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DE-102024132992-A1 - Wireless conferencing system and methods for controlling a wireless conferencing system

DE102024132992A1DE 102024132992 A1DE102024132992 A1DE 102024132992A1DE-102024132992-A1

Abstract

A wireless conference system (10) is provided, comprising a first speaker unit (100), in particular as a moderator or president unit with a selection unit (110), a plurality of second speaker units (200) as participant units (210, 220), each of which has a microphone (211, 221) and a transmitter/receiver (212, 222), wherein the second speaker units (200) are each capable of actively receiving an audio signal via the microphone (211, 221) and transmitting it wirelessly via the transmitter/receiver (212, 222), a position detection unit (300) capable of recording the positions of the second speaker units (200, 210, 220), and a conference control unit (400) which receives the position information from the position detection unit (300). The selection unit (110) is designed to select one of the majority of the second speaking stations (210, 220) and output corresponding selection information to the conference control unit (400). The conference control unit (400) is configured to select one of the majority of the second speaking stations (210, 220) as the active second speaking station (210, 220) based on the position information of the majority of the second speaking stations (200, 210, 220) and the selection information from the selection unit (110).

Inventors

  • Daniel Czaja
  • Steffen Matthias

Assignees

  • SENNHEISER ELECTRONIC SE & CO. KG

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20241112

Claims (9)

  1. Wireless conference system (10), comprising: a first speaker unit (100), in particular as a moderator or president unit with a selection unit (110); a plurality of second speaker units (200) as participant units (210, 220), each comprising a microphone (211, 221) and a transmitter/receiver (212, 222), wherein the second speaker units (200) are each capable of actively receiving an audio signal via the microphone (211, 221) and transmitting it wirelessly via the transmitter/receiver (212, 222); a position detection unit (300) capable of detecting the positions of the second speaker units (200, 210, 220); a conference control unit (400) which receives the position information from the position detection unit (300). receives, whereby the selection unit (110) is suitable for selecting one of the majority of the second speaking stations (210, 220) and outputting corresponding selection information to the conference control unit (400), whereby the conference control unit (400) is designed to select one of the majority of the second speaking stations (210, 210, 220) as the active second speaking station (210, 220) based on the position information of the majority of the second speaking stations (200, 210, 220) and the selection information of the selection unit (110).
  2. Wireless conferencing system (10) according to Claim 1 , wherein the selection unit (110) has an optical emitter (111) which is suitable for emitting an optical signal, wherein the second speaking stations (210) have an optical indicator (213) which is activated when the light emitted by the optical emitter (111) falls on the second speaking station (210, 220).
  3. Wireless conferencing system (10) according to Claim 1 or 2 , wherein the selection unit (110) has an infrared camera (103), wherein the second speaking station (210, 220) has an optical marker (214) which can be detected by the infrared camera (113) of the selection unit (110) and can be used for position detection.
  4. Wireless conferencing system (10) according to one of the Claims 1 until 3 , wherein the selection unit (110) has tilt and/or acceleration sensors (114) by means of which a movement or gesture of the selection unit (10) can be detected and used for position detection.
  5. Wireless conferencing system (10) according to one of the Claims 1 until 4 , where The position detection unit (300) comprises an ultra-wide-band UWB position detection unit (310) with two ultra-wide-band UWB transmitters/receivers (311) and an ultra-wide-band control unit (312), wherein the second speaking stations (210, 220) are designed to receive the signals of the at least two UWB transmitters/receivers (311) by means of the transmitters/receivers (212) and to determine their position by means of triangulation.
  6. Wireless conferencing system (10) according to one of the Claims 1 until 4 , wherein the position detection unit (300) comprises an optical position detection unit (320) with a camera (321) and a camera control unit (322), wherein the optical position detection unit (320) is designed to optically detect the positions of the second speaking stations (210, 220) by means of the camera (321).
  7. Wireless conferencing system (10) according to one of the Claims 1 until 4 , wherein the position detection unit (300) has a microphone array (330) by means of which acoustic position detection of the participant unit is carried out.
  8. Method for controlling a wireless conference system (10), comprising a first speaking station (100), in particular as a moderator or president unit with a selection unit (110), a plurality of second speaking stations (200) as participant units (210, 220), each of which is capable of receiving an audio signal by means of the microphone (211, 221) and transmitting it wirelessly by means of the transmitter/receiver (212, 222), a position detection unit (300) capable of receiving the positions of the second speaking stations (200, 210, 220), and a conference control unit (400), comprising the steps: Receiving position information of the second speaking stations (210, 220) from the position detection unit (300), Selecting one of the plurality of second speaking stations (210, 220) and output selection information to the conference control unit (400), Select one of the majority of the second speaking stations (210, 220) as the active speaking station based on the position information of the majority of the second speaking stations (200, 210, 220) and the selection information of the selection unit (110) by the conference control unit (400).
  9. Method for controlling a wireless conference system (10) comprising a first speaking station (100), in particular as a moderator or president unit, a plurality of second speaking stations (200) as participant units (210, 220), each of which is capable of actively capturing an audio signal by means of the microphone (211, 221) and wirelessly transmitting it by means of the transmitter/receiver (212, 222), a position detection unit (320) capable of capturing the positions of the second speaking stations (200, 210, 220), a conference control unit (400), and a camera (321) designed to at least partially capture a conference room (20) visually, comprising the steps of: Capturing an audio signal by means of the microphone (211, 221) and wirelessly transmitting the captured audio signal by means of the Transmitter/receiver (212, 222) of the active second speaker station (210, 220), Receiving position information of the second speaker stations (210, 220) from the position detection unit (300), Optical detection of the conference room to determine gestures and/or movements of a moderator or president, and Selecting one of the majority of the second speaker stations (210, 220) as the active speaker station and outputting selection information to the conference control unit (400) based on the gestures and/or movements of the moderator or president.

Description

The present invention relates to a wireless conferencing system and a method for controlling a wireless conferencing system. Wireless conferencing systems typically consist of a president or moderator unit and multiple participant units. Each participant unit has a microphone to pick up an audio signal from a participant. The moderator or president unit can activate or deactivate the microphones of the participant units. A signal from a participant unit can be forwarded to a control unit, which can then output the signal, for example, via loudspeakers. To enable a participant unit, the user of the moderator or president unit, or a technician, must activate or deactivate the audio signal of the participant unit, for example at a mixing console. It is an object of the present invention to provide a wireless conferencing system which is easier for the user to operate. This problem is solved by a wireless conferencing system according to claim 1 and by a method for controlling a wireless conferencing system according to claim 8. Thus, a wireless conference system is provided with a first speaker unit, in particular as a moderator or president unit with a selection unit, a plurality of second speaker units as participant units, each equipped with a microphone and a transmitter/receiver, wherein each second speaker unit is capable of actively capturing an audio signal via the microphone and wirelessly transmitting it via the transmitter/receiver, a position tracking unit capable of recording the positions of the second speaker units, and a conference control unit that receives the position information from the position tracking unit. The selection unit is capable of selecting one of the plurality of second speaker units and outputting corresponding selection information to the conference control unit. The conference control unit is designed to select one of the plurality of second speaker units as the active second speaker unit based on the position information of the plurality of second speaker units and the selection information from the selection unit. According to one aspect, the selection unit has an optical emitter for outputting an optical signal. The second speaking stations have an optical indicator which is activated when the light emitted by the optical emitter falls on the second speaking station. According to one aspect, the selection unit has an infrared camera. The second speaking station has an optical marker which can be detected by the selection unit's infrared camera and used for position tracking. According to one aspect, the selection unit has tilt and/or acceleration sensors, by means of which a movement or gesture of the selection unit can be detected and used for position detection. According to one aspect, the position detection unit comprises an ultra-wideband (UWB) position detection unit with two ultra-wideband (UWB) transmitters/receivers and an ultra-wideband control unit. The second control units are designed to receive the signals from the at least two UWB transmitters/receivers and determine their position using triangulation. According to one aspect, the position detection unit includes an optical position detection unit with a camera and a camera control unit. The optical position detection unit is designed to optically detect the positions of the second intercom stations using the camera. According to one aspect, the position detection unit has a microphone array by means of which acoustic position detection of the participant unit takes place. The invention relates to a method for controlling a wireless conference system comprising a first speaker unit as a moderator or president unit with a selection unit, a plurality of second speaker units as participant units, each of which is capable of receiving an audio signal via its microphone and transmitting it wirelessly via the transmitter/receiver, a position detection unit capable of detecting the positions of the second speaker units, and a conference control unit. Position information from the second speaker units is received by the position detection unit. One of the plurality of second speaker units is selected, and selection information is output to the conference control unit. One of the plurality of second speaker units is then designated as the active speaker unit. The conference control unit selects the speaking station based on the position information of the majority of the second speaking stations and the selection information of the selection unit. According to one aspect, the wireless conferencing system has at least one primary speaking station, namely a moderator unit, and typically several secondary speaking stations, namely participant units. Each participant unit has a microphone. Furthermore, the conferencing system has a control unit capable of activating one of the secondary speaking stations as the active speaking station and activating the microphones of the active secondary speaking stations. The control