US-20260129083-A1 - METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR TELECONFERENCING USING COORDINATED MOBILE DEVICES

US20260129083A1US 20260129083 A1US20260129083 A1US 20260129083A1US-20260129083-A1

Abstract

A method of setting up a teleconferencing system using mobile devices is disclosed. Participants with mobile devices in multiple rooms may communicate based on the disclosed teleconferencing application executed on the mobile devices. Each room has one of the mobile devices designated as a leader device for that room. The leader devices may communicate using VoIP over the Internet. Other mobile devices in a room are designated as client devices associated with the leader devices. Participants operating the client devices can talk to other participants in that room and the other rooms through the client device communicating through the leader device of the room. The leader device synchronizes the playing of received audio between all of the client devices in the room. The leader device includes a selection algorithm that selects one of the devices to act as the microphone for audio signals generated in the room.

Inventors

Muhammad Blair Shahmeer
Khubaib Ahmad
Muhammad Usman Bashir
Muhammad Abdullah Sajjad

Assignees

AFINITI AI LIMITED

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20250924

Claims (20)

1 . A method for establishing a teleconferencing system between two locations, comprising: generating, by a leader device, a first packet based on audio output by an audio source; receiving, by the leader device, a second packet from a client device, wherein the second packet was generated by the client device based on the audio output by the audio source; obtaining, by the leader device, a first metric for the first packet generated by the leader device; obtaining, by the leader device, a second metric for the second packet generated by the client device; determining which of (i) the first packet generated by the leader device and (ii) the second packet generated by the client device has a higher quality, wherein the determination is based on the first metric for the first packet and the second metric for the second packet; and transmitting the first packet generated by the leader device to a third device if it is determined that the first packet has a higher quality than the second packet, otherwise transmitting the second packet generated by the client device to a third device.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining which of the first packet generated by the leader device and the second packet generated by the client device has a higher quality comprises determining whether the first metric is greater than the second metric.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises the leader device transmitting a third packet generated by the leader device as a result of determining that the first packet generated by the leader device has a higher quality than the second packet generated by the client device.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises: receiving a visual signal from the third device; and outputting the visual signal on displays of the leader device and the client device.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the transmitting to the third device is performed using a voice over Internet protocol through the Internet.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises: the leader device receiving from the third device a third packet; the leader device outputting audible audio based on the third packet; and forwarding the third packet to the client device, wherein the client device is configured to output audible audio based on the third packet, and the audible audio output by the client device is phase shifted with respect to the audible audio output by the leader device.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises the leader device transmitting a third packet generated by the client device as a result of determining that the second packet generated by the client device has a higher quality than the first packet generated by the client device.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the leader device and the client device are smart phones.
9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises transmitting, by a leader device, a first signal between the leader device and the client device, and transmitting the first signal between the leader device and the client device further comprises establishing, by the leader device, a network connection with the client device based on the client device receiving network information through a visual indicator displayed by the leader device.
10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises transmitting, by a leader device, a first signal between the leader device and the client device, and transmitting a first signal between a leader device and a client device further comprises establishing a network communication, by the leader device, with the client device based on the client device receiving network information through a wireless communication.
11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first metric is based on an average energy of the first packet.
12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises transmitting, by a leader device, a first signal between the leader device and the client device, and the first signal comprises a transmission using a Web RTC data channel.
13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the leader device is configured to transmit packets to the third device using a WebRTC audio channel.
14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises transmitting, by a leader device, a first signal between the leader device and the client device, and the first signal comprises a first frequency.
15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the method further comprises: transmitting a second signal comprising a second frequency between the leader device and the client device; and syncing the leader device and the client device based on at least one of the first signal and the second signal.
16 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises obtaining, by the leader device, a code for a call or conference that includes communication over a network between the leader device and at least one other leader device, transmitting the first signal comprises providing, by the leader device, output of the code, and the method further comprises, after providing output of the code, enabling participation of the client device in the call or conference in response to a communication that the client device provides based on the code, such that the leader device receives audio data recorded by the client device and the leader device provides audio data from the at least one other leader device to the client device.
17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the code identifies (i) the call or conference and (ii) a room, from among multiple rooms involved in the call or conference, that corresponds to the leader device.
18 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises: maintaining, by the leader device, communication with each of multiple remote devices that are concurrently involved in a call or conference; receiving, by the leader device, audio data from each of the remote devices; mixing, by the leader device, the received audio data of the multiple remote devices; and providing, by the leader device, the mixed audio data to the client device.
19 . A device, comprising: a receiver; a transmitter; and processing circuitry, wherein the device is configured to perform a method for establishing a teleconferencing system, the method comprising: generating a first packet based on audio output by an audio source; obtaining a first metric for the first packet; obtaining a second metric for a second packet generated by a client device based on the audio output by the audio source; determining which of (i) the first packet generated by the leader device and (ii) the second packet generated by the client device has a higher quality, wherein the determination is based on the first metric for the first packet and the second metric for the second packet; and transmitting the first packet generated by the leader device to a third device if it is determined that the first packet has a higher quality than the second packet, otherwise transmitting the second packet generated by the client device to a third device.
20 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions for configuring a device comprising processing circuitry operable to execute the instructions to perform a method for establishing a teleconferencing system, the method comprising: generating a first packet based on audio output by an audio source; obtaining a first metric for the first packet; obtaining a second metric for a second packet generated by a client device based on the audio output by the audio source; determining which of (i) the first packet generated by the leader device and (ii) the second packet generated by the client device has a higher quality, wherein the determination is based on the first metric for the first packet and the second metric for the second packet; and transmitting the first packet generated by the leader device to a third device if it is determined that the first packet has a higher quality than the second packet, otherwise transmitting the second packet generated by the client device to a third device.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 18/573,861, having a 371(c) date of 2023 Dec. 22 (status pending), which is the national phase entry of PCT Application No. PCT/US2022/073156, filed on 2022 Jun. 24, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/202,796, filed on 2021 Jun. 24. The entirety of the above identified applications are incorporated by this reference herein. TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates generally to communication systems. More particularly, aspects of this disclosure relate to an application that allows a room-to-room communication system to be set up using mobile devices. BACKGROUND Teleconferencing has recently taken on greater importance, especially with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. Traditional teleconferencing has involved using a telephone system with specialized hardware for participants in different rooms. However, changes in the accessibility of video streaming and the Internet have changed the fundamental infrastructure for teleconferences. For example, the world is shifting itself from GSM and PSTN to Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP)-based systems. VoIP has drastically reduced the cost of communication by sharing network infrastructure between data and voice. Some VoIP services are free. This model allows users to download software application to a computing device. Such software allows low-cost calls to be made to other service users, and even, in some cases, placing domestic calls to landline phones and cell phones without charge. The recent advances have not been integrated into teleconferencing such as situations where there are several participants in a room communicating with another remote group. In such cases, traditional telephone systems often must be used as different VoIP-based systems are incompatible with each other and thus cannot be reliably deployed among different groups of participants. For example, several people may be crowded around a single mobile phone or speakerphone in one room to facilitate a teleconference with remote participants. Thus, there is a need for a user device application that allows the establishment of an ad hoc teleconferencing system between participants in different locations. There is a further need for the establishment of communication between devices in a room and communication with external devices through the establishment of a leader device. There is a further need for a routine to select a single audio stream from multiple audio streams in a room for communication to an external device. SUMMARY One disclosed example is a method for establishing a teleconferencing system between two locations. A first signal is transmitted between a leader communication device and a client communication device. Each communication device includes a network communication transceiver, a speaker and a microphone. A first audio input is received at the leader device generated from an audio source. The first audio input is parsed into a first plurality of audio packets. A second audio input is received at the client device generated from the audio source. The second audio input is parsed into a second plurality of audio packets. A first metric of at least one first audio packet in the first plurality of audio packets is determined via the leader device. A second metric of at least one second audio packet in the second plurality of audio packets is determined via the leader device. It is determined whether the first metric is greater than the second metric. At least one first audio packet in the first plurality of audio packets and a predetermined number of remaining audio packets in the first plurality of audio packets are transmitted to a remote device based on determining that the first metric is greater than the second metric. A further implementation of the example method is an embodiment where the method further includes transmitting the at least one second audio packet in the second plurality of audio packets and a predetermined number of remaining audio packets in the second plurality of audio packets to the remote device based on determining that the first metric is not greater than the second metric. Another implementation is where the example method includes receiving a visual signal from the remote device; and outputting the visual signal on displays of the first device and the second device. Another implementation is where the transmitting to the remote device is performed using a voice over Internet protocol through the Internet. Another implementation is where the example method further includes receiving a second signal from the remote device and outputting a third audio signal at the leader communication device based on the second signal. The method also includes outputting a fourth audio signal at the client device based on the second signal, wherein the fourth audio signal is phase shifted from the third audio sign