METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Abstract

A method for providing telecommunications on a videoconferencing system can include: a telecommunication endpoint device connecting, via the internet, to a server in a telecommunication network, the server being configured to provide a multi-tenant service; associating the telecommunication endpoint device with a tenant in the multi-tenant service; at least one peripheral device connecting to the server via the internet; associating the at least one peripheral device with the tenant; and providing telecommunications with the telecommunication endpoint device, wherein the telecommunications comprise telecommunication data and at least a portion of the telecommunication data is provided by the at least one peripheral device.

Claims

1. A method for providing telecommunications on a videoconferencing system, the method comprising: connecting a telecommunication endpoint device, via the internet, to a server in a telecommunication network, the server being configured to provide a multi-tenant service; associating the telecommunication endpoint device with a tenant in the multi-tenant service; connecting at least one peripheral device to the server via the internet; associating the at least one peripheral device with the tenant; and providing telecommunications with the telecommunication endpoint device, wherein the telecommunications comprise telecommunication data and at least a portion of the telecommunication data is provided by the at least one peripheral device.

2. A method for providing telecommunications according to claim 1 wherein the associated telecommunication endpoint device and the associated at least one peripheral device are grouped into a group.

3. A method for providing telecommunications according to claim 1 wherein the associating the telecommunication endpoint device with the tenant comprises: programming the server with the identity of the telecommunication endpoint device; entering an identifier into the telecommunication endpoint device; displaying by the telecommunication endpoint device an identifier and providing the identifier to the server; and/or scanning an identifier displayed on the telecommunication endpoint device.

4. A method for providing telecommunications according to claim 1 wherein the at least one peripheral device comprises a control device configured to control at least a portion of the telecommunications data, the control device being associated with the tenant.

5. A method for providing telecommunications according to claim 4 further comprising establishing a local control channel between the control device and the telecommunication endpoint device.

6. A method for providing telecommunications according to claim 4 wherein the associating the control device with the tenant comprises: programming the server with the identity of the control device; entering an identifier into the control device; displaying by the control device an identifier and providing the identifier to the server; and/or scanning an identifier displayed on the control device.

7. A method for providing telecommunications according to claim 1 wherein the at least one peripheral device comprises at least one microphone and/or speaker, the at least one microphone and/or speaker being associated with the tenant.

8. A method for providing telecommunications according to claim 7 wherein the associating the at least one microphone and/or speaker with the tenant comprises: programming the server with the identity of the at least one microphone and/or speaker; entering an identifier into the at least one microphone and/or speaker; displaying by the at least one microphone and/or speaker an identifier and providing the identifier to the server; and/or scanning an identifier displayed on the at least one microphone and/or speaker.

9. A method for providing telecommunications according to claim 7 wherein the at least one microphone and/or speaker comprises at least one microphone and the at least one microphone and the telecommunication endpoint device comprise clocks, the method further comprising: locking the clock of the at least one microphone to the clock of the telecommunication endpoint device; or locking the clocks of the at least one microphone and the telecommunication endpoint device to an alternate time source.

10. A method for providing telecommunications according to claim 7, the method further comprising monitoring, by the telecommunication endpoint device, data packets from the at least one microphone to monitor a clock rate of the at least one microphone and compensating for drift in the clock rate by dropping or inserting sample data packets.

11. A method for providing telecommunications according to claim 7 wherein the at least one microphone and/or speaker comprises at least one microphone and at least one speaker.

12. A method for providing telecommunications according to claim 11 further comprising using acoustic echo-cancellation.

13. A method for providing telecommunications according to claim 12 wherein the acoustic echo-cancellation comprises using an algorithm configured to analyse sound picked up by the at least one microphone and remove sound picked up by the at least one microphone which is output by the at least one speaker.

14. A method for providing telecommunications according to claim 13 wherein the acoustic echo-cancellation is performed by the at least one microphone.

15. A method for providing telecommunications according to claim 1 wherein the at least one peripheral device comprises a content source, the content source being associated with the tenant.

16. A method for providing telecommunications according to claim 15 wherein the associating the content source with the tenant comprises: programming the server with the identity of the content source; entering an identifier into the content source; displaying by the content source an identifier and providing the identifier to the server; connecting an auxiliary device to the content source and entering an identifier into the auxiliary device; and/or scanning an identifier displayed on or by the content source.

17. A method for providing telecommunications according to claim 15 further comprising establishing a local communication channel between the content source and the telecommunication endpoint device, the local communication channel being configured to allow transmission of content between the content source and the telecommunication endpoint device.

18. A method for providing telecommunications according to claim 17 further comprising transcoding content shared locally between the content source and the telecommunication endpoint device and transmitting the transcoded content via the server.

19. A method for providing telecommunications according to claim 1 further comprising establishing a local connection between the at least one peripheral device and the telecommunication endpoint device.

20-29. (canceled)

30. A videoconferencing system for providing telecommunications, the videoconferencing system comprising: a telecommunication endpoint device configured to connect with a server in a telecommunication network via the internet, the server being configured to provide a multi-tenant service and the telecommunication endpoint device being configured to be associated with a tenant in the multi-tenant service; and at least one peripheral device configured to: connect to the server via the internet; and be associated with the tenant; wherein: the videoconferencing system is configured to provide telecommunications with the telecommunications endpoint device; and the telecommunications comprise telecommunication data and the at least one peripheral device is configured to provide at least a portion of the telecommunication data.

31-49. (canceled)

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0051] The disclosure will now be described in more detail, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0052] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a videoconferencing system according to the prior art;

[0053] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a videoconferencing system embodying an aspect of the present disclosure; and

[0054] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a videoconferencing system embodying an aspect of the present disclosure.

[0055] Like features are denoted by like reference numerals.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0056] An example videoconferencing system will now be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

[0057] FIG. 2 illustrates a videoconferencing system 100. The videoconferencing system 100 comprises a modular endsystem. The videoconferencing system 100 comprises a telecommunication endpoint device which in this example is a meeting room endpoint 101. The meeting room endpoint 101 is in connection with a server via the internet. In this example the server is a cloud service 10. The cloud service 10 provides a multi-tenant service, and the meeting room endpoint 101 is configured to be associated with a tenant in the multi-tenant service. In this example, each tenant in the multi-tenant service corresponds to an organisation.

[0058] The system 100 also comprises at least one peripheral device. In this example, the peripheral devices include displays 2, cameras 6, microphones 104, and content sources 105. Significantly, the peripheral devices are connected to the cloud service 10 via the internet, and are not connected directly to the endpoint 101. The peripheral devices are also associated with the tenant. The meeting room endpoint 101 and the peripheral devices are grouped into a group by the cloud service 10. That is, the meeting room endpoint 101 and the peripheral devices are logically associated in the cloud server such that they are able to communicate with one another via the internet and provide telecommunication data for telecommunications, rather than requiring dedicated local physical connections.

[0059] The various devices are associated with the tenant through the cloud service 10. The cloud service 10 provides a registration/association service for devices via a user configuration interface in the form of a web interface. The web interface is accessible via the meeting room endpoint 101. In this example, the devices are associated with the tenant by a user inputting identifiers of each device into the web interface for the cloud server 10 which are either displayed on the devices themselves, or are displayed on one of the screens 2. The identifiers in this example are QR codes. Once the devices are associated with the tenant, the devices are “locked” to the tenant to prevent re-association, until the devices are un-associated with said tenant.

[0060] The videoconferencing system 100 is configured to provide telecommunications with the meeting room endpoint 101. The telecommunications comprise telecommunication data, and the peripheral devices provide at least a portion of the telecommunication data. The telecommunication data in this example comprises audio and visual data, and control data.

[0061] The controller 103 controls at least some of the telecommunication data. That is, the controller 103 enables a user to control the videoconference, for example by selecting and making calls, sharing media content, or controlling any other aspect of a videoconference.

[0062] The videoconferencing system 100 provides telecommunications between meeting room endpoint 101, and a remote endpoint device 20. The remote endpoint device 20 is also connected with the cloud service 10 via the internet, and in this example is associated with a different tenant in the multi-tenant service.

[0063] The meeting room endpoint 101 and the microphones 104 comprise clocks. The clocks of the meeting room endpoint device 101 and the microphones 104 are locked to one another using heartbeat packets. This avoids drift of video and audio being sampled on separate devices and ensures lip-sync of video and audio.

[0064] A videoconference may be established between meeting room endpoint 101 and remote endpoint device 20. Devices in connection with meeting room endpoint 101 are connected to one another via the cloud service 10, and are logically associated in the cloud service 10 to form a virtual meeting room. The videoconference is performed seamlessly, without the need for dedicated physical connections between locally grouped devices.

[0065] FIG. 3 illustrates a videoconferencing system 300. The system 300 is similar to that illustrated in FIG. 2. However, FIG. 3 differs in that the videoconferencing system 300 comprises local, peer-to-peer connections between peripheral devices and the meeting room endpoint 101. These local control channels are in the form of direct media optimisation paths formed over, in this example, a local corporate network 110.

[0066] For example, a local control channel is formed between the control device 103 and the meeting room endpoint 101. A local control channel is also formed between the content sources 105 and the meeting room endpoint 101. These control channels provide for the transmission of content between the content sources 105 and the meeting room endpoint 101. To form these local connections, the cloud service 10, to which all of the devices are connected, enables discovery of the local and public network addresses of one another, thereby facilitating connection between the devices. In this example, subnet traversal is used to form local connections. These local connections provide low latency between local devices, whilst the devices are still connected to the cloud service 10 and are logically associated in the cloud, thereby retaining the benefits of such an arrangement as described above.

[0067] During a videoconference, for example between meeting room endpoint 101 and remote endpoint device 20, content sent between the two endpoint devices may be transmitted and received as in the arrangement of FIG. 2 described above. However, content or communications which are only required locally to meeting room endpoint 101 may be sent and received via the peer-to-peer connections, rather than being passed via the cloud service 10. This advantageously provides for optimum latency in all communications in the videoconferencing system.

[0068] Embodiments of the present disclosure have been described. It will be appreciated that variations and modifications may be made to the described embodiments within the scope of the present disclosure.