Transmission Terminal, Transmission Method, And Computer-Readable Recording Medium Storing Transmission Program
Patent No. US10931917 (titled "Transmission Terminal, Transmission Method, And Computer-Readable Recording Medium Storing Transmission Program") was filed by Ricoh Company Ltd on Oct 1, 2019.
What is this patent about?
’917 is related to the field of video conferencing systems, specifically addressing the problem of sharing content from an external device during a video conference without overburdening the central management system. Traditional systems required external devices to be registered with the management system, increasing its processing load. This patent aims to streamline the process of sharing display data from external sources.
The underlying idea behind ’917 is to allow a transmission terminal to receive display data from an external input apparatus (like a laptop) and relay that data, along with its own video feed, to another transmission terminal in a video conference. The key inventive insight is that the external input apparatus does not need to be directly managed by the central transmission management system. The transmission terminal acts as an intermediary, forwarding the external device's display data.
The claims of ’917 focus on a transmission terminal equipped with processing circuitry that can obtain video data from its own camera, log into a management system, establish a communication session with another logged-in terminal, and transmit its video data. Crucially, when an external input apparatus connects to this terminal, the terminal receives video data from the external apparatus and then transmits both its own video and the external data to the other conference participant.
In practice, the transmission terminal stores the relay apparatus ID, allowing it to route the external display data to the correct destination. When an external device connects, the transmission terminal can even provide the external device with the necessary software ( display data acquiring unit and transmitting unit ) to capture and send its display data. This eliminates the need for the external device to be pre-configured or managed by the central system.
This approach differs from prior solutions by avoiding the need to register the external input apparatus with the transmission management system. The transmission terminal handles the relaying of the external display data, reducing the processing load on the central system. The system can also dynamically adjust the quality of the video streams based on network conditions, ensuring a smooth conference experience even with limited bandwidth. The dynamic quality adjustment is performed by the relay apparatus, based on feedback from the receiving terminal.
How does this patent fit in bigger picture?
Technical landscape at the time
In the early 2010s when ’917 was filed, video conferencing systems were becoming more prevalent, and at a time when transmitting video and audio data over communication networks was common. It was also a time when systems commonly relied on dedicated hardware or software codecs for encoding and decoding video streams, and when hardware or software constraints made real-time screen sharing with external input devices non-trivial.
Novelty and Inventive Step
The examiner allowed the claims because the applicants filed a terminal disclaimer to overcome a double patenting rejection. The examiner stated that prior art references teach transmitting video data from an external input apparatus connected to a transmission terminal without logging in, but these references have filing dates later than the priority date of the application. The examiner also stated that other references teach transmitting mixed video from a computing device and an external video device where the computing device receives a login request from a conference participant, but the computing device is not a transmission terminal located at the presenter for transmitting the login request as required by the claims. Therefore, the examiner concluded that the prior art of record failed to clearly teach or fairly suggest the combination of features recited in the claims.
Claims
There are 15 claims in this patent, with independent claims 1, 8, and 15. The independent claims are directed to a transmission terminal, a method implemented by the transmission terminal, and a computer readable medium that stores a program that when executed by the transmission terminal causes the transmission terminal to perform a method. The dependent claims generally elaborate on specific features, steps, or configurations related to the transmission of video data between terminals and interaction with external input apparatuses.
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Description
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US10931917
- Application Number
- US16589700
- Filing Date
- Oct 1, 2019
- Status
- Granted
- Expiry Date
- Apr 27, 2031
- External Links
- Slate, USPTO, Google Patents