Abstract: A video conference application supports the use of both conventional and 360 degree cameras in virtual video conferences so that a complete 360 degree image may be transmitted to some or all of the conference participants, with the ability to view all or a part of the 360 degree image and to scroll through the image, as desired. At the recipient system, the video conference application senses whether an image is from a conventional or a 360 degree camera and adjusts the size of the viewing portal on the user interface accordingly. Viewers of 360 degree images are further provided with the option of viewing and scrolling the entire 360 degree image or only a portion thereof.

Abstract: A video conference application supports the use of both conventional and 360 degree cameras in virtual video conferences so that a complete 360 degree image may be transmitted to some or all of the conference participants, with the ability to view all or a part of the 360 degree image and to scroll through the image, as desired. The process of determining the current speaker in a virtual video teleconference is automated by sending, along an 360 degree image data, azimuth coordinate data identifying a “suggested” portion of the 360 degree field associated with the current speaker. The direction is determined by the sound detection technology at the source and is provided to each participant. Each participant can then independently choose to view: 1) the entire 360 degree video image; 2) the active speaker, as automatically suggested by the azimuth direction, or 3) a user selected portion of 360 degree video image.

Abstract: An apparatus and technique are disclosed for controlling the resource usage of a processor during a video conference by dynamically varying the rate at which video images are compressed so as to maintain a target threshold of processor resource usage. A control program module interfaces with the video encoder of a video conferencing system and first checks that the current processor resource utilization is below a specified target threshold prior to compressing a video image from a stream of captured video data. If the processor resource utilization is below the target threshold, the video image is compressed. Otherwise, the image is skipped to conserve processor resources. The technique allows video conferencing products to dynamically adjust the rate of video frame compression based on available processor resources so as to maximize the user's video conferencing experiencing while minimizing the negative impact on other applications executing on the system.

Abstract: A method and system for “selective” tunneling of streaming data from a server to a client in a computer network having one or more network segments. The server has a tunneler utility, and the client has a receiver utility. The receiver utility first attempts to detect if a given data stream is available via IP multicast on the network segment supporting the client. If not, then the receiver utility issues a request for a IP unicast stream. This request is serviced by the tunneler utility. The tunneler utility re-broadcasts the IP multicast feed using IP unicast to send the data stream directly to the requesting user and/or to a repeater utility. The receiver utility then receives and processes the data stream for output to the end user. Alternatively, the receiver application, or a network administrator, launches the repeater utility, which then converts the IP unicast stream back to IP multicast format for re-broadcast over the network segment to other clients.