Abstract: The invention relates to a communication method and a terminal (500) for use with such a method. The method uses at least two interconnected terminals (402, 404), at which input data from associated participants is captured. The input data comprises at least video and/or audio data. A monitoring unit (530) derives activity information about the participants from the input data. The monitoring unit (530) is either located in one terminal (402) for centrally deriving the activity information, or present in all terminals (402, 404) for, at least partly, deriving the activity information locally. The activity information is subsequently visualized in the form of tables and/or diagrams or by manipulating the windows in which the participants are displayed. Also this visualization step can be performed only at a central terminal (402) or at the terminal of each participant (402, 404). The activity information comprises for instance talking time and a number of key strokes of the participant.

Abstract: The invention is a method and apparatus for determining similarity between images based upon a count of the number of similar characterizations of the images. To provide for efficiency in the comparison process, indexed lists of image identifiers are maintained, and the count of similar characterizations of an image is determined by the count of occurrences of the image's identifier in selected lists. The selected lists are determined by a characterization of a target image from which similar images are to be identified. The indexing and retrieval techniques presented herein are suitable for a variety of image characterization techniques, such as characterizations based upon the color content or edge content of partitions of an image. Multiple indexes can be associated with one or more characteristic measures of each partition, allowing for image retrieval based on one or more characteristics of the target image.

Abstract: A method by which video compression parameters of different video streams are changed to optimize overall bandwidth utilization according to rules related to the varying interactions among group members. Different video streams are allocated different portions of the overall bandwidth based on a priority scheme. The priority scheme is based upon group dynamics. A controller (central or distributed) receives a group dynamics monitoring signal which monitors the various activities of group members. The controller (central or distributed) uses the network congestion control feedback signal and the priorities assigned to the different video streams to send feedback signals to the different video transmitters requesting the transmitters to adhere to, increase, or decrease their video data rates by changing parameters controlling the video encoding process.