Intercom System Intensity-Based Audio Routing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional intercom systems face limitations in scalability and voice quality due to channel-based audio mixing, which requires significant computational resources and introduces propagation delays, and they lack flexibility in participant interactions and signal processing capabilities.
Innovation Solution
An intercom system that allows unmixed audio packets to be exchanged between terminals over a packet network, using intensity-based routing to reduce bandwidth requirements and enable selective listening and multi-party conferencing without degrading voice quality, by employing intercom terminals and servers that manage audio packets with unique identifiers and intensity signals.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If audio mixing is performed at the server for traditional intercom systems, then all participants can receive composite audio signals, but computational resources are heavily consumed and the number of endpoints is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the audio mixing function from the server to individual terminals. Instead of the server mixing all audio channels centrally, each terminal independently mixes only the channels it needs, dividing the computational burden across multiple distributed nodes rather than concentrating it at the server.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the audio mixing operation from the server environment and relocates it to terminal devices. This removes the computational burden from the server, allowing it to focus on packet routing and management while terminals handle local mixing operations.
2Reliability
If audio channels are mixed at the server, then composite audio signals are provided to all participants, but propagation delay increases due to jitter buffering requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the audio processing pipeline so that jitter buffering and synchronization are handled independently at each terminal for the specific channels it receives, rather than requiring all channels to be synchronized centrally at the server. This allows parallel processing and reduces overall delay.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent inverts the traditional approach by having terminals request and receive specific audio channels directly from sources rather than receiving a pre-mixed composite signal. This reverses the data flow direction and eliminates the need for server-side synchronization of all channels before distribution.
3Adaptability or versatility
If all audio channels are transmitted to each endpoint for flexible listening options, then participants can selectively listen to different channels, but bandwidth consumption increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by allowing each terminal to receive and process only the specific audio channels it needs based on its local configuration and user preferences. Each terminal tailors its received audio content to its specific requirements rather than receiving all available channels, optimizing bandwidth usage for each endpoint's needs.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses partial action by having terminals receive only a subset of available audio channels rather than all channels. Each terminal selectively subscribes to and receives only the channels it requires, performing partial mixing operations rather than complete mixing of all sources.
4Device complexity
If audio mixing is performed centrally at the server, then audio routing is simplified, but the system cannot support dynamic multi-conferencing capabilities without expensive processing resources
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments conferencing functionality into independent, dynamically creatable sessions. Each conferencing session is an independent entity that can be created, modified, and destroyed without affecting others, allowing dynamic multi-conferencing where terminals can participate in multiple sessions simultaneously with different channel configurations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces dynamics by allowing conferencing sessions to be dynamically created and modified at any time. Terminals can join or leave sessions, channels can be added or removed from session mixes, and configurations can change on-the-fly without requiring system-wide reconfiguration or expensive centralized processing resources.
Data Source
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AI summary
A multi-point to multi-point intercom system, formed by at least one intercom server and a plurality of intercom terminals, the intercom terminals registered as talking or listening intercom terminals in an intercom session table. The intercom server sends to listening intercom terminals some or all of the unmixed audio packets received by talking intercom terminals according to the intensity signal value found in the header of the unmixed audio packets.