WO2023063947A1

WO2023063947A1 - Displaying and switching video streams on daisy-chained devices

Info

Publication number: WO2023063947A1
Application number: PCT/US2021/054849
Authority: WO
Inventors: Roger Dale BENSON; Richard ShiJian LIN
Original assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
Priority date: 2021-10-13
Filing date: 2021-10-13
Publication date: 2023-04-20

Abstract

An example apparatus may include a display device, a video splitter, and a video switch. The video splitter may receive a first video stream in a first direction and may split the first video stream into a first split video stream and a second split video stream. The video splitter may send the first split video stream to the display device and send the second split video stream in the first direction to be received at a downstream device. The video switch may receive a second video stream in a second direction that may be different than the first direction. The video switch may switch a path through the video switch based on a location of a video source for the second video stream.

Description

DISPLAYING AND SWITCHING VIDEO STREAMS ON DAISY-CHAINED DEVICES

BACKGROUND

[0001] Video conferencing systems may be installed in a meeting room and may include various types of devices, including a conferencing computer and peripheral devices to allow conferencing meetings. In some examples, a conferencing system may include a centrally located controller in the meeting room, which may be used to control the conferencing system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0002] Features of the present disclosure are illustrated by way of example and not limited in the following figure(s), in which like numerals indicate like elements, in which:

[0003] FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of an example apparatus that may split a first video stream to be displayed in a display device and send to a downstream device, and switch a path of a second video stream based on a location of the second video stream, in which the first video stream and the second video stream are sent in different directions;

[0004] FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of an example system that may include the example apparatus depicted in FIG. 1 ;

[0005] FIG. 3 shows a flow diagram of an example method for sending a first video stream to a display device and to a plurality of control devices, which may be sequentially connected in a daisy-chain, and switching a path for a second video stream based on a location of a video source for the second video stream.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0006] For simplicity and illustrative purposes, the principles of the present disclosure are described by referring mainly to examples thereof. In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide an understanding of the examples. It will be apparent, however, to one of ordinary skill in the art, that the examples may be practiced without limitation to these specific details. In some instances, well known methods and/or structures have not been described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure the description of the examples. Furthermore, the examples may be used together in various combinations.

[0007] Throughout the present disclosure, the terms "a" and "an" are intended to denote at least one of a particular element. As used herein, the term "includes" means includes but not limited to, the term "including" means including but not limited to. The term "based on" means based at least in part on.

[0008] Generally, a conferencing meeting may be conducted using a conferencing system, which may include a host computing device running a conferencing application. In some examples, the conferencing systems may be installed in a meeting room and may be built around the host computing device to include various types of peripheral devices. The conferencing system may include a control device, which may also be referred to in the present disclosure as a video conferencing controller or a center of room control (CoRC), to enable the user to interact with the conferencing system. The control device may be used to control an infrastructure of the meeting room including, for example, displays, webcams, microphones, speakers, lights, and/or the like. However, in some instances, the conferencing system may be implemented with a single control device, which may or may not be able to adequately control the conferencing system in a large room.

[0009] Disclosed herein are apparatuses, systems, and methods for allowing use of multiple control devices to control a conferencing system. In some examples, multiple control devices may be sequentially connected such that they are daisy-chained to each other, and each of the video conferencing controllers may enable two separate video streams to be relayed over the daisy-chained video conferencing controllers. As used herein, the term daisy-chained refers to a plurality of devices that are connected together in a linear series. Generally, the control devices may have a display device, such as an LCD panel, a touch screen panel, and/or the like, to display a user interface for controlling the conferencing system. In this regard, the control device may relay a first video stream, which may include data for a user interface, for display on a display device at the next connected control device. In some examples, the control devices may also allow guest users to connect their own computing devices to access the conferencing system. In these instances, the control devices may also relay a second video stream for the video conference, for instance, a video stream from the guest user, who may be connected to an input at one of the multiple control devices, for instance, to share a guest video for desktop sharing.

[0010] By way of example, an apparatus may include a display panel, a video splitter, and a video switch. The video splitter may receive a first video stream, split the first video stream into a first split video stream and a second split video stream, and send the first split video stream to the display panel and send the second split video stream in the first direction to be received at a downstream device. The video switch may receive a second video stream in a second direction that is different than the first direction. The video switch may switch a path through the video switch based on a location of a video source for the second video stream.

[0011] Through implementation of the features of the present disclosure, a conferencing system may allow a plurality of control devices to be installed in a video conferencing meeting room. Thus, for instance, in a relatively large room, multiple control devices may be arranged around the room so that the control devices may be more accessible to the meeting participants.

[0012] In the present disclosure, the first video stream, the second video stream, the first split video stream, and the second split video stream may equivalently be termed the first video stream data, the second video stream data, the first split video stream data, and the second split video stream data, respectively. In this regard, the streaming of the video content may equivalently be described as the streaming of data representing or corresponding to the video content.

[0013] Reference is made to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of an example apparatus 100 that may split a first video stream 102 to be displayed on a display device 104 and sent to a downstream device, and switch a path of a second video stream 106 based on a location of a video source for the second video stream, in which the first video stream and the second video stream are sent in different directions. FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram of an example system 200 that may include the example apparatus 100 depicted in FIG. 1. It should be understood that the example apparatus 100 and the system 200 may include additional features and that some of the features described herein may be removed and/or modified without departing from the scope of the apparatus 100 and the system 200.

[0014] The apparatus 100 may include a display device 104, a video splitter 108, and a video switch 114. According to examples, the apparatus 100 may receive a first video stream 102 in a first direction. The first video stream 102 may be video data for a user interface that is to be displayed on the display device 104. The first video stream 102 may be received from a computing device 202, also referred to herein as a conference room computing device, and relayed downstream to each of the apparatuses 100 and 100-1 to 100-n in the daisychain, as depicted in FIG. 2. In this regard, the first direction associated with the first video stream 102 may be a downstream direction relative to the first video stream 102, from the computing device 202 to the last apparatus 100-n.

[0015] The video splitter 108 may split the first video stream 102 into a first split video stream 110 and a second split video stream 112. The video splitter 108 may then send the first split video stream 110 to the display device 104 to be displayed. The video splitter 108 may send the second split video stream 112 in the first direction to be received at a downstream device, for instance, at the apparatuses 100-1 to 100-n. The apparatuses 100-1 to 100-n may be the same as the apparatus 100 and may include all of the features as apparatus 100, as described with respect to FIG. 1. Apparatuses 100-1 to 100-n may each receive a copy of the first video stream 102, and may display a copy of the first video stream 102 on their respective display devices.

[0016] In some examples, the apparatus 100 may include a first input/output (I/O) port 204 connected to the video splitter 108, and the first video stream 102 may be received at the apparatus 100 through the first I/O port 204. The apparatus 100 may also include a second I/O port 206 connected to the video splitter 108, and the second split video stream 112 may be sent through the second I/O port 206 in the first direction, for instance, in the downstream direction with respect to the first video stream 102. In some examples, the I/O ports as disclosed herein may include universal serial bus (USB) ports, or other appropriate types of data ports or connections. In this regard, suitable types of USB ports may be USB-A, USB-B, USB-C, and/or the like.

[0017] The first I/O port 204 may be an upstream facing port (UFP), which may receive data from a data source, and the second I/O port 206 may be a downstream facing port (DFP), which may be a data source to send data, with respect to the second video stream 106. The second video stream 106 may be sent downstream from the second I/O port 206 or a third I/O port 208 to the first I/O port 204. For instance, the second video stream 106 may be received through different I/O ports 206 or 208 in the apparatus 100, based on the location of the video source, and may be output to the computing device 202 through the first I/O port 204.

[0018] In some examples, the video splitter 108 may receive the first video stream 102 from a video conference application on the computing device 202. The video splitter 108 may send the second split video stream 112 to a downstream control device, for instance, the apparatus 100-1. The apparatus 100-1 may be connected downstream in the first direction, and may display a copy of the first video stream 102 using the second split video stream 112.

[0019] The video splitter 108 and the video switch 114 may be connected to a plurality of control devices, such as apparatuses 100-1 to 100-n. The plurality of control devices may be connected in sequence to be daisy-chained to each other.

[0020] In some examples, the video switch 114 may receive the second video stream 106 in a second direction that is different than the first direction. The second video stream 106 may be a video stream from a guest computing device connected locally to an I/O port on the apparatus 100, or connected at one of the downstream apparatuses 100-1 to 100-2. The video switch 114 may switch a path through the video switch 114 based on a location of a video source 212 for the second video stream 106.

[0021] in some examples, when the video source for the second video stream 106 is a local video source 210, for instance, as it is connected to the third I/O port 208, which may be a local port, the video switch 114 may set the path to select the local video source 210. When the video source for the second video stream 106 is an upstream video source 212, for instance, connected to an I/O port 216 located at an upstream control device, such as the apparatus 100-1 , the video switch 114 may set the path to select the upstream video source 212 at the apparatus 100-1 .

[0022] In some examples, the apparatus 100 may include a control unit 214 to control the video switch 114 to connect to the location of the video source. The control unit 214 may control the video switch 114 based on the location of the video source at one of a plurality of daisy-chained control devices, such as apparatuses 100-1 to 100-n, and respective states of video switches on the plurality of daisy-chained control devices. The control unit 214 may be an integrated circuit, a microprocessor, semiconductor-based microprocessor, a central processing unit (CPU), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a microcontroller unit (MCU), and/or other hardware device.

[0023] Various manners in which the apparatus 100 may operate are discussed in greater detail with respect to the method 300 depicted in FIG. 3. Particularly, FIG. 3 depicts a flow diagram of an example method 300 for sending a first video stream 102 to a display device 104 and to a plurality of control devices, such as apparatuses 100-1 to 100-n, which may be sequentially connected in a daisy-chain, and switching a path for a second video stream 106 based on a location of a video source for the second video stream 106. It should be understood that the method 300 may include additional operations and that some of the operations described therein may be removed and/or modified without departing from the scope of the method 300. The description of the method 300 is made with reference to the features depicted in FIGS. 1-2 for purposes of illustration. In addition, the use of the terms “first” and “second” throughout the present disclosure should not be construed as denoting order, but instead, these terms are used herein to distinguish certain features from each other.

[0024] At block 302, a video splitter 108 may receive a first video stream 102. The first video stream 102 may be displayed at each of a plurality of video conferencing controllers, such as apparatus 100 and apparatuses 100-1 to 100- n. The plurality of video conferencing controllers may be sequentially connected in a daisy-chain.

[0025] At block 304, the video splitter 108 may split or copy the first video stream 102 into a first split video stream 110 and a second split video stream 112. At block 306, the video splitter 108 may send the first split video stream 110 to a display device 104. At block 308, the video splitter 108 may send the second split video stream 112 to a subsequent video conferencing controller among the plurality of daisy-chained video conferencing controllers.

[0026] At block 310, the video switch 114 may receive a second video stream 106 to be displayed in a video conference. At block 312, the video switch 114 may switch a path through the video switch 114 based on a location of a video source for the second video stream 106. For instance, the location of the video source may be at an input port on one of the plurality of daisy-chained video conferencing controllers.

[0027] In some examples, a control unit 214 may control the video switch 114 to connect to the location of the video source. The control unit 214 may control the video switch 114 based on respective states of video switches on the plurality of daisy-chained control devices.

[0028] Some or all of the operations set forth in the method 300 may be included as utilities, programs, or subprograms, in any desired computer accessible medium. In addition, the method 300 may be embodied by computer programs, which may exist in a variety of forms both active and inactive. For example, they may exist as machine-readable instructions, including source code, object code, executable code or other formats. Any of the above may be embodied on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium. [0029] Examples of non-transitory computer readable storage media include computer system RAM, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, and magnetic or optical disks or tapes. It is therefore to be understood that any electronic device capable of executing the above-described functions may perform those functions enumerated above.

[0030] Although described specifically throughout the entirety of the instant disclosure, representative examples of the present disclosure have utility over a \wide range of applications, and the above discussion is not intended and should not be construed to be limiting, but is offered as an illustrative discussion of aspects of the disclosure.

[0031] What has been described and illustrated herein is an example of the disclosure along with some of its variations. The terms, descriptions and figures used herein are set forth by way of illustration only and are not meant as limitations. Many variations are possible within the scope of the disclosure, which is intended to be defined by the following claims - and their equivalents - in which all terms are meant in their broadest reasonable sense unless otherwise indicated.

Claims

9 What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising: a display device; a video splitter to: receive a first video stream in a first direction; split the first video stream into a first split video stream and a second split video stream; send the first split video stream to the display device; and send the second split video stream in the first direction to be received at downstream devices that are sequentially connected to each other to be daisy-chained; and a video switch to: receive a second video stream in a second direction that is different than the first direction; and switch a path through the video switch based on a location of a video source for the second video stream.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising: a first input/output (I/O) port connected to the video splitter, the first video stream being received through the first I/O port; a second I/O port connected to the video splitter, the second split video stream being sent through the second I/O port in the first direction; and a third I/O port connected to the video switch, the second video stream being received through the third I/O port or the second I/O port.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the first I/O port is an upstream facing port (UFP) and the second I/O port is a downstream facing port (DFP) for the second video stream, the second video stream being sent from the second I/O port or the third I/O port to the first I/O port.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the video splitter receives the first video stream from a video conference application and sends the second split video stream to a control device, the control device being connected downstream in the first direction to display a copy of the first video stream using the second split video stream.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the video spli tter and the video switch are connected to a plurality of control devices, the plurality of control devices being connected in sequence to be daisy- chained to each other.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein when the video source for the second video stream is a local video source, the video switch sets the path to select the local video source, and when the video source for the second video stream is an upstream video source located at an upstream control device, the video switch sets the path to select the upstream video source at the upstream control device.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, further comprising: a control unit to control the video switch to connect to the location of the video source, the control unit to control the video switch based on the location of the video source at one of a plurality of daisy-chained control devices and respective states of video switches on the plurality of daisy-chained control devices.

8. A system comprising: a conference room computing device; and an apparatus connected to the conference room computing device, the apparatus comprising: a display device; a video splitter to: receive a first video stream from the conference room computing device; split the first video stream into a first split video stream and a 11 second split video stream; send the first split video stream to the display device; and send the second split video stream to be received at a downstream device; and a video switch to: receive a second video stream; and switch a path through the video switch based on a location of a video source for the second video stream.

9. The system of claim 8, further comprising: a plurality of second apparatuses connected to the apparatus in sequence in a daisy chain.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the plurality of second apparatuses are to sequentially receive the second split video stream from the apparatus to respectively display a copy of the first video stream using the second split video stream.

11. The system of claim 9, further comprising: a first input/output (I/O) port connected to the video splitter, the first video stream being received through the first I/O port; a second I/O port connected to the video splitter, the second split video stream being sent through the second I/O port to the plurality of second apparatuses; and a third I/O port connected to the video switch, the video source for the second video stream being connected locally at the third I/O port or the video source for the second video stream being connected at one of the plurality of second apparatuses.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein when the video source for the second video stream is a local video source, the video switch sets the path to select the local video source, and 12 when the video source for the second video stream is an upstream video source located at an upstream control device, the video switch sets the path to select the upstream video source at the upstream control device.

13. The system of claim 9, further comprising: a control unit to control the video switch to connect to the location of the video source, the control unit to control the video switch based on the location of the video source at one of a plurality of daisy-chained control devices and respective states of video switches on the plurality of daisy-chained control devices.

14. A method comprising: receiving, by a video splitter, a first video stream, the first video stream to be displayed at each of a plurality of video conferencing controllers, the plurality of video conferencing controllers being sequentially connected in a daisy-chain; splitting, by the video splitter, the first video stream into a first split video stream and a second split video stream; sending, by the video splitter, the first split video stream to a display device; sending, by the video splitter, the second split video stream to a subsequent video conferencing controller among the plurality of daisy-chained video conferencing controllers; receiving, at a video switch, a second video stream to be displayed in a video conference; and switching, at the video switch, a path through the video switch based on a location of a video source for the second video stream, the location of the video source being at an input port on one of the plurality of daisy-chained video conferencing controllers.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising: controlling, by a control unit, the video switch to connect to the location of the video source, the control unit to control the video switch based on respective states of video switches on the plurality of daisy-chained video conference controllers.