Patent ID: 8503653

Claim:
A method for enabling selection of an active speaker during a teleconference, the active speaker to be selected from a plurality of active speakers participating in said teleconference and co-located at a given originating physical location, the selection of an active speaker to listen to at a remote physical location from the plurality of active speakers co-located at the given originating physical location to be made by a participant in the teleconference located at the remote physical location, the method comprising the steps of: generating a plurality of estimated speech signals, each estimated speech signal comprising speech representative of a single one of said plurality of active speakers co-located at the given originating physical location; performing speaker recognition on each of said estimated speech signals to generate corresponding speaker identities associated with the active speakers represented thereby; transmitting a plurality of said speaker identities, each speaker identity corresponding to one of said estimated speech signals associated with the plurality of active speakers, to said remote physical location; and transmitting one or more of said estimated speech signals to said remote physical location, wherein each of said estimated speech signals is selectable by the participant.