Patent ID: 8170193

Claim:
A system comprising: a plurality of participant stations, each of the plurality of participant stations associated with at least one conference participant and including at least one microphone configured to transmit a participant audio signal to other of the plurality of participant stations, said audio signal generated based on the at least one conference participant, at least one loudspeaker configured to receive a composite audio signal from the other of the plurality of participant stations and convert the composite audio signal to audible sound, and a station processing system coupled to the at least one microphone and the at least one loudspeaker, the station processing system configured to receive the participant audio signal from the at least one microphone, compress the participant audio signal, transmit the compressed participant audio signal over a network, receive the composite audio signal in compressed form, decompress the composite audio signal from the compressed form, transmit the decompressed composite audio signal to the at least one loudspeaker; and a spatial processing system having a plurality of ports, a different one of said ports coupled, respectively, to a different one of the plurality of participant stations via the network, the spatial processing system configured to receive the participant audio signal from its respective participant station, for said each participant station thereby obtaining participant audio signals, assign unique virtual locations for a plurality of participants around a simulated table, each of said participants being physically located at a different one of said participant stations, apply a different head-related transfer function to each one of said participant audio signals to obtain a correspondingly-different spatialized audio signal, combine, into said composite audio signal, each said spatialized audio signal with all other spatialized audio signals except for one of said all other, spatialized audio signals associated with said at least one conference participant, and transmit said composite audio signal to said at least one conference participant who perceives from said composite audio signal that all participants in said plurality of participants are seated around said simulated table in a particular order, each said at least one conference participant perceiving said all participants to be seated around said simulated table in said particular order when a different composite audio signal is transmitted, respectively, to said each said at least one conference participant.