Patent ID: 7612793

Claim:
A method for controlling a first endpoint having a plurality of loudspeakers spatially arranged with respect to a screen in a multipoint videoconference between the first endpoint and a plurality of endpoints, comprising: receiving at a multipoint control unit compressed audio and video image signals from the first endpoint and the plurality of endpoints; decoding the audio and video image signals; assessing from the audio signals which of the plurality of endpoints comprises a speaking endpoint; generating a video layout for the first endpoint, the layout positioning video images from two or more of the plurality of endpoints at different positions in the layout; processing one or more of the plurality of decoded audio signals in one or more channels, each channel corresponding to a speaker at the first endpoint, to generate a perception that the audio stream emanates from a position in the layout corresponding to a video image from the speaking endpoint encoding the video layout and the plurality of processed audio signals; and transmitting the encoded signals to the first endpoint.