Patent ID: 8077194

Claim:
A local videoconferencing device for a videoconferencing system having a local videoconferencing device with a video display and at least one remote videoconferencing device with a video display interconnected through a network, the local videoconferencing device comprising: a video sensor for capturing images; a plurality of microphones for capturing sound, the plurality of microphones being arranged in known positions relative to one another; a plurality of speakers for producing sound, the plurality of speakers being arranged in known positions relative to one another; at least one processing unit coupled to the video sensor, the microphones and the speakers; and a communication interface coupled to the at least one processing unit and the at least one remote videoconferencing device through the network; wherein the at least one processing unit is operative to produce at least a first video stream from signals received from the video sensor and an audio stream and an audio source position signal from signals received from the microphones, wherein the audio source position signal is based upon the magnitude differences of captured sound from the plurality of microphones; wherein the at least one processing unit is operative to receive at least one video stream, one audio stream, and one audio source position signal from a remote videoconferencing device; and wherein the at least one processing unit is operative to drive the plurality of speakers to reproduce sound according to the received audio stream and audio source position signal.