Patent ID: 8411130

Claim:
An apparatus for a video conference, the apparatus comprising: a speaker distinguishing unit configured to distinguish, as a speaker, a participant who is speaking, from a plurality of participants in the video conference; an image data generating unit configured to generate image data that represents the distinguished participant differently from other participants; a timbre information storage unit configured to store timbre information associated with at least one participant from among the plurality of participants; and a timbre information extractor configured to extract speaker timbre information from the voice of the speaker, wherein the speaker distinguishing unit is further configured to: determine whether timbre information matched to the extracted speaker timbre information is stored in the timbre information storage unit, and in response to the matched timbre information not being stored in the timbre information storage unit: determine a voice obtaining unit to which the voice of the speaker is inputted; and distinguish a participant in a location corresponding to the determined voice obtaining unit as the speaker.