Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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teleconferencing

Starfish teleconferencing appliance
 
(+1, -1)
  [vote for,
against]

The quality of echo cancellation in audio teleconferencing could stand a lot of improvement. Imagine something similar to a Polycom Soundstation but with five legs instead of three (it would look like a big starfish). Equip it with USB and IEEE 1394 ports. Distribute several small microphones and loudspeakers along the legs. Multiplex the acoustic input/ output streams onto the IEEE 1394. Connect to a Beowulf cluster in an adjacent room. The Beowulf cluster cleans up echos and employs beamforming and tags the resulting audio stream with information about the location of the speaker in the room. Beamform the loudspeaker output so that multiple semi-private conversations can take place. Use the Beowulf cluster for company R&D when no teleconferences are scheduled.
jaiwahbi, Mar 23 2001

Self-Explanotory Idea Names http://www.halfbake...tory_20idea_20names
Something this idea is NOT! [dgeiser13, Mar 23 2001, last modified Oct 04 2004]

ShouldExist http://www.shouldexist.org/
An Idea Exchange where this idea might be more appropriate. [dgeiser13, Mar 23 2001, last modified Oct 04 2004]

Google: beamforming teleconferencing http://www.google.c...ng+teleconferencing
Plenty o' (relevant) hits. [egnor, Mar 23 2001, last modified Oct 04 2004]

ITBlocks http://www.itblocks...m/soundstation2.asp
Polycom Soundstation 2 information [mickey, Jan 27 2006]


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Annotation:







       This isn't geek, this is gibberish.   

       OK, that's a little harsh. But the references to Beowulf clusters, IEEE 1394, and USB are completely gratuitous (read: stupid). The specification of 5 legs (rather than 3 or 15 or any other number) is also gratuitous and arbitrary (read: stupid).   

       If you delete all that, what's left is "use an array of microphones, an array of speakers, and beamforming to transmit spatially keyed audio for teleconferencing".   

       And that *is* baked.
egnor, Mar 23 2001
  

       Regardless, of the relevance of this idea HalfBakery is definitely the wrong place for it IMHO. Try ShouldExist if you want legitimate feedback.
dgeiser13, Mar 23 2001
  

       egnor: as I understand it, the big difference is that many of the ideas we come up with should not exist.
nick_n_uit, Mar 23 2001
  

       i think of Halfbakery is a place to pose half-baked ideas. Meaning not fully thought through. It doesn't mean they can't be valid. Ideas you have off the top of your head valid, invalid, funny, serious, etc. This one looks like someone is trolling for Venture Capital. Plus the idea name sucks.
dgeiser13, Mar 24 2001
  

       Oh! The HUMANITY!
[Faints]
wasraw, Mar 24 2001
  

       Oh! The HUMANITY!
[Faints]
wasraw, Mar 24 2001
  

       Yes, I can definitely see how the Half Bakery used to be a kinder and gentler place.
Voice, Aug 07 2022
  


 

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