Forgent Networks Awarded Three New Patents; Company Shareholders Continue to Benefit from Increased Intellectual Property Portfolio
AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 17, 2004--Three new patents have been awarded to Forgent Networks (Nasdaq:FORG) by the U.S. Patent Office, effectively serving to strengthen the company's intellectual property portfolio and support its strategy of increasing shareholder value through the licensing of patented technology.
The three patents include a new process that creates a visual representation of a videoconference, a method of controlling acoustic echo cancellers and a process for improving digital video processing.
The Method and System for Automated Call Graph Layout is a process used by the company's ALLIANCE software to create a graph of a video call. The process produces a visual representation of the devices on the call, including the video endpoints, MCUs and gateways. It also represents the connections between the devices and can provide supplemental information, such as the dialing direction and bandwidth used by each of the connections. Video administrators use call graphs to build, execute and troubleshoot videoconferences.
The second patent is entitled Apparatus and Method for Controlling an Acoustic Echo Canceller. To improve the quality of voice communication, an "echo canceller" is generally utilized to remove echoes and other background noises. For each call, the echo canceller uses an adaptive filter to learn the characteristics of the current conversation and filter out echoes. This patent provides a way of excluding any distorted audio signals from the adaptive filter, thereby improving the quality of the subsequent echo cancellation and the resulting voice communication.
The third patent is entitled Digital Video Processing Using a Dynamically Varying Number of Video Fields. This particular patent describes a technology for improving the quality of video streams between devices in a heterogeneous network. This is done by more effectively translating between the industry's various image interlacing standards.
"Forgent continues to deliver on its promise to develop leading edge technology, and we believe in the value of creating intellectual art and protecting those assets in the industry," said Ken Kalinoski, chief technology officer and vice president of development at Forgent.
About Forgent
Forgent Networks provides a spectrum of scheduling software that enables organizations to streamline the planning and execution of their meetings. Forgent's offerings include Network Simplicity's Meeting Room Manager, which provides web-based room scheduling capabilities and ALLIANCE, which provides unified scheduling of all meeting logistics through corporate calendaring platforms Microsoft Outlook and Lotus Notes. For additional information visit www.forgent.com.
CONTACT:
Forgent Networks, Austin
Press Contact:
Nelson Duffle, 512-437-2532
nelson_duffle@forgent.com
or
Investor contact:
Alexa Coy, 512-437-2678
alexa_coy@forgent.com
SOURCE: Forgent Networks