System and method for scalable media switching conferencing

• US 10,715,764 B2
• Filed: 05/23/2011
• Issued: 07/14/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Berger, Espen, Buhler, Pascal, Kroknes, Jan Asle
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Yogeshkumar
• Application Number:
  US13/113,501
• Publication Number:
  US 20110292165A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,340 Days
• Field of Search: 348 1401, 348 1402, 348 1408, 348 1412
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/765 intermediate
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/152 Multipoint control units therefor

Abstract

A method including: establishing connections, at a server, to at least two client devices using a call control protocol, the call control protocol negotiating video formats and connection information for sending and receiving media streams; receiving information from a first client at the server, the information comprising meta-data describing different media streams the first client is configured to transmit; transmitting the information received from the first client to the at least one other client; receiving a subscribe message from the at least one other client at the server, subscribing to at least one available media stream from the first client; in response to receiving at least one subscribe message from the at least one other client, transmitting, by the server, a message instructing the first client to start transmitting media streams subscribed to by the at least one other client; receiving, by the server, the media streams subscribed to by the at least one other client from the first client; and transmitting, by the server, the media streams subscribed to by the at least one other client to the at least one other client.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

obtaining, by a server from a first client device, metadata indicating different formats of video that the first client device is configured to transmit during a call connection with a second client device, wherein the first client device is establishing a connection via the server to the second client device using a call control protocol and the different formats of the video are provided in a form of a plurality of different video streams each of which has a different format for the video;

selecting, by the server, at least two of the plurality of different video streams including a first video stream having a first format and a second video stream having a second format different from the first format;

providing, by the server to the second client device, a first identifier with the first video stream, and a second identifier with the second video stream, the second identifier being different from the first identifier;

obtaining, by the server from the second client device, a first subscription message including the first identifier or the second identifier;

based on the first identifier or the second identifier obtained in the first subscription message, providing, by the server to the first client device, a message instructing to start transmission, to the second client device, of a first selected video stream from among the first video stream and the second video stream; and

obtaining, by the server from the second client device, an unsubscribe message unsubscribing to the first selected video stream, based on an event occurring during the call connection.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining, by the server from the second client device, a second subscription message subscribing to a second selected video stream from among the first video stream and the second video stream to replace the first selected video stream.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein selecting, by the server, the at least two of the plurality of different video streams including the first video stream having the first format and the second video stream having the second format different from the first format includes:

selecting the first video stream that has the video with at least one of a first resolution or a first size and the second video stream that has the video with at least one of a second resolution lower than the first resolution or a second size lower than the first size.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein obtaining, by the server from the second client device, the unsubscribe message includes:

obtaining, by the server from the second client device, the unsubscribe message unsubscribing to the first selected video stream, based on the event indicating a change of an active speaker during the call connection.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing, by the server to the first client device, instructions to change the different formats of the video offered by the first client device based on feedback from the second client device.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing, by the server to the first client device, instructions to change the different formats of the video offered by the first client device based on capabilities of the second client device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining, by the server from the first client device, the metadata indicating the different formats of the video includes:

obtaining, by the server from the first client device, the metadata indicating different resolutions and different positions or angles of capture of the video that the first client device is configured to transmit during the call connection with the second client device.

8. An apparatus comprising:

a communication interface;

a memory configured to store executable instructions; and

a processor coupled to the communication interface and the memory and configured to perform operations including;

obtaining, from a first client device, metadata indicating different formats of a video that the first client device is configured to transmit during a call connection with a second client device, wherein the first client device is establishing a connection via the apparatus to the second client device using a call control protocol and the different formats of the video are provided in a form of a plurality of different video streams each of which has a different format for the video;

selecting at least two of the plurality of different video streams including a first video stream having a first format and a second video stream having a second format different from the first format;

providing, to the second client device, a first identifier with the first video stream, and a second identifier with the second video stream, the second identifier being different from the first identifier;

obtaining, from the second client device, a first subscription message including the first identifier or the second identifier;

based on the first identifier or the second identifier obtained in the first subscription message, providing, to the first client device, a message instructing to start transmission, to the second client device, of a first selected video stream from among the first video stream and the second video stream; and

obtaining, from the second client device, an unsubscribe message unsubscribing to the first selected video stream, based on an event occurring during the call connection.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to perform an additional operation of:

obtaining, from the second client device, a second subscribe message subscribing to a second selected video stream from among the first video stream and the second video stream to replace the first selected video stream.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured to perform the operation of selecting the at least two of the plurality of different video streams including the first video stream having the first format and the second video stream having the second format different from the first format by:

selecting the first video stream that has the video with at least one of a first resolution or a first size and the second video stream that has the video with at least one of a second resolution lower than the first resolution or a second size lower than the first size.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processor is configured to perform the operation of obtaining, from the second client device, the unsubscribe message by:

obtaining, from the second client device, the unsubscribe message unsubscribing to the first selected video stream, based on the event indicating a change of an active speaker during the call connection.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to perform an additional operation of:

providing, to the first client device, instructions to change the different formats of the video offered by the first client device based on feedback from the second client device.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to perform an additional operation of:

providing, to the first client device, instructions to change the different formats of the video offered by the first client device based on capabilities of the second client device.

14. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is configured to perform the operation of obtaining, from the first client device, the metadata indicating the different formats of the video by:

obtaining, from the first client device, the metadata indicating different resolutions and different positions or angles of capture of the video that the first client device is configured to transmit during the call connection with the second client device.

15. One or more non-transitory computer readable storage media encoded with instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations including:

obtaining, from a first client device, metadata indicating different formats of a video that the first client device is configured to transmit during a call connection with a second client device, wherein the first client device is establishing a connection to the second client device using a call control protocol and the different formats of the video are provided in a form of a plurality of different video streams each of which has a different format for the video;

selecting at least two of the plurality of different video streams including a first video stream having a first format and a second video stream having a second format different from the first format;

providing, to the second client device, a first identifier with the first video stream, and a second identifier with the second video stream, the second identifier being different from the first identifier;

obtaining, from the second client device, a first subscription message including the first identifier or the second identifier;

based on the first identifier or the second identifier obtained in the first subscription message, providing, to the first client device, a message instructing to start transmission, to the second client device, of a first selected video stream from among the first video stream and the second video stream; and

obtaining, from the second client device, an unsubscribe message unsubscribing to the first selected video stream, based on an event occurring during the call connection.

16. The one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media of claim 15, wherein the instructions cause the processor to perform an additional operation including:

obtaining, from the second client device, a second subscribe message subscribing to a second selected video stream from among the first video stream and the second video stream to replace the first selected video stream.

17. The one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the instructions cause the processor to perform the operation of selecting the at least two of the plurality of different video streams including the first video stream having the first format and the second video stream having the second format different from the first format by:

selecting the first video stream that has the video with at least one of a first resolution or a first size and the second video stream that has the video with at least one of a second resolution lower than the first resolution or a second size lower than the first size.

18. The one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media of claim 17, wherein the instructions cause the processor to perform the operation of obtaining, from the second client device, the unsubscribe message by:

obtaining, from the second client device, the unsubscribe message unsubscribing to the first selected video stream, based on the event indicating a change of an active speaker during the call connection.

19. The one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media of claim 15, wherein the instructions cause the processor to perform an additional operation including:

providing, to the first client device, instructions to change the different formats of the video offered by the first client device based on feedback from the second client device.

20. The one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media of claim 15, wherein the instructions cause the processor to perform an additional operation including:

providing, to the first client device, instructions to change the different formats of the video offered by the first client device based on capabilities of the second client device.