Heterogeneous video conferencing

• US 20060245377A1
• Filed: 04/28/2005
• Published: 11/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Normile, Jim, Tung, Berkat Shing, Jeong, Hyeonkuk, Salsbury, Ryan, Abuan, Joe
• Granted Patent: US 7,949,117 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/260
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/15 Conference systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13093 Personal computer, PC
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/1324 Conference call
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0045 involving hybrid, i.e. a mixture of public and private, or multi-vendor systems

Abstract

Some embodiments provide an architecture for establishing a multi-participant conference. This architecture has one participant'"'"'s computer in the conference act as a central content distributor for the conference. The central distributor receives data (e.g., video and/or audio streams) from the computer of each other participant, and distributes the received data to the computers of all participants. In some embodiments, the central distributor receives A/V data from the computers of the other participants. From such received data, the central distributor of some embodiments generates composite data (e.g., composite image data and/or composite audio data) that the central distributor distributes back to the participants. The central distributor in some embodiments can implement a heterogeneous audio/video conference. In such a conference, different participants can participate in the conference differently. For instance, different participants might use different audio or video codecs. Moreover, in some embodiments, one participant might participate in only the audio aspect of the conference, while another participant might participate in both audio and video aspects of the conference.

Claims

1. A heterogeneous conference between a plurality of computers, the conference comprising:

a focus point computer and at least two non-focus point computers;

wherein the focus point computer receives conference content data from the non-focus point computers and redistributes the received conference content data to the non-focus point computers;

wherein a first non-focus point computer provides content data that is based on a first set of conference parameters while a second non-focus point computer provides content data that is based on a second set of conference parameters that is different than the first set of conference parameters.

2. The conference of claim 1, wherein the first and second conference parameters include the type of content data being provided, wherein different types of content data is provided by the first and second non-focus point computers.

3. The conference of claim 1, wherein the first and second conference parameters include a size for a frame of the content data, wherein the first and second non-focus point computers provide different sized frames to the focus point computer.

4. The conference of claim 3, wherein the focus point computer comprises more than one resizer for resizing content data from the first and second non-focus point computers.

5. The conference of claim 1, wherein the content data includes video data, wherein the conference parameters includes the type of video encoders used by the first and second non-focus point computers, wherein the first and second non-focus point computers use different types of video encoders.

6. The conference of claim 1, wherein the conference content data includes audio data, wherein the conference parameters includes the type of audio encoders used by the first and second non-focus point computers, wherein the first and second non-focus point computers use different types of audio encoders.

7. The conference of claim 1, wherein the content data from the first non-focus point computer includes video data and the content data from the second non-focus point computer does not includes video data.

8. The conference of claim 7, wherein the focus point computer includes a video decoder, wherein the video decoder defines a video-decoding pipeline for the first non-focus point computer, wherein the video decoder foregoes defining a video-decoding pipeline for the second non-focus point computer.

9. The conference of claim 8, wherein the redistributed content data from the focus point computer to the first non-focus point computer includes a composite frame, wherein the composite frame does not contain video data from the second non-focus point computer.

10. The conference of claim 8, wherein the focus point computer only provides audio data to the second non-focus point computer.

11. A computer readable medium for performing a heterogeneous conference between a plurality of computers, the computer readable medium comprising sets of instructions, the sets of instructions comprising:

a) receiving conference content data from at least two non-focus point computers, wherein a focus point computer receives the content data; and

b) redistributing the received conference content data to the non-focus point computers;

wherein a first non-focus point computer provides content data that is based on a first set of conference parameters while a second non-focus point computer provides content data that is based on a second set of conference parameters that is different than the first set of conference parameters.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the first and second conference parameters include the type of content data being provided, wherein different types of content data is provided by the first and second non-focus point computers.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the first and second conference parameters include a size for a frame of the content data, wherein the first and second non-focus point computers provide different sized frames to the focus point computer.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the focus point computer comprises more than one resizer for resizing content data from the first and second non-focus point computers.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the content data includes video data, wherein the conference parameters includes the type of video encoders used by the first and second non-focus point computers, wherein the first and second non-focus point computers use different types of video encoders.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the conference content data includes audio data, wherein the conference parameters includes the type of audio encoders used by the first and second non-focus point computers, wherein the first and second non-focus point computers use different types of audio encoders.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the content data from the first non-focus point computer includes video data and the content data from the second non-focus point computer does not include video data.

18. The computer readable medium of 17, wherein the focus point computer includes a video decoder, wherein the decoder defines a video-decoding pipeline for the first non-focus point computer, wherein the video decoder foregoes defining a video-decoding pipeline for the second non-focus point computer.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the redistributed content data from the focus point computer to the first non-focus point computer includes a composite frame, wherein the composite frame does not contain video data from the second non-focus point computer.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the focus point computer only provides audio data to the second non-focus point computer.