MIXED MEDIA CONFERENCING

• US 20110110505A1
• Filed: 01/14/2011
• Published: 05/12/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bruce Arthur, Greg Christie, Marcel Van Os, Peter Westen, Stephen O. Lemay
• Original Assignee: Bruce Arthur, Greg Christie, Marcel Van Os, Peter Westen, Stephen O. Lemay
• Inventors: Christie, Greg, Lemay, Stephen O., Van Os, Marcel, Arthur, Bruce, Westen, Peter
• Granted Patent: US 8,724,523 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/93.21
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1818 Conference organisation arrangements, e.g. handling schedules, setting up parameters needed by nodes to attend a conference, booking network resources, notifying involved parties
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1827 Network arrangements for conference optimisation or adaptation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2066 Call type detection of indication, e.g. voice or fax, mobile of fixed, PSTN or IP
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/56 Arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities video conference systems H04N7/15

Abstract

Multiple users participate in a conference while taking maximum advantage of hardware and bandwidth capabilities of each participant. Each user'"'"'s system makes known to a directory service its hardware sending and receiving capabilities. The directory service makes this information available to other users who may then wish to join a conference with the user. An initiating user sends invitations via the directory service to the remote users. Each user that accepts an invitation transmits its network address to the initiating user, who then establishes a peer-to-peer connection with each of the remote users. Each participant system exchanges information about hardware capabilities and bandwidth, and a conference manager determines a best model for connecting each of the participants. Depending on the hardware and bandwidth capabilities of the participants, the manager chooses from a duplicate streams model, a multicast model, and a host-among-peers model for connecting the participants.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for holding a teleconference between a plurality of users, each user having a conference system with associated hardware capabilities and associated bandwidth capabilities, the method comprising:

inviting a plurality of users to join a conference;

receiving from each invited user a user address;

establishing a connection with each invited user using the received user address;

determining a conferencing method; and

establishing a conference according to the determined conferencing method.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the conferencing method is determined according to the associated hardware characteristics of the users.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2 wherein the conferencing method is determined according to the associated bandwidth characteristics of the users.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the conferencing method is a duplicate streams method.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the conferencing method is a multicast streams method.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the conferencing method is a host-among-peers method.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein a conference system having a highest associated bandwidth capability is selected as a host among peers.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein hardware capabilities include a processor speed, and a conference system having a highest processor speed is selected as a host among peers.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the associated hardware characteristics include microphone transmission capability.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the associated hardware characteristics include video transmission capability.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one user'"'"'s associated hardware characteristics include video transmission capability and at least one user'"'"'s associated hardware characteristics do not include video transmission capability.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one user'"'"'s associated hardware characteristics include audio transmission capability and at least one user'"'"'s associated hardware characteristics do not include audio transmission capability.

13. A computer implemented method of configuring a teleconference between a plurality of conferencing systems, the method comprising:

determining for each conferencing system an associated bandwidth, and available communication capabilities; and

configuring each of the conferencing systems to communicate with the other conferencing systems using a maximal communication capability allowed by the associated bandwidth of the conferencing system.

14. A system for holding a conference between a plurality of users, each user having associated hardware characteristics and associated bandwidth characteristics, the system comprising:

a service interface module for;

establishing a connection with a directory service;

inviting a plurality of users to join a conference;

a negotiation engine, communicatively coupled to the service interface module, for;

receiving from each invited user a user address;

establishing a connection with each invited user using the received user address;

determining a conferencing method; and

establishing a conference according to the determined conferencing method.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the conferencing method is determined according to the associated hardware characteristics of the users.

16. The system of claim 15 or 15 wherein the conferencing method is determined according to the associated bandwidth characteristics of the users.

17. The system of claim 14 wherein the conferencing method is a duplicate streams method.

18. The system of claim 14 wherein the conferencing method is a multicast streams method.

19. The system of claim 14 wherein the conferencing method is a host-among-peers method.

20. The system of claim 14 wherein the associated hardware characteristics include microphone transmission capability.

21. The system of claim 14 wherein the associated hardware characteristics include video transmission capability.

22. The system of claim 14 wherein at least one user'"'"'s associated hardware characteristics include video transmission capability and at least one user'"'"'s associated hardware characteristics do not include video transmission capability.

23. The system of claim 14 wherein at least one user'"'"'s associated hardware characteristics include audio transmission capability and at least one user'"'"'s associated hardware characteristics do not include audio transmission capability.