HETEROGENEOUS VIDEO CONFERENCING
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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.
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Citations
40 Claims
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1-20. -20. (canceled)
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21. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program for execution by at least one processor of a central distributor device participating in a conference, the computer program comprising sets of instructions for:
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receiving conference content data from (i) a first non-central distributor device according to a first set of conference parameters and (ii) a second non-central distributor device according to a second, different set of conference parameters, the first and second non-central distributor devices participating in the conference; generating composite conference content data using (i) the received conference content data and (ii) conference content data captured locally at the central distributor device; and distributing the composite conference content data to (i) the first non-central distributor device according to the first set of conference parameters and (ii) the second non-central distributor device according to the second set of conference parameters. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A method for providing a conferencing application for a device that participates in a conference as a central distributor of the conference, the method comprising:
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providing a local content capture module for capturing conference content at the device; providing a set of receiver modules for receiving, at the device, conference content from a plurality of non-central distributor devices, wherein at least two of the non-central distributor devices transmit conference content to the device according to different conference parameters; providing a compositing module for producing composite conference content data comprising data captured by the local conference capture module and data received by at least one of the receiver modules; and providing an output module for distributing the composite conference content data to the plurality of non-central distributor devices. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. A conference system comprising:
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a first non-central distributor device for transmitting conference content data according to a first set of conference parameters; a second non-central distributor device for transmitting conference content data according to the second set of conference parameters; and a central distributor device for (i) receiving the transmitted conference content data from the first and second non-central distributor device, (ii) generating composite conference content data from the received conference content data and additional conference content data captured locally at the central distributor device, (iii) transmitting the generated composite conference content data to the first and second non-central distributor devices, and (iv) outputting the generated conference content data locally at the central distributor device. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40)
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Specification