COMBINING DIRECT AND ROUTED COMMUNICATION IN A VIDEO CONFERENCE

• US 20110316965A1
• Filed: 06/25/2010
• Published: 12/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Moore, Timothy, Kukoleca, Dalibor, Zheng, Jiannan
• Granted Patent: US 8,576,271 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/14.09
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1827 Network arrangements for conference optimisation or adaptation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/15 Conference systems

Abstract

A video conference cross-links at least a portion of the clients for point to point communication while still using a video conference server. The video conference server continues to manage some aspects of the video conference for the cross-linked clients and may be configured to perform audio/video processing for some of the clients in a video conference. For example, the video conference server may perform audio/video processing and routing of streams for clients that do not have the capabilities to perform the processing directly. Clients that are able to process their audio/video needs may directly connect to other clients through cross-links while still using the video conference server for management.

Claims

1. A method for cross-linking clients and using a video conference server to manage the clients within the video conference, comprising:

establishing a first connection between a first client and a server in a video conference and establishing a second connection between a second client and the server in the video conference;

determining a first capability of the first client and a second capability of the second client;

wherein the first capability and the second capability is an ability to encode and decode streams that are used within the video conference;

sending a request to at least one of the first client and the second client to establish a cross-link connection between the first client and the second client, wherein after the cross-link connection is established a stream is delivered between the first client and the second client without passing through the video conference server; and

using the video conference server to manage the first client and the second client in the video conference.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising at least one of the clients determining when the cross-link connection is faster than the connection established with the server for delivering streams.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising instructing the first client and the second client to stop sending generated streams to the server after the cross-link is established.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending a notification to the first client and the second client in response to a dominant speaker change in the video conference.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the capability comprises determining a bandwidth of at least one communication medium associated with the first client and the second client and determining a processing power for each of the first client and the second client.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein managing the video conference comprises accepting a subscription to the video conference from a third client while maintaining the cross-link connection between the first client and the second client.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising instructing the first client to send a generated stream to the server and to the second client when the third client is not cross-linked to the first client, wherein the server routes the generated stream to the third client.

8. The method of claim 2, further comprising determining when conditions change within the video conference and in response to the conditions changing, modifying the cross-link, wherein modifying the cross-link changes a data flow between the first client and the second client.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining when conditions change within the video conference comprises determining when a bandwidth limitation is reached.

10. A computer-readable medium which stores a set of instructions which when executed performs a method for cross-linking clients and using a video conference server to manage the clients within the video conference, the method executed by the set of instructions comprising:

establishing for each client of the video conference a connection with the video server;

determining capabilities for each client within the video conference, wherein the capabilities include at least an encoding ability and an available bandwidth;

determining the clients to cross-link within the video conference;

establishing the cross-link between each of the determined clients, wherein after the cross-link connection is established a stream is delivered between at least two of the clients that are cross-linked without passing through the video conference server; and

using the video conference server to manage the cross-linked clients and the other clients in the video conference.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising for each of the established cross-link determining when to use the cross-link connection in place of the connection with the server.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising instructing at least some of the cross-linked clients to stop sending generated streams to the server.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising sending a notification to the cross-linked clients in response to a dominant speaker change in the video conference.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the stream is a video stream, and wherein an audio stream that is associated with the video stream is processed and routed by the video conference server.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein managing the video conference comprises accepting a subscription to the video conference from a new client after establishing the cross-links and determining when to establish a cross-link connection for the new client.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, further comprising instructing a cross-linked client to send a generated stream to the server, wherein the server routes the generated stream to a client that is not cross-linked to the instructed client.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, further comprising determining when conditions change within the video conference and in response to the conditions changing, modifying at least one of the cross-links, wherein modifying the cross-link changes an amount of data flow between the clients of the modified cross-link.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein determining when conditions change within the video conference comprises determining when a bandwidth limitation is reached.

19. A system for generating streams cross-links clients and uses a video conference server to manage the clients within the video conference, the system comprising:

a memory storage;

a network connection device; and

a processing unit coupled to the memory storage, wherein the processing unit is operative to;

register a first video conference client and a second video conference client operatively connected to the system via the network connection device, wherein being operative to register the first video conference client and the second video conference client comprises being operative to establish capabilities for the first video conference client and the second video conference client, wherein the capabilities are used to determine an encoding ability;

establish a cross-link between the first video conference client and the second video conference client;

wherein a stream that is sent to the second video conference client from the first video conference client is not processed by the processing unit;

receive a stream from the first video conference client, and route the stream to another client in the video conference.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising notifying the first video conference client and the second video conference client upon a speaker change in the video conference.