Method and apparatus for efficiently utilizing conference bridge capacity

• US 6,728,221 B1
• Filed: 04/09/1999
• Issued: 04/27/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/09/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Unify Inc. (Atos SE)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Information & Communication Networks, Inc. (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Shaffer, Shmuel, Beyda, William J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chin, Wellington
• Assistant Examiner(s): SCHULTZ, WILLIAM C
• Application Number:
  US09/289,547
• Time in Patent Office: 1,845 Days
• Field of Search: 370/260, 370/264, 370/268, 370/269, 370/270, 370/352
• US Class Current: 370/260
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/562 where the conference facilities are distributed
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/567 Multimedia conference systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42

Abstract

Methods, apparatus and computer system for efficiently utilizing a conference bridge capacity in order to support a multipoint conference call are described. Each conference bridge within multiple communication groups determines which local communication unit is a dominant local communication unit, quantizes that dominant local communication unit'"'"'s signal, and transmits the quantized signal of the dominant local communication unit via signaling channels to the other conference bridges. Each conference bridge then compares the various quantized signals of the various dominant local communication units to determine an overall dominant communication unit of the multipoint conference. Then the signal of the overall dominant communication unit is then transmitted to all communication units participating in the conference call in various ways for different embodiments of the invention.

Claims

1. A method of establishing a multipoint conference among a plurality of communication units in a plurality of communication groups, each of said plurality of communication groups including a conference bridge and at least one communication unit associated with said conference bridge, a plurality of said conference bridges in said plurality of communication groups being arranged to establish communication for the multipoint conference, comprising:

determining the particular communication unit included within each of said plurality of communication groups that is a local dominant communication unit;

exchanging between said plurality of conference bridges a plurality of quantized values, each of said plurality of quantized values representative of the signal of the local dominant communication unit corresponding to each of said plurality of communication groups,

determining based on comparisons of said plurality of quantized values which of the plurality of local dominant communication units is an overall dominant communication unit in said multipoint conference; and

transmitting a signal of said overall dominant communication unit to all of said plurality of communication units in said multipoint conference.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said local dominant communication unit determining step comprises:

sampling the signal from each of the communication units within said each of said plurality of communication groups; and

comparing the sampled signals from each of the communication units within each of said plurality of communication groups to determine said local dominant communication unit within each of said plurality of communication groups, wherein said sampling and comparing steps are performed by the conference bridge within each of said plurality of communication groups.

3. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein said sampling step comprises sampling the audio signal from each of the communication units within said each of said plurality of communication groups.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said plurality of quantized values are exchanged between said plurality of conference bridges via signaling channels between said plurality of conference bridges.

5. A method as recited in claim 4, wherein said signaling channels are over a local area network (LAN), intranet or Internet.

6. A method as recited in claim 4, wherein said signaling channels are over a wireless network.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said transmitting step comprises:

sending an instruction to said overall dominant communication unit to transmit said signal of said overall dominant communication unit directly to all of said plurality of communication units in said multipoint conference via a multicast transmission of said signal of said overall dominant communication unit, said signal comprising audio packets and video packets of said overall dominant communication unit.

8. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein said transmitting step comprises:

transmitting said signal of said overall dominant communication unit via said plurality of said conference bridges to all of their local communication units in said multipoint conference, said signal comprising audio packets and video packets of said overall dominant communication unit.

9. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said transmitting step comprises:

sending to said conference bridge associated with said overall dominant communication unit the addresses of the local communication units from each of the others of said plurality of said conference bridges; and

transmitting said signal of said overall dominant communication unit directly to all of said plurality of communication units in said multipoint conference via a multicast transmission from said conference bridge associated with said overall dominant communication unit, said signal comprising audio packets and video packets of said overall dominant communication unit.

10. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said multipoint conference comprises a multimedia conference, a videoconference, an audio conference, and/or a ToL conference.

21. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of conference bridges includes a limited number of conferencing ports, and interconnecting two of said plurality of conference bridges does not occupy any conferencing ports of said two of said plurality of conference bridges.

11. A system for establishing a multipoint conference among a plurality of communication groups, wherein each communication group includes a conference bridge and a plurality of local communication units, comprising:

a plurality of conference bridges, each conference bridge logically coupled to a plurality of local communication units by way of a corresponding I/O port of said conference bridge, and wherein each conference bridge includes a selector unit configured to determine a dominant local communication unit among said plurality of local communication units in each of said plurality of communication groups, and wherein said plurality of conference bridges exchange a plurality of quantized signals to determine an overall dominant communication unit, each quantized signal representing the signal of a corresponding dominant local communication unit, and wherein a dominant signal of said overall dominant communication unit is transmitted to each of the plurality of communication groups.

12. A system as recited in claim 11, wherein each selector unit determines the dominant local communication unit by sampling the signal of each of its local communication units and comparing the sampled signals to determining the dominant local communication unit.

13. A system as recited in claim 12, wherein said signal is an audio signal and said dominant signal is formed of audio packets and video packets.

14. A system as recited in claim 11, wherein said dominant signal of said overall dominant communication unit is transmitted by said conference bridge associated with said overall dominant communication unit to each of the plurality of communication groups via their corresponding conference bridges.

15. A system as recited in claim 11, wherein said dominant signal of said overall dominant communication unit is transmitted by said conference bridge associated with said overall dominant communication unit directly to each local communication unit in said plurality of communication groups.

16. A system as recited in claim 15, wherein said conference bridge associated with said overall dominant communication unit receives address of each local communication unit from its corresponding conference bridge.

17. A system as recited in claim 11, wherein said dominant signal of said overall dominant communication unit is transmitted by said overall dominant communication unit upon instruction by said conference bridge associated with said overall dominant communication unit for receipt by each of said plurality of communication units.

18. A system as recited in claim 11, wherein said system comprises a conferencing system over a wireless network, a local area network, intranet or Internet.

19. A system as recited in claim 18, wherein said conferencing system comprises an audio conferencing system, a video conferencing system, or a multimedia conferencing system.

22. A system as recited in claim 11, wherein each of said plurality of conference bridges includes a limited number of conferencing ports, and interconnecting two of said plurality of conference bridges does not occupy any conferencing ports of said two of said plurality of conference bridges.

20. A computer program product comprising:

a computer readable medium;

multimedia conference bridge operating instructions embedded in the computer readable medium, wherein the multimedia conference bridge operating instructions determine which one of a plurality of communication units is a dominant local communication unit and transmit a quantized signal representing said dominant local communication unit, and wherein the multimedia conference bridge operating instructions compare quantized signals of dominant local communication units received from other bridges to determine an overall dominant communication unit which in turn broadcasts an associated communication signal to other communication units coupled thereto.